Chapter IV

Difficulties

Point of View: Riku

Written by: Jade (Chapter IV)

It's amazing how someone can change so much over a course of just four years. I know that people do change, especially over a time period as such. But when someone changes so much as Kairi did, you'd think: what happened? I certainly did.

After bringing the unconscious young woman into her apartment, I laid her on her bed. Her condo was quite small, like mine, with just a kitchen, a bedroom, and a bathroom. And it was quite spotless. Not even clothes littered the floor.

I stared at the woman on the bed for a few precious moments, taking the site of her in with relief and emotions that came flooding back almost too fast for me. Her chestnut-red hair had grown to her waist and was kept in one long braid. I vaguely wondered how she managed to keep it straight, and how she did it without a mirror, for as I looked around once more, I noticed she didn't have as much as a chiffonier. I turned to her again. Her skin was a soft pale, and her body was slim. But she still held the beauty I remembered in my rarest of rare dreams and memories.

The white feline that had led me here jumped on the bed and cuddled next to Kairi's skinny form, purring contentedly. I smirked.

So this is her owner.

I found a broom and dustpan in the corner of the kitchen and swept the broken mug into the garbage. Then I went to check on Kairi. Her breathing was slow and even, but I needed to talk to her, so I gently shook her awake.

"Riku?" she mumbled, one hand moving to her head. I nodded and helped her prop up to a sitting position. "How'd you get here?"

"Be quiet," I told her, taking a potion from my pocket. She immediately shook her head, and pushed it away.

"No, no, I'm okay. Please, save it for yourself." With that, she placed her feet on the floor and turned to face me. "My God…are you really Riku?" She reached toward me and touched my cheek tenderly. I nodded, pulling away from her hand. "Where have you been for the last four years?" she asked disbelievingly. I sighed.

"I've been in an apartment beside the city. How did you…where…I mean…" Kairi offered a sympathetic look as I trailed off. She understood that I was trying to say something, and that it was obviously not coming out. Still looking dizzy, she lay back on the bed and told me her story.

Apparently, she came here four years ago, at the same time I did. When I asked her how it was possible, she quieted me. She never went back to the Destiny Islands, though it seemed that way for a while. Day after day, her home began breaking up, slowly disintegrating in front of her very eyes. She began to feel cold…lonely…even isolated, and soon found herself lost inside a world of dark; Nihility. After many a nights wandering, she came to Pareja, and was just lucky enough to find a condominium at the back, away from the real heat of the heartless. Soon enough, the kitten, in which she named Keiko, found her way to her, and kept her from losing her mind and voice as it kept her company and allowed her to talk all she wanted about everything, though there really wasn't that much to speak about except past memories that never failed to bring tears.

"But how have you been able to survive?" I inquired miraculously. She frowned grimly.

"It was hard...I suppose that's all I can tell you..."

She continued.

"And since I had no defense, I could hardly even defend myself. I still have no fighting abilities or magical defense." My eyes fell to the floor as I shook my head disapprovingly. But, then again, there are hardly any ways to get money or even to stay alive in this city. I stopped and looked at her again.

"And that's why you never left this part of Pareja." More of a statement than it was a question, but Kairi nodded in response. "No wonder I never found you. I never left my route either." Kairi looked at me confusedly.

"Your route?" I nodded.

"I kill Heartless." She responded with a small 'oh'. "I still can't believe that you've been here, in the exact same city that I have visited daily for the last four years," I sighed. She hardly nodded.

"It's like fate." I snorted.

"Fate? Finding each other in a city like this? You've changed more than I thought, Kairi." Kairi let out a breath.

"I'm talking about just finding each other. I didn't even think you were alive anymore."

"Where's Sora?" I suddenly asked. Kairi looked at me, eyebrows raised.

"I thought you would have known." I shook my head slowly.

"He's probably still looking for me, thinking you're safe at the Destiny Islands." My forehead creased. "What happened to everyone else? If they were restored when the Destiny Islands were restored, where were they when it was destroyed?" Kairi bowed her head sadly.

"I don't know. All I remember is that I was all alone in the darkness." I nodded solemnly.

"That makes two of us."

"How did you get here, Riku?" she asked me after a while.

"I wish I knew, Kairi. When Sora closed the Door to Darkness, I just found myself in Nihility, and I soon found my way to Pareja. I've tried to forget as much of the experience as I possibly could, though," I added sullenly. After that, we wrapped up anything else, but not much needed to be said, mostly because we were both immensely tired. Kairi allowed me to sleep on the single couch near the window and across the room from her bed. I accepted, being too tired out to go home after the walk to just here and then all the way up the stairs. I was surprised to see she even had an extra sheet, but I denied it. I kept on all my attire and sat on the couch as Kairi blew out the single candle illuminating the room and went to sleep. Or, at least, pretended to. She wasn't going to sleep so easily, and I knew; she didn't necessarily trust me fully yet. It would take time. Even if I had been a friend of hers.

She's afraid of me.

Is she? She's imposing that she is, but it could be a reflex feeling. After all, I could only imagine how many men she's been acquainted with over the last years. I rolled my eyes and laid down, hoping that Kairi would, too.

Let her rest…I need to think…

But I soon couldn't help it. I gave myself up to sleepiness. The last thought that ran through my head was that cat.

How'd she find her way to me…and then back to Kairi?