Chapter 13 – Happy Birthday!

Akira and Kosuke's birthday was finally here, and their parents knew it was going to be a long, stressful day. They were turning nine today, and having the pride they did, they didn't care who knew and how they were told; if it meant yelling it down the hallway to let everyone know about their big day, then so be it. Akira especially will be hyper.

"It's our birthday!" They sang over and over, waking up Kairi. Sora was up and almost as lively as the twins were. Kairi knew she wouldn't be able to sleep anymore. It was nine o'clock in the morning. Kairi shot a disturbed look over at Sora, who merely shrugged.

"I tried to quiet them down… you know that's pointless." His eyes shifted over to Akira and Kosuke who were now reaching for the hotel key, meaning they wanted to leave. Good thing Sora was able to grab it before they could, or they would've raced out the door.

It was always a mystery about what would happen with these two, since they were the most hyper kids Kairi has ever seen in her life. Her little brother, Koru wasn't even this hyper and he was usually very active. Kairi rolled out of bed, went to the bathroom, took a shower and got dressed.

"Here we go…" She mumbled to herself. It's not that she wasn't excited that it was their birthday; she was very happy. Kairi just didn't like waking up early. She had a sudden urge for some orange juice, however…

Sora and Kairi walked hand in hand down the hallway, at least attempting to shush their children and let them know that other people were actually around this time and they had to be quiet until they got outside. Surprisingly they were obedient, but of course, it was temporary. Akira and Kosuke were probably going to be at the beach all day. Kairi wasn't really too fond of that, but it was their birthday, their choice.

The family arrived under the hot sun in minutes, and the twins hit the waves. Kosuke, remembering what happened the day before, stayed in the more shallow waters while Akira tackled the waves like some big adventure. Kairi and Sora kept a close eye on these two, hoping that nothing bad happened again. She sat down next to Sora on a towel.

"I got the boys some water guns since they were deprived of water in Twilight Town. I couldn't think of anything else." Sora said.

"Not as bad as my gifts… I bought them a Blitzball set and a video game."

"I think this trip covers it though." Sora put his sunglasses on as he saw some people approaching them. To his relief, it was only Riku followed by… not one, not two, but six other girls drooling over his presence.

"Hi Riku." Kairi greeted him. The girls glared at her but then went all dreamy again at the sound of Riku's voice.

"Hey."

"Seems like you're busy every day." Sora joked.

"This is my life." Riku shooed the girls away respectively and laid a towel out on the sand.

"Are you working today?" Kairi asked.

"Nope. I never work on Tuesday." He said proudly.

"So what have you been doing lately?" Sora questioned, taking his sunglasses off. He felt safe enough to do so. He knew that if people knew who he was, there would be twice as many girls swooning over him than Riku.

"Well…" Riku hid his hand behind his back, but not quick enough for Kairi to notice a ring on his finger. She gasped.

"You're married?"

Riku gave her a blank stare, but then his face went red and he nodded. (A/N: Sorry Riku fans! XD) Kairi gave him a sweet, appreciative smile that said, "aww, that's too cute!"

"So who's the lucky woman?" Sora teased, putting his arm around Kairi.

"You would only believe me if I… introduced you to her, so I'm not going to tell you yet." Riku said firmly.

Before Kairi was about to respond to that, Akira and Kosuke walked over to them as if they were passed out already. Akira fell right into the sand only to get back up again because the sand was too hot, and Kosuke laughed at his stupidity. They were covered in sand.

"Hey, what's on those other islands?" Kosuke asked, pointing out into the distance.

"Not much." Sora said. "Pretty much the same that's here."

"Actually, there's a carnival going on here tonight. You guys should come." Riku suggested. "All ages are admitted. Believe me, I'm the DJ."

"Wow, they have those now?" Kairi never remembered anything like that on the island. Usually it was just plain boring.

"Can we go?" The twins begged in unison, and in less than a second Sora said yes.

"It'll be fun." He noted.

"It should be." Kairi said.

- - -

The streets illuminated with every color possible to make this quite a strange setting for a carnival, but Kairi realized that this wasn't just any type of carnival. There was music, dancing, clowns, magic shows, karaoke, and even roller coaster rides. Okay, so maybe it was a little normal, but other than that, she knew it would be fun. Akira and Kosuke were nearly rushing to the place and Kairi and Sora had to run just to keep up with them.

"Let's go on that ride! How about that one?" They pointed to every single ride imaginable, from the Avalanche to the one-hundred foot roller coaster that Kairi wondered how it ever even got there. Riku greeted them over at the "party area" where he played music for anyone willing to dance.

"How could all of this fit here?" Kairi didn't believe it herself, that the island she grew up on could actually have something like this. But then again, it has been a long time since she's been here…

There was a normal looking tent with red and white stripes on it, but inside was tons of food—for free. The twins headed over to the desserts drooling over all the cake and ice-cream they could eat. Kairi guessed it would make up for a traditional birthday cake—for now. However, Sora wanted to do a little more. He went over and whispered something in some of the employee's ears.

Akira and Kosuke took their seats and dug in. All of a sudden, they heard clapping getting closer and closer. The people of the town knew what that meant and the happy birthday theme filled the tent. The twins stopped chewing and turned their heads slowly over to their parents who were really enjoying this. Sora gave his trademark smile as Kairi took pictures of their priceless faces. Akira and Kosuke shrugged and took pride in the attention they received.

"Happy birthday." Kairi and Sora said. Everyone cheered. Riku came into the tent with headphones around his neck.

The twins were more than happy to open presents and seemed excited nevertheless. They loved their presents, which came as a shock to Kairi since she didn't know what to buy them. Riku gave them some money.

"Thanks everyone!" They said happily.

"This has been awesome!" Kosuke shouted.

"I know!" Akira agreed. They got up and hugged Sora and Kairi.

"We love you!" They praised. This made Kairi want to cry, but she held her tears back.

- - -

After things were starting to settle down and people were leaving, the twins were nearly knocked out from being so exhausted. Kairi believed that topping this off next year would be really difficult since it was in fact pretty fun.

Riku decided he would drive them over to the hotel, even though it was a ten minute walk. The twins and even Sora and Kairi were too tired to walk anywhere.

"Riku, darling!" Kairi saw a woman with dark brown hair running over to them. She wore pink glasses and looked like some woman from the fifties or something. Her hair was in pigtails. She wore a short, pink dress with unlaced matching shoes. Riku kissed her as she tried to catch her breath.

"Hello." Riku put his arm around her and turned to Sora and Kairi. The twins had already gotten into the car and seemed to be sleeping.

The girl looked extremely familiar to Kairi. Was it…

"You guys, this is my wife, Selphie."

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A/N: LOL, it'll never happen, or will it? Hmmm, what better way to freak out the reader of the story! Kidding… til next time!