That night, Kairi laid awake, thinking. She couldn't get the strange boy out of her head. If he really was Sora, what were they going to do? Take him back with them?
But ten years alone in the jungle would change a person. Did he even know how to speak? Could he still summon his keyblade?
Would they just have to leave him behind? That didn't seem fair. Even if he wasn't Sora, being all alone in the Jungle just didn't seem right.
When he looked at her, his expression held a lot of emotion. Fear, curiosity, and lot of wonder. How frightening it must have been to see another creature like him, and yet so different.
From her sleeping bag, she looked over at her teammates. Everyone was asleep and all was calm. The fire was still going, though only bright enough to cast a soft light on the immediate area. Crickets and strange animals hooted outside the treehouse, where the moon shone blue light through the windows.
Kairi loved nights like this. It was so different from her days in Radiant Garden, where even the nights had noise of the city, of clanking and whirling machines. In the Land of Departure, the nights were nearly silent from her window high in the castle. This though, this was just perfect. She had been to so many worlds in the last year, traveling with her teammates. Nights like these, where the darkness retreated at the light of the moon, and life persisted.
It was relaxing and comforting. Though the Jungle held many mysteries and dangers, this was a haven.
Suddenly, she heard the sound of feet hitting the floor, though very gently. She glanced to the other end of the treehouse and saw a silhouetted figure, crouched and crawling towards them.
Kairi didn't move, though she prepared in case he meant harm. Eraqus once said she had a problem with naïveté, and that she often trusted people too quickly. Still, she felt like this stranger meant no harm, for if he was the same boy she had seen earlier, he easily could have left her to die out on the field.
The boy slowly tracked through their camp, his steps imperceivable over the sound of the crackling fire and Terra's snores. He curiously dug into the first pack he found, which belonged to Ventus. He pulled out a shirt, feeling the fabric and turning it over to examine it. When it failed to interest him, he shoved it back into the bag.
Then he slowly and hesitantly leaned over Ventus himself, studying his face. Then he moved onto the next person.
He peaked in everyone's luggage, pulling out interesting items to sniff or taste. Though he didn't actually take anything. Then he sniffed each of her teammates, touching their hair and any armor that was nearby.
It felt like she had been watching him for an hour before he finally made his way over to her. She closed her eyes, pretending to sleep.
She heard him shuffling through her clothes, then heard him sniffling near her ear. She stayed extremely still, keeping her breathing even, as his face drew closer to hers.
It seemed his evaluation of her would be different from the others, since she felt the softest skin against her lips.
Her eyes fluttered open in shock.
Those blue blue eyes stared right back at her, with all the wonder in the world.
She didn't scream this time, just stared back at him.
Had he just...kissed her?
His eyes widened slightly as a smile took over his lips. He seemed thrilled that he had awakened her.
Carefully, since he was only inches away from her face, Kairi sat up. He remained close, but followed her movements.
He flicked his eyes over her body briefly, now that she was in pajamas, but continually met her eyes. Likewise, Kairi looked over him, now that he was close and not about to leave.
He had a large leaf on his arm, held in place by mud. It looked like a primitive bandaid. She frowned, and threw off her blankets.
The boy didn't like the action, and whimpered, thinking she was leaving.
Instead she stood and quietly walked over to their first aid kit. She opted for a potion, so as not to startle him by summoning her keyblade. Then she took her canteen and a rag.
All the while, he watched, curious as to what she could be doing.
Finally, she smiled at him and beckoned him to follow her outside.
He did so eagerly, ever interested in her world.
Outside the treehouse, on the balcony, Kairi knelt and wetted the rag with the canteen.
The stranger was quick to crouch in front of her, immediately in her personal space.
She reached out, her hand hovering over his arm.
He tilted his head, looking at her expression, and then where her hand was. Then he leaned that arm towards her.
Carefully, Kairi peeled off the leaf and began to wipe off the mud. A potion would heal up the wound just fine, but it would have to be clean first.
The boy hissed suddenly and ripped his arm away.
She dropped the rag and held out her hands in a calming way.
Seeing she meant no harm, he slowly reached his arm back out, letting her finish.
Once clean, she offered him the potion.
Instead of taking it, however, he reached his hand out and touched her face ever so gently, then leaned in, unaware of how uncomfortable he was making her.
She couldn't help but laugh a little, mostly out of nervousness. "Haven't you looked at me enough already?"
His eyes widened at the sound of her voice, and he gave a silent laugh, like a dog panting, and danced on his toes.
Again, she offered the potion.
He sniffed it, and then gave it a withering glance.
"You drink it," She pantomimed drinking, and encouraged him to do the same.
So he did, but screwed his face up after at the bitter taste. But then he blinked, feeling the pain in his arm gone. Glancing down, his wound was completely healed, and there wasn't even a scar. He did his little dance again.
"See? All better!"
He showed his appreciation by swooping in and nuzzling his nose with hers.
She crinkled up her face in response, not expecting the action.
Then he backed off a few inches, his eyes bright, and pleasant grunts coming from his throat.
"Uh, you're welcome?" Kairi laughed.
He tilted his head to the side. "Wel...come?"
"You can speak!" She clapped her hands in joy.
He mimicked the action. "Speak!"
"Ah, but not very well, I guess." Still, she touched her chest, right above her heart. "My name is Kairi."
He glanced at her hand, then her face, and mimicked the action, hand on his chest "Kai...ri?"
"Close." She took his hand and placed it on her chest, "Kairi."
Realization hit him. "Kairi!" He patted her heart. "Kairi!"
"Good! Now..." she placed her hand on his chest, right over the 'X' scar. "What's your name?"
He looked at her hand, frowned, and without another word, leapt over the railing and into the darkness of night.
Kairi was left alone, only able to wonder. She touched the tip of her nose, then her lips, and blushed.
—
The next morning, over breakfast, the group talked over their plan for the day. They decided they would split up again, same groups, and travel East and West this time.
Kairi was barely paying attention. After the boy left, she finally was able to fall asleep, even though he had only given her more questions than answers.
"Kai?" Riku asked, noticing how quiet she had been.
"What world's did Sora like?" She said suddenly.
Terra and Aqua stopped eating and pondered the question.
"Why do you ask?"
"I just...wondered. Maybe there's a way to find out if it's really him by bringing back some old memories."
Aqua considered, "Gosh, I don't know if there was a world he didn't like! He was so friendly to everyone...almost to a fault."
"You know the most important rule of keyblade wielders?" Terra asked.
"We mustn't meddle in the affairs of other worlds." Quoted Ventus, like a good noodle.
"Well, he loved to meddle. He always found a way to get in people's business. Usually, we helped solve problems, but mostly Sora just stuck his nose where it didn't belong."
Aqua pondered, "But a favorite world, specifically? Well, he liked The Caribbean. He loved being a pirate and the big ships."
"He also liked Neverland and flying."
"And oh! He liked Halloweentown!"
"For Santa?" Asked Riku, like it was the obvious thing in the world.
"Of course for Santa."
"Aqua, do you remember what world he talked about for weeks after we came back?"
"Um...gosh, we went to a lot of worlds back then. Which one ware you thinking of?"
"Enchanted Dominion."
"Oh yeah!"
The other three just looked in question. "Where?"
Aqua sighed sadly. "It's one of the early worlds that fell into darkness. Princess Aurora and Maleficent's world."
Riku groaned loudly.
"What's crawled up your butt, Riku?" Asked Terra at the reaction.
"I hate that bitch so much." He shook his head. "Sorry for the language but…she's just the worst."
"I thought Princess Aurora was nice." Said Ventus, innocently. Since her world had fallen into the darkness, she had been living in Radiant Garden, along with two other Princesses, Snow White and Cinderella.
"Not Aurora! Maleficent! Geez…"
"She was the one who made you succumb to the darkness, isn't she?" Kairi asked.
He rolled his eyes, "yeah. Anyways, that's in the past now. What did you guys do in Enchanted Dominion?"
"You guys know about Aurora's curse, right?"
"Let's say I don't…" Ventus cringed.
"When she was an infant, Maleficent cursed her to die at the age of sixteen, after she would prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel. Only because of the good fairies did the curse change from death to sleep. And with true loves kiss, the spell would be broken."
"Well, it must not have come true then, given we saw Aurora a few weeks ago."
"Oh, it did come true. When we arrived in the world, the curse had already come to fruition. Aurora was asleep in the tallest tower, and the fairies had put the whole kingdom to sleep as well, so no one would worry."
"That had to be weird to walk into," Said Riku.
"Extremely." Deadpanned Terra.
"We wandered around for awhile until we found the tower that Aurora was sleeping in...well, Sora found it. He tried waking her up by tapping her shoulder and going, 'excuse me ma'am.' Then the good fairies found us and explained the curse, and that Aurora's true love, Prince Phillip, was being held prisoner in Maleficent's Castle."
Terra laughed, "when Fauna explained that Aurora needed a kiss to wake up, Sora said 'well, I'll kiss her!' He just didn't understand why it had to be this one guy specifically. It was hard to explain without using the analogy of a key to a lock…considering he's been able to unlock any door he's wanted with the same key his whole life."
"So what did you do?"
"Well, the fairies asked us for our help, since they didn't want to worry the kingdom, and they led us to the Forbidden Mountain. Sora at least stayed behind at the gate, but he insisted on being part of the adventure. So Terra and I snuck into the fortress and freed Prince Phillip, but we had to fight our way out. And just as we were about to reach King Stefan's Castle, Maleficent appeared."
"And she was pissed."
"I know how that is..." Riku said under his breath.
"The fairies had given Phillip a sword and shield, so he wasn't completely defenseless...but it wasn't much help. She turned into this huge dragon!"
"Oh wow, she can do that?" Ventus asked, horrified.
"She's a witch with the powers of darkness. There's no telling what all she can do."
"So you fought her as a dragon?"
"Yeah, and she put up one hell of a fight. And Sora fought valiantly, well, for a...I think he was five at the time?"
"You let him fight?!" Kairi shouted, aghast.
"We always did. How else was he supposed to learn?"
"I don't know! Somehow less dangerously!?"
"So, what happened?" Asked Riku. "Maleficent is still prowling around, but Aurora is awake. Homeless, but awake."
"Well, Phillip dealt the finishing blow." Aqua said.
Terra quoted, "'Sword of Truth, fly swift and sure. Let evil die, and good endure!' At least that's what the spell was supposed to do."
"But we were all surprised to hear she was back. She's like a weed that won't stop growing. We led Phillip up the tower to Aurora, and he kissed her. She woke up, and so did the rest of the kingdom. And they all lived happily ever after…until the darkness came."
Kairi hugged her legs to her chest, totally invested in the story of young Sora. "So, when you guys came back, he talked about it a lot?"
"Mostly the dragon," Terra explained. "In our downtime, we would play this game…" He trailed off, and then sighed, remembering.
Aqua laughed. "Oh my god! I remember! We would play this game where…" she caught her breath, "where one of us was the 'dragon', one was the 'Prince' and then the other was the 'Princess'. It was basically reenacting what had happened in Enchanted Dominion."
"Honestly, I loved being the Princess," Terra said, unabashed. "I actually just slept."
"The catch was that the 'Prince' had to wake up the 'Princess' with a kiss. Usually on the cheek or forehead."
Terra sighed, "yeah, but there was one time where Sora was the 'Dragon' and I was the 'Prince' and he insisted I kiss Aqua on the lips."
"Did you?"
The treehouse was quiet as he said quietly. "…yeah."
Riku and Ventus laughed loudly at his blushing face.
"I know it must hurt," Kairi said, once things calmed down. "Talking about him again, but it's really nice to hear about him."
Aqua smiled, forlorn. "Yeah…full disclosure, if this wild stranger ends up being him, I am going to cry."
"I had forgotten a lot of this until we started talking about it." Terra admitted. "It was just…easier not to think about it. I still remember him declaring, quite proudly, that one day he was going to find a Princess like Aurora, one that would wake up with his kiss. I told him it was inappropriate to kiss girls while they were sleeping and he retorted," he made his voice high pitched and whiny, "but all the other Princes are doing it!"
Something about that statement made Kairi's heart ache.
"That was over ten years ago, but it doesn't feel like it." Aqua said, raising to her feet. "Well, we have a jungle to search, and two things to find now."
