3. Hope
Sora leapt over the fence that surrounded Riku's house. Riku was still grounded and it was for the best that his parents didn't catch them meeting up. Making sure to avoid the front windows, he craned his neck upwards to see Riku's window on the second floor. Rolling up his sleeves, he ran up the vertical surface past Riku's window and unto the roof.
He had to hold down a cheer from his climb lest he get in trouble anyway. Knocking the window, he tried to catch his breath. Riku opened the window a few seconds later.
"What are you even doing on my roof?" Riku's voice was filled to the brim in exasperation. He reached out to Sora to help him sneak into his room.
Riku's room was like the office of an exploration team. All manner of Atlas' and maps riddled his room from top to bottom. There were even astronomical charts piled up on the desk. If Riku didn't become some kind of explorer when he grew up, then Sora would eat his shoes and gloves.
"I need your help with something, besides you could use the company," he teased.
"How gracious of you," Riku snorted and gestured for him to explain himself.
"Well you can grace me with your wisdom," Sora shot back. "So I've been feeling differently about Kairi for some strange reason. After talking with Mom, I found out that I have feelings for Kairi. Looking back, it was so obvious. I can't believe I thought she was replacing you as my best friend."
"Gee, thanks. I can just feel the love and appreciation," Riku snarked back.
"I said I was wrong. Don't focus on the small stuff. I need your advice on telling her how I feel. According to Mom, this is supposed to be complicated. I want this to be as smooth as possible. At the very least I don't want to upset Kairi."
Riku actually whistled, "Well look at you being all considerate. What gave you the bright idea to come to me? We don't really talk love. This is kind of Selphie's thing." He paused in thought and shivered.
Sora shrugged, "You're my best friend. If I can't ask you who else can I? It'll be pretty weird to ask Kairi and besides you're older. Who knows what you know?"
Riku cracked a smile at the so Sora reply. He crossed the room and dug into the cabinet connected to the desk in the corner of the room. In his hands was an overstuffed bag of flowers of all sorts of shapes and sizes. Dumping the contents of the bag on the desk, he said, "Pick a few of these and give it to Kairi when you have your big moment. Girls love junk like that."
"Whoa," Sora gaped with wide eyes, "Where did you get all these flowers from?"
Riku snorted, "Apparently, I'm pretty popular with my school mates. They got it into their heads that I'd be flattered with a shower of flowers. I don't even know what flowers came from what girl. It's getting a little ridiculous. I was going to dump them, so take any you want."
Sora bubbled with excitement and snatched up the flowers that caught his eyes. He took some billowy white ones, a few wide petal yellows ones, and a pink cluster of flowers.
"Carnations, tick seeds, and myrtles, eh?" Riku eyed critically. Before he could elaborate, his ears caught something so he hissed instead, "I think I hear footsteps. Get your butt out of here before you're grounded too."
"Got it," Sora didn't waste a moment in jumping out the windows, smoothly rolling, and hopping over the fence, all without damaging the flowers.
He didn't spare Riku a glance since he was now a man on a mission. If his memory served him right, Kairi would be going to her own boat to leave the main island. That was perfect. Following the path that would lead to the pier, he actually caught sight of Kairi not too long later.
Kairi was talking to Selphie as they walked at a sedate pace. Sora sped up and cut in between them, "Sorry! I need to borrow Kairi! See you later!" To the girls' continued surprise, he held Kairi's wrist and ran off.
When Selphie saw the flowers he held away from Kairi's sight, she giggled manically. Sora felt a shiver run down his spine. He wasn't going to think about that.
Kairi struggled with keeping up with his fervent pace. She swore to herself that she would take her races with the boys much more serious in the future, "Slow down! I'm going to fall over!"
He slid to a stop and flashed an apologetic smile, "Sorry about that. I just wanted to do this as soon as possible."
The two were near the massive cluster of rocks that waves would periodically crash against.
Sora revealed the self made bouquet, "Here, these are for you."
She blinked in surprise as she took the flowers, "Why thank you. These are beautiful. What is the occasion?" Despite her confusion, a smile worked its way to her lips. It was rather thoughtful, if not unexpected, gesture.
Sora took a deep breath and looked Kairi straight in the eyes, "I care about you a lot, Kairi. And my heart tells me that these feelings are more than those of friendship. I'm not really sure all the steps I'm supposed to take or if you even feel the same, but I wanted to let you know that I really like you. So would you like to hang out more, just the two of us?" He smiled with a hopeful look.
Kairi's expression had shifted from confusion to embarrassment and now warmth. Turning away she nervously played with her hair before making a concentrated effort to look him in the eyes again, "I don't know what to say, Sora. I'm really flattered by all of this." Her smile grew shy while her words turned softer, "So yes, I would like for the two of us to spend more time together."
An explosion of warmth encompassed Sora as he clinched his fist in victory and shouted to the sky, "Yes!"
She blinked from his reaction before falling into a small giggling fit, "You're such a dork."
He shrugged, all smiles, "I'll take it."
