I don't understand Kairi. Riku is easy, because he's so much like me. Sora's harder, but I share his heart. Kairi, though. . .
It's almost like she's missing a part. Like she's some weird kind of Nobody. Something's just not there. She doesn't miss it, though, like a Nobody misses his heart. She's peaceful, and even I can recognize the light in her, shining like water. I feel Namine in there, too, but I never really understood her, either.
The boys' lives circle around Kairi, even though she's less interesting than either of them. I think it has something to do with her calm. Even Kairi's teasing calms Sora down, though I thought the point of teasing was that it's funny to upset someone a little bit. Riku seems to drink that calm, sometimes, like he was dying of thirst. Like she's the only one who can quiet his mind, when it's spinning through darkness and bad memories. Like Riku thinks he needs her to keep him from going crazy. Maybe he does.
She goes swimming with Sora these days, though she probably shouldn't. Sora doesn't seem like a great swimmer until he takes off his shoes. Those things fill with water like the buckets they are (not that I can talk about big feet,) but Sora does well enough with them on that he usually doesn't bother taking them off. When he does, he swims like a dolphin. I've noticed that Riku never agrees to a swimming race when Sora's barefoot.
But when Sora says he's going for a long swim, Kairi comes along. She knows he's going to go further out than she'd ever dare alone, she knows she doesn't have his endurance or his strength. I don't know if she feels left behind, or wants to be alone with him, or just wants to do something dangerous, or what. Of course, Sora's as good a lifeguard as she could want, so I guess it's not that risky. Still, though.
That was when they first kissed, during one of those swims, treading water most of a mile from shore. Not the place I would have picked. They were resting, or rather, Kairi was resting and Sora was helping her stay afloat. "Sorry, Sora," she said.
"I don't mind," Sora said. "It's fun having you along, and you're definitely getting better." Kairi smiled and looked to the side. Was she embarrassed about something, maybe? Does she get embarrassed? "I'll always keep that promise, you know," Sora said.
"You shouldn't have to," Kairi answered. I have no idea what they were talking about. "Whenever you go off into the distance, I'm coming too." That was when she kissed him, just a quick brush across the lips. Anything longer and we all probably would have sunk. Sora barely had time to realize what happened, let alone enjoy it, but the kiss made him happy anyway. I was just confused, trying to figure out if Namine had kissed me, too.
"Okay," Sora said. Then, after a minute or two, "We'd better go back, before Riku thinks we drowned. Ready?" Kairi nodded, and Sora let her go, to follow him again.