Kiss Paralysis

After mists and fogs, everything gets rearranged.

Chapter 14, Changing Mists

"I think it's best that we take her back now," stated Riku as he overlooked the sky that had gone greyer throughout the afternoon, "The air doesn't seem as humid."

Selphie nodded and packed the last of the supplies to bring home, "Are we missing anything else?"

The sapphire-eyed girl overlooked the bundle of provisions, "Nope, I think we're good," she approved, linking her arm with Sora's and leading the party out of the hut.

Tidus gathered the last of the supplies from Selphie, "Wakka!" called Tidus as he sped up towards the dock, sand kicking up behind him, "here's some more stuff," he handed his buddy one of three bags of supplies.

"Aw'right, so who'd ridin' wid' who?" asked Wakka as he evenly distributed the bags for each boat.

Riku carried the blonde girl in his arms, a blanket wrapped around her delicate frame, "I'll stay with her but I need someone else with me."

"I'll go wid' ya," volunteered Wakka, seizing the opportunity with the pretty girl before Tidus could.

"What? I can ride with her if you want Wakka, you should ride with Selphie!" he responded, trying to make his offer as appealing as possible.

The islander chuckled, "Naw, I'm fine with Riku," he rejected and took a seat on the boat with Riku and the unknown girl.

Selphie crossed her arms and sat in the boat, "Wakka, you're sending me to my death by making me ride with Tidus," she complained.

Tidus muttered something incoherent and stumbled into the boat, "Stop your whining," he scoffed.

Kairi and Sora had already settled in their own boat while the dispute of who would be in which boat was being made, "So are we ready to go?" asked Sora, grinning, "I'd hate to see rain on our way back the mainland."

"Ya, let's go," Wakka began to row the boat back home alongside with Riku.

"We need to get this girl some help now," Riku announced in a most firm voice as he swiftly maneuvered the boat.

With that regal voice of Riku's Selphie and Tidus set aside their petty fight and began to row in rhythm with everyone else.

Usually the group managed to stay tightly packed together but the waves were abnormally high today which set everyone about fifteen feet away from each other. Sora was struggling a bit with Kairi as a partner today, had the waves been more placid this task would've easy.

"Waves are high today," Kairi strained to say as she continued the hard rowing of the boat.

"Yeah," agreed Sora, "but I can see shore now, so I think we'll be good," replied Sora optimistically.

Wakka and Riku were already ahead, despite having an extra person in their boat, yet both of them had most of the brute and strength in the group.

"Hey Sora," started Kairi, "do you think it'll be this cloudy on our wedding day?" she asked.

"Huh?" sometimes Sora said 'huh' out of reflex, "Oh--no, it won't be like this!"

She laughed at his assured face, "I hope you're right," she looked behind her to see the shore, "Oh, Riku and Wakka have already reached shore."

Sora looked over Kairi's shoulder and noticed that the both of them were heaving the girl out of the boat, "They're probably going to bring that girl to the hospital right away."

Kairi nodded, "Something about her seems familiar, you know?"

"Yeah," came Sora's simple comment but Kairi was right, there was definitely a feel of nostalgia about that girl.

Selphie and Tidus were soon on shore and talking with Wakka and Riku, their conversation looked curt since Riku walked hastily away, taking the girl with him. At seeing Riku's sudden departure Sora arbitrarily began rowing faster.

"I think I felt some sprinkles," said Kairi as she wiped a tear of rain from her cheek.

"Yeah, we ought to row faster," advised Sora.

The couple began rowing faster and the figures of their friends were growing bigger. Sora didn't want to get caught up in this rain. He was already tired from the long day at the beach, his lack of sleep wasn't a helping factor either.

If Riku hadn't of done that I would've been more rested. Then again . . . would those thoughts and dreams have caught up on me? Like that one dream . . .

"We're here!" declared his dear fiancé as she got off the boat, tying the rope to the dock.

Sora followed in suit and helped Kairi tie up the boat, "So where did Riku go?" he questioned his friends who were waiting on the dock.

"Oh, he went and brought that girl to the hospital, we're all going to go by and check up on him then have dinner," said Selphie as she tried to shelter herself from the droplets of rain.

"Let's get outta here before it starts pouring!" said Wakka as a clap of thunder echoed in the sky.

The remnants of the party scurried towards the town and darted to their own homes. On their flighty run they made a decision to see Riku then eat some dinner in honor of the wedding that would be in five days or so. Sora used himself to shelter his little love from the cruel sheets of water. She fumbled a bit with the keys but managed to unlock the door of their home.

She stared at Sora and at the rain outside that ironically began to subside as they entered their house, "Well, isn't that funny?" she asked Sora, as she began to giggle.

Sora laughed along with her, there was something enchanting about Kairi that forced your emotions to surrender to her happiness

"I like getting caught up in the rain with you," Kairi said as she squished herself against Sora, not minding the puddle that was forming under them.

"I like it too," replied Sora as he kissed the top of her head and slowly removed himself from the embrace.

"You want to shower first?' asked Kairi, as she took off her soaking sandals and rung out her hair by the front porch.

"Yeah sure," Sora answered as he took off his shoes and set them outside, glancing at the post rain clouds wandering out to the sea.

Kairi went towards her room and removed drenched clothing, changing into some sleep attire until the left. She took her rain washed clothes and placed them outside on the line to dry. Sora headed inside of the bathroom and started a warm shower, hanging his own clothes on the rack inside the shower area. He sighed as he felt the water pelt down on him, opening his mouth to the running water and spitting it out to refresh himself.

He looked to the running water flowing to the drain but before he could stare and think profound things he shook his head of thoughts and concentrated solely on bathing. There was no time to run a train of thought--he had curiosity to satisfy.

About two hours later the group congregated at the hospital, Sora and Kairi arriving first, then Selphie, then Wakka, and lastly Tidus. Together they entered and asked for Riku and the mysterious girl.

"Room 124 on the third floor," said the nurse who busily got back to work.

Conversation through the walk in the florescent hallways and in the elevator were bland and full of lulls, everyone just seemed anxious to see her. Sora led the pack to the door and was the one to knock politely.

"Come in," Riku's response was unreadable.

Sora opened the door and saw the girl attached to various tubes with a very steady heart rate, she was doing fine.

Kairi and Selphie went to the foot of the bed to examine her but Kairi was the first to ask any questions, "Find anything about her?'

He nodded, "She moved here recently, she got lost on her boat trying to explore the different islands."

"What's her name?" questioned Selphie.

"Naminé," a gorgeous name left Riku's lips.

"Is she doin' alright?" Wakka asked as he took a seat beside Riku.

He nodded, "Like I thought she was just dehydrated, she's sleeping now."

Sora finally entered conversation, "how long has she been asleep?"

"We're going out to dinner Riku, would you like to come?" Kairi invited, eager to spend more time with her friends.

"Yeah," Riku stood up and smiled in response, "I'm going to wash up and I'll meet you guys at . . ."

"The Landing!" Tidus had been staring at the foreign girl in a trance but mention of food broke his stare.

"We ate there not too long ago," replied Sora.

"I'm in da mood for sea food," Wakka stated.

"Me too," Kairi said a bit meekly, Selphie nodded in response.

Riku secretly pulled a cigarette out, hiding it in his sleeve, "The Landing is cool with me."

"So The Landing it is then!" Selphie declared before Tidus could.

"Alright," Sora gave in, nothing was wrong with eating at the place, it's just the memories were distasteful

Time passed. Everyone met up. Dinner was lighthearted and as easy-going as ever.

Sora wasn't distant this time either, he rather enjoyed himself, but he noticed a slight change in Riku's attention. The fog came in and Riku went out for a smoke but he didn't request for Sora to follow.

He never came back, Sora was first to notice he was gone but he never asked about it or left to look for him.

Selphie had returned from her bathroom break and said she saw Riku on her way out, she told everyone his good-bye: Tell them I went to check on Naminé, I'll see everyone tomorrow.

No one was bothered by Riku's complacent ways, just Sora.

A/N: I would've had this up on Saturday but I didn't think what I had was sufficient. In any case this fic should be wrapped up in the next two chapters, plus the epilogue, at least those are my plans. I'm thinking about a sequel but I dunno if there's enough fan base behind this fic. What do you guys think?

Disclaimer: I have no ownership over the wonderful Kingdom Hearts.