You don't hear me say please
Tidus wasn't listening to me. He had offered an ear when he'd found me crying and now he wasn't paying attention. He wasn't even pretending to listen anymore.
I slid off the bent tree and what used to be Riku's favorite hang island out. He and Sora had sparred here on many an occasion. This was the place where the paopu grew.
I hadn't the opportunity to share this legendary fruit with either of them, and yet all of our destinies were ensnared together.
I took a steadying breath. There wasn't room for these kind of thoughts. They might very well be dead and I might never know. I had to realize that they were gone, regardless of the past, regardless of the truth.
The memories I had suppressed as a child had surfaced finally, breaking through the water and riding up upon my shore. I lay in the sand, remembering the way it felt to be young and carefree and they washed over me, like a dream weaving a web of truth so thick I couldn't breath.
There was absolution there, hidden in those thoughts of my youth, but there were things that neither Riku nor Sora had been privileged to know. If they ever returned to me I would have to explain to them why Ansem looked so like Riku. I would have to explain to them why I had never felt at home in the Mayor's house.
The tears started again and suddenly Tidus had wrapped me in his arms. I wanted to fight him, to push away and be angry with him for not hearing me, but his arms were so warm and so safe.
He whispered into my hair: "I was listening Kairi and I promise you it'll be ok."
I pulled away from him, hardening suddenly. "Don't make promises you can't keep."