Concealed By: Snakey

Chapter Three: The Training

-------------------------------------

It's been quite awhile now, and Kairi still couldn't find the thing she needed. The only thing that came close to a weapon in her closet was a rope or a tennis racket. She wanted something she could use well, so both of them didn't fit the category. Sky gave her a few suggestions, like finding something that's big, or just look outside. She decided to ask the others for help, so she went over to Selphie's place to search. Selphie found all the stuff that she would lend Kairi, and put them all in a cardboard box. Kairi couldn't even believe the stuff she saw had once belonged to Selphie. She saw a bunch of broken skip ropes, a baseball bat that was all chipped, a broken stuffed doll, a broken wooden hammer that was the size of Kairi's index finger, and even a punching bag that had holes in it. It was basically garbage. Kairi didn't have too many choices, so she tried creating one from all the stuff she saw.

"Can I tie all your broken skip ropes together?" she asked politely.

"Sure, they're not used anymore anyways."

"Thanks."

Kairi started tying, and she ended up with a long whip. [Author's note: Think of the one Quistis uses, but made of broken skip ropes.] She thought she'd test it out on Riku, since he had great fighting skills. Riku was on the port, watching Tidus and Wakka fight like little kids. He didn't get much pleasure from it, but at least he had something to do. He would think of some comments in his mind, and talk to himself about the odds of Tidus winning against Wakka. Sky came out too, and sat down beside Riku. She walked over to them.

"Riku, could you fight against me? I just got a new weapon."

"But Kairi, that's just a piece of rope."

"It's a whip."

"Fine, but only one match, and I'll go easy on you, since I don't hit girls."

"Don't be afraid, I need you to be my practice partner."

"You mean punching bag."

"A bit like that, but not really."

"I'll watch out for you, Kairi, I can help you by casting Cure." Sky said, hearing the entire conversation between them.

"Thanks, Sky."

Kairi held her so called whip and walk away about three or four metres away from Riku on the beach. Sky stood between them, watching.

"And on your mark, get set, GO!"

The match started. Kairi ran towards Riku, who was standing there and didn't move, not even a bit. Kairi swung her whip, hoping it would hit Riku. Unfortunately, she missed. But what she did hit was Wakka's head, and he was fighting with Tidus right next to them. Wakka fell over, in pain.

"Alright, Wakka lost to me in a fair match!" Tidus screamed out with joy.

"FAIR!? You call that fair!? You weren't even the one who hit me!"

"So, I still win!"

"Oh, c'mon, your only time hitting me was when your stick fell out of your hand and I tripped over it! It didn't even count as a hit!"

Kairi looked at the two boys arguing, feeling sorry that she had caused so much trouble between them. But she had her own match to deal with. Riku was still standing there as if nothing would happen to him, and this made Kairi get mad. He just played it cool, and knew that she wouldn't even make him budge even the slightest bit. Sky looked at him, with a bit of an unpleasant look. Kairi tried her whip once more, and she did even worst than before. It wasn't even close to hitting him. She knew that she would get it next time, so she thrusted. She did hit someone, and that someone was a boy, but not Riku. The whip's end hit Sky's face, and Sky covered his face with his hands.

"Ow!"

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!"

Kairi couldn't tell if it was serious or not. Sky let go, and he touched the part that the whip had hit him on the face. There was something on it, and it popped up. Kairi didn't know if she should apologize or help him. It seemed that he was bleeding.

"Whoa, you okay?" Riku asked.

"Ah man.. I'm bleeding."

"I'll get you a bandage!" Kairi ran off towards her house, leaving her funny looking rope or whip behind.

"I don't want more bandages though; I'll look like a mummy.."

"At least your brown hair's still sticking out."

Sky stroked his brown hair, as if he had forgotten that they were there. He looked at Riku, and started to think to himself for a moment. Riku didn't seem like a scary person at all. Sky's first impression of him was that he was a bully or something since he had those narrow green eyes that made him look mad. Riku soon realized that there was an uncomfortable feeling around him, and he turned and saw Sky staring. When Sky realized that he was staring at Riku without knowing it, they quickly turned the other way, avoiding eye contact. They didn't seem to have much in common, so there wasn't much conversation either, just an unusual silence.

"Uh.. Riku?"

"What now?"

"Oh, um, didn't mean to annoy you, but how come you're not going with Kairi?"

"Why?"

"You two seem like a couple."

"What the..!" Riku blushed as he replied.

"What? You two aren't a couple?"

"Where did you get that stupid idea?"

"What is so stupid about that?"

"Well, why would we be?"

"But you're always so nice and gentle to her; I just thought that you two might be more than just ordinary friends."

"Look, you're new here, so I'll fill you in with the past events."

"Sure."

"You heard about Sora, right? Well, he and I are best friends, and then Kairi came along. And we had all these troubles and Sora saves the worlds with his keyblade."

"I know that much."

"Well, after that, Sora was separated from Kairi, and I was locked away with the heartless."

"What? Locked? How'd you.."

"Let's not get into that. Anyways, when we were separated, Kairi developed feelings for Sora, and Sora did as well, at least, that's what I think. And I.. I liked Kairi long before that, even when we were just little kids. But the point is Kairi's not going to accept me. The one she's waiting for is Sora."

"That's not completely true, I mean, you haven't asked her about it."

"Are you kidding? Speaking of Sora makes Kairi burst into tears!"

"Oh, she's that sensitive.."

"I didn't think she was ever going to stop crying the last time I mentioned Sora in front of her."

"So, I've caused you this much pain." Sky whispered, and Riku just barely heard part of it.

"What?"

"I'm sorry, Riku, I'm sorry for everything.."

"What are you saying?"

Right then, Sky's left red eye started to change in colour. He slapped it with his hand, and shook his head to get rid of a weird feeling he had.

"Sky?"

"Oh, never mind."

"I got you a bandage, Sky!" Kairi yelled as she came running towards the two boys.

"Thanks, Kairi."

"Wait! You're not planning to just put it on your wound, are you?"

"I don't see why not."

"I've got some alcohol that needs to be rubbed on it; it'll help it heal faster."

She opened the bottle, and put some onto a piece of cotton. She held onto Sky's chin, and started to rub against the wound.

"It stings! Ah!"

"Hold still!"

Kairi had a hard time holding him down, and didn't know that she applied TOO much on his cheek. After Sky started to calm down, he was let go of by Tidus and Wakka, who Kairi told to help hold Sky down. Sky's cheek was all red, and you could tell that Kairi overdid it. She laughed at her own work, and put the bandage on his face. They all looked at his face. It was full of bandages, and it looked a bit like someone just beat up Sky.

"You look like you got beat up by Riku." Selphie said, coming down onto the beach after she ate her lunch.

"Why do you think it was Riku?" Sky asked.

"Well, Riku's always the one to beat us in fights, so maybe he did it to you too."

"Hey, I just got hit by Kairi, that's all."

"Did she slap you or something?"

"What? Why?"

"We were fighting, and Kairi missed me and hit Sky on the face." Riku said, clearing things up.

"That's it? It would have been more interesting if she did slap him though."

"Selphie!" Everyone yelled.

"What? There's so little to do anyways.. Can't we just start our journey now?"

"Kairi still needs to get a new weapon." Tidus said.

Sky picked up the whip, and examined it for awhile.

"Kairi, this whip is way too long for you to thrust and hit the right target."

"Really? No wonder I couldn't hit Riku.."

"I have something that you might be able to use."

He put his hand into his pocket, and grabbed out a slingshot.

"It's my spare weapon. You could use it."

"Thanks, Sky."

Kairi picked up a rock, and put it on the elastic band as she stretched it out. She aimed at the coconut on the tree nearby. She let go, and the rock hit the coconut directly.

"Hooray! Kairi got a new weapon that she could use!" Selphie cried with joy.

"Not really, I was aiming at the coconut on the tree to the right of it."

"Oh. At least it was close."

She tried again, and this time she aimed at a larger object. Riku.

"Kairi, you're not really going to hit me, are you?"

"Stand still. I'm going for the head."

"What!?"

She let go of the band, and the rock went flying at Riku. Riku didn't have much of a choice, so he ducked, and the rock hit Sky who was right behind him.

"Oh dear.." Selphie said.

"Another hit by Kairi." Tidus added.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry, Sky! I was aiming at Riku, I swear!"

"Ow.. My forehead.."

Another bandage was added onto Sky's face, and now he looked really beat up. His face was completely covered except for his mouth and his nose. But Kairi continued her aiming skills, and it added more and more scars onto Sky's face..

"I think you should stop, Kairi." Tidus said when he saw the sun setting.

"Sky's face is already completely covered." Wakka said.

Kairi looked at her new friend, and all she could see on his face was his left red eye. She was embarrassed when she realized how many times she hit his face. Selphie actually counted the number of times.

"Ten times, and that's not including the one with the whip."

Kairi decided that she had practiced enough for that one day, so she and Sky went back to the house. The others went home too. She wanted to say something to Sky so that she wouldn't feel as guilty as she did right now. She hit him about ten times, and every time he would just smile back and say "It's all right, I've gotten used to it." She didn't know if she should tell Sky to hit her back or not. But then if she did, Sky would probably not hit her anyways, since Kairi gave him hospitality and she was a girl. They arrived at the door, and Kairi opened it for Sky. They had an ordinary chat about what they were going to take on the journey, and then Kairi started dinner. Sky sat down, and started taking off the bandages, just so he could eat without anything in his way. He took every piece off, even the one around his right eye, as if he didn't know. Kairi put the food down on the table, and was surprised to see that Sky took off the bandage covering his right eye. She stared at it, and it was red. She started to get confused. Last time she was sure that his right eye was blue. She looks even harder, but it's still red.

"Is there something wrong, Kairi?"

"Your right eye.."

"Oh, I just took off the bandage for today, it was getting really hot."

"No, not that, but it is red."

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"I swear that the first time I saw your bandage coming off, it was blue."

"A red eye and a blue eye, are you sure, Kairi?"

"I don't know."

"Oh well, let's just eat, and maybe later you could tell me the rest."

"Okay.."

Kairi quickly finished her meal, and saw that Sky was still eating slowly. She stares at his bowl as he finishes the last bit of soup. He wiped his mouth, and Kairi stood up quickly, grabs Sky's hand, runs upstairs, and throws Sky into her room. She sits in her chair as Sky falls down onto her bed.

"Okay, I've been thinking about that right eye of yours ever since you came to my house, Sky."

"Why?"

"Because, I thought it was blue, and I thought that somehow, you were Sora!"

"Wait, are you being so nice to me because I look like him?"

"No, it's just that I really miss him because I really like him!"

"Wow, how straight forward of you, Kairi."

Kairi blushed, and covered her mouth so nothing else could come out.

"You really want to see him again, don't you, Kairi?"

"Yeah.."

"I think I know how."

"How, Sky?"

"Close your eyes."

"Um..okay.."

"Don't open them, because if you do, he might not be here."

"Huh?"

"Just don't open your eyes until I tell you to."

Kairi covered her closed eyes with her hands.

'You okay with this?' Sky thought to himself.

His left hand starts to shine, and a keyhole appears. He closes his eyes, and counted to five. He opens them again, and now his right eye was blue, and his left eye was purple. He put his left hand over his right eye, and a black object comes out of it. He grabs the black object, and it was actually a keyblade, with only the tips of it was painted with blood red. Sky took off the keychain attached to his collar, and removed the one on the keyblade. He switched the two key chains around, and put his onto the keyblade.

'Thanks, I'll just take five minutes or so.' Sky thought to himself again.

"You can open your eyes now, Kairi."

Kairi did as she was told, and she saw the boy. He held the keyblade, and started to talk.

"Hey, Kairi, didn't you want to see me?"

"What do you mean?"

"Didn't you want to see Sora?"

"Sora? What are you saying, Sky?"

"Look closely."

He sat on the bed, and waved his hand to tell Kairi to move closer. Kairi stood up, and slowly walked over to him. She stares at him, from top to bottom, but she didn't really see the difference.

"Try the face."

Kairi looked at it, and she was shocked to see that the eyes were blue, but the left one was purpler than blue. She drew her hands up to her mouth, and tears started to come down her cheek.

"Sora!"

She couldn't hold it in, and she threw herself onto him.

"Whoa!"

Sora couldn't stay up with all that force pushing against him, and he fell down on the bed with Kairi wrapping her arms tightly around his waist. He put his hand on the back of her head, and patted her.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Sora said, closing his eyes and smiling towards the ceiling.

"You lazy bum.." Kairi whispered, still crying on top of Sora.

'If only it was this simple..' He thought.

To be continued in Chapter 4..

-------------------------------------

Snakey: Okay, there wasn't as much humour as I thought there would be, and I'm sorry about that. But at least now you know more about Sora and Sky. ^_^ I'll try to do more typing, but in the mean time, I have to get on with studies. Thank you for reading, and review if you like it! ^_^

~May 1st, 03