Hi everyone! So, after rereading plane rides, I decided I wanted to do a different crack!Kadaj pairing, and this ended up as a serious crack pairing. Kairi x Kadaj. There will not be a sequel to this, at all. In any way, shape, or form. Because my prefered pairing in the trio is Sora x Kairi. So whatever.
Complete list of pairings for this fanfic: Kairi x Riku (one-sided?), Kairi x Kadaj (odd), Cloud x Tifa (Blech.), Sora x Aerith, Sora x Kairi (past).
Warnings: A smooch. No language.
look a-like's and summer nights
by
strawberryotaku
Kairi didn't like visiting Radiant Garden, neither did Riku. Sora was the only one who ever really wanted to go-to visit with the Restoration Committee. He got along so well with them. Kairi and Riku preferred to go to this one little café while he spoke with the committee, none of them seemed to mind-though Aerith insisted on going once or twice with them for friendships sake.
Only this time Riku was sick, and he insisted that Kairi and Sora go on to their biweekly visit to Radiant Garden. Kairi wanted to stay and take care of her friend-but . . . at the same time, traveling via Gummi Ship by himself wouldn't be easy. And Riku was being his usual arrogant and cocky self, so independent-he wouldn't let Kairi stay to nurse him back to health.
So here Kairi was, wandering the streets of Radiant Garden by herself. Violet eyes watched silently as one converse heel met the toe of the other shoe repeatedly. She wasn't the least bit bored.
Quite suddenly, she found the view of black heels in her frame of sight-but she was already moving, and she knocked full into the figure in front of her, and stumbled back, as the other stumbled forwards. She looked up, and saw silver hair that was sleek and straight, and reached just past the broad male shoulders.
"Riku!" She piped, surprised.
Riku wheeled around with feline velocity, only Riku . . . wasn't Riku. Kairi's heart fell into her feet, and she apologized profanely-for bumping into him and for mistaking his identity.
"I-I'm sorry, I thought you were a friend of mine!"
A grin slipped onto the male's lips. His eyes were a brilliant shade of emerald, darker than her beloved Riku's, and the pupil's seemed almost like they were slitted like a cats. His face seemed more narrow, and his lips just a little more full. His hair didn't have a bit of a spike, but in the front Kairi realized it hovered just above his shoulders. His ensemble was entirely black, and the shirt he wore revealed the top of his chest.
He was a lot different from Riku.
"That's the one you come with, once every now and then-while the brunet visits Nii-san?"
"I'm sorry?" Kairi asked, puzzled.
"Cloud, blonde spiky hair. He looks like your brunet friend." The Riku look-alike clarified, she felt his gaze lock with her own for a moment.
"Oh, you mean Sora? Yeah, I guess they do kind of look similar . . . Say-I didn't know Cloud had a brother . . ."
"Oh. It's not biological. More of a . . . nickname. My real brothers are away at the Coliseum right now. My name is Kadaj, what might your name be?"
"Oh-er, Kairi!"
"So, you mistook me for the Riku boy. Since he doesn't seem to be around, and you're alone, I'll take his place for today." He said, abruptly without the slightest hint he was asking. He was merely demanding.
"Hey, I don't even know you! If you wanna get to know me better, all you have to do is ask! You don't have to demand I spend time with you!" The Princess snapped, taken aback by the sudden demand.
The look he gave her sent a chill running down her spine-suddenly her sleeveless summer dress felt entirely to scanty-as if it wasn't covering up, keeping enough skin warm. His eyes narrowed, and his lips turned upward making him seem even more like a cat about to pounce. Kairi felt like she would be safer scampering back to Merlin's House and to Sora. Oh, how she wished Riku were here.
Kadaj turned around completely to face the red-headed girl. He had spunk, and not like that one ninja-friend of Cloud's. This girl was . . . different, much more different than anyone he had met through Cloud.
He walked up to Kairi, somewhere in the conversation-he had drifted away from the pink clad girl. With his wide steps, his boots thudding against the ground, and his sword patting his back as he walked, he stopped right in front of her-Kairi much to surprised to do anything-and frankly, a little intimidated.
He brought his hand up to her head and tilted it up in a sharp movement that made her neck hurt. Then he leaned down suddenly, and kissed her. Kairi shoved her hands against his strong chest, and half-heartedly pushed away. Kadaj wrapped his other arm around her waist, crashing her against him and leaving Kairi breathless. Kadaj pulled his lips away for a second.
"You jerk, let me go!" She piped, clenching her eyes shut and pushing harder against his chest.
"Your lips taste like strawberry." He whispered against her at this point very, very red cheeks.
"Let go!" Kairi hissed, violet eyes narrowed and angry-as he kissed her again, tracing his tongue over her lips in a quick, somehow violent, swipe. Suddenly he reminded her of Riku again. As soon as that happened, her arms lost strength, her eyes fell quiet, and her protests were gone.
Ever since Sora had been so insistent on coming to Radiant Garden just about every other week, she had noticed something. He didn't pay as much attention to her-he seemed more entranced by the other brunette, the one with the bright green eyes that was always so nice to her, to everyone. Aerith. She was pretty, and kind, and beautiful, and so experienced-Kairi couldn't live up to her. And Riku felt that he was losing his friend to the Restoration Committee too. They all spent lots of time together at the islands, but there was a gap.
And Riku and Kairi were on one side, and Kairi felt so much closer to Riku-and soon she thought of him as more than a friend. And like it had with Sora, it kind of scared her. There were so many things that could happen-and destroy that.
So she hadn't said anything. But still, Riku carried around that . . . aura, and Kairi was convinced that if Riku ever kissed her-it would be like this.
Kairi, slowly, kissed the Riku-look-alike back-tentatively. This wasn't her first kiss like that, she had kissed with Sora like this once or twice before everything . . . fell apart. But this was so much different. Soon she found herself on the tip-toes of her converse so Kadaj didn't have to strain to lean over, and her arms were around his neck-fingers dancing in his hair.
"K-Kairi?"
Kairi pulled away, Kadaj letting her go this time as she turned with flushed cheeks to the offending voice.
"Sora! It's not what it looks like!"
The brunet boy looked confused-and a little betrayed behind his cobalt blue eyes-Aerith was right by his side, and Cloud and Tifa were behind the two, Cloud looking at Kadaj as if he was a little boy who had broken something important.
"Nii-san! I'm so happy to see you, I was looking for you!" The silver-haired teen exclaimed as he threw his arms up.
"Kadaj . . ."
"Kairi-do you even know him?"
Kairi turned around and ran, flushed cheeks and all-her eyes a little wet. What was she going to do now? Sora and Riku were still best friends-he would tell him, and then what would Riku think of her?
"Kadaj. Look what trouble you've caused." Cloud said disapprovingly, Tifa seeming just as disappointed in the boy.
"How are we ever going to trust you if you don't stay behaved!"
The boy grinned and shrugged his shoulders, "Sorry, I got carried away."
"Come on Tifa. It looks like we have to pay a visit to Sephiroth. Kadaj come on, we told you next time you acted up we were taking you to see him, sorry about this Sora."
Tifa nodded, motioning for Kadaj to come with the two as Cloud turned away, "Tell Kairi we're sorry too, okay Sora? We should've kept a better eye on him. You know how he can be." The brunette woman said, snatching Kadaj's wrist up in a forceful grip and giving him a reproachful glare as the three headed off towards the Bailey.
Sora nodded, and looked over to the silent Aerith-who smiled and nodded to him.
"Go on. You have every right to be worried about her. Bring her back by the house once you've spoken to her, we can tell her about Kadaj."
The brunet nodded, now quite sorry that he hadn't told his friend about him before-and then rushed off in the direction off after her.
"He . . . He just kissed me." Kairi whispered-speaking ashamedly for the first time since Sora had brought her down to Aerith's house deep in the Burroughs.
Sora started to speak, but stopped-and Aerith cut him off politely.
"Kadaj is about my age, a few years older than you and Sora. He's related to Sephiroth, but he lost his Father at a young age. His mother was turned into a heartless during the attacks shortly before Sora, you, and Riku got involved.
"He saw it happen to her and ran away, but since then he's been mentally unstable. Sometimes he goes off to search for her with his two brothers, Yazoo and Loz. The other two miss her-but Kadaj is the most hopeless. Right now his brothers are off competing in tournaments while he's come to visit Cloud and Tifa.
"He never really gets along well with Tifa, and though Cloud pretends to think he's a nuisance-he does treat the boy like a little brother. Kadaj calls him Nii-san because he also lost an older brother in the attacks-who looked similar to Cloud.
"Kadaj has a habit of . . . watching people, and getting attached through that. He likes to think that he can save everyone, but not like Sora saved them. Save them by making them quit hurting. When he and his brothers aren't here or at the Coliseum they generally travel around a lot." Aerith finished, her tone was obviously sympathetic towards the brothers she described. Kairi felt sorry for them too, that was a lot to go through-she guessed. He lost a lot of family, and some of the only family left was Sephiroth.
"Kadaj looks a lot like Riku." Sora started after the woman had finished talking, "And he acts a lot like him too-sometimes. I should've told you since-you know . . .So, you do . . . feel that way about Riku?"
Kairi's shoulders slunk and she tried to squeeze her knees closer together defensively, "I . . . I dunno. I guess I do."
"Then tell him Kairi. " Aerith said, for a split second a dark thought crossed through her mind, 'It's not your place to get involved,' but it was quickly dispelled as she went on, "Whether or not he returns your feelings, you three have been through so much together. Riku tried to save you as much as Sora did, he just went down a different path to do so. You three will never entirely break things off. Whatever may happen, your past together is greater than the present state of events."
"I'm sorry about what I said earlier." Sora said, "I guess I was just surprised. What do you say we go home now?"
Kairi nodded, and stood up-not even saying a farewell to Aerith as she walked out of the house and back towards the Gummi ship. She walked silently, once again watching the toe of her converse meet the heel. If only, if only, if only that had not happened earlier that day. Then perhaps the day would've been better.
She could've sworn that stranger she brushed shoulders with was Kadaj.