SYNOPSIS: Sora has made the perfect gift for Kairi during Christmas, but while he's ready to give his gift, Kairi has yet to find one for Sora.
Sora sat in his chair admiring the gift he made for Kairi. It resembled her lucky charm that she gave to him when they were children except it was more pink and on the top of the shell it was her face instead of his and in the middle was heart.
"It looks perfect right?" he asked his friend Riku who was sitting on his bed.
"Yeah, it looks good." Riku said.
"It took a lot of deep diving to do so, but I managed to collect enough shells to make this, with some help." Sora said.
"Well, I'm happy for you." Riku said as he looked out the window solemnly.
Sora noticed this and asked, "hey are you okay?" making Riku snap back to reality.
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine." Riku said.
"You sure?" Sora asked
"Of course," he said.
"Okay, well come help me wrap this." Sora said.
Riku nodded his head and brought over some wrapping paper as Sora put the charm in a case that had a star shaped symbol.
Meanwhile
Kairi was frantically pacing back and forth in Namine's living room while Namine sat on the couch looking at her move from left to right.
"Kairi-"
"Nam if this is about Sora's early Christmas present, the one that I have yet to give him, the one that I waited until the last minute to get him, I don't want to hear it." Kairi said.
"Don't you think you're pushing yourself too much? It's only a christmas present." Namine said.
"I know that, it's just…*sigh* Sora's not just your ordinary boy y'know? He's so kind and generous and unbelievably optimistic; what do you get the boy who has everything?" Kairi questioned as she finally sat down.
"Kai, you worry too much." Namine said while putting a hand on her shoulder
"I know, I just want to find the perfect gift before he gives me his." Kairi said
"Well that's gonna have to wait because you have brunch with him at 10:00." Namine said, making Kairi go-wide eyed.
She quickly pulled out her phone and checked the time and saw that it was 9:30. For some levity, she screamed inside her head to not scare her friend, but she still frantically ran to get dressed as her friend just sat there with her head on her fist acting like she's never seen her acting like this before..
"Thanks for the talk Nam, see you later." Kairi said as she grabbed her pink jacket and ran out the door.
"Hey thanks Namine, oh your welcome." Namine says to herself.
She then pulls out her phone and looks at an item in her reminder app. It was a picture of special skateboard wheels that were $200, this made her look solemn for a moment.
"I wish I could take my own advice." she said.
Later
Kairi arrived at the diner and set her bag down on the seat as she waited for Sora; eventually he did show up wearing a black and red hoodie with black pants as he sat down on the other side of the table.
"Sorry I'm late." he said.
"It's okay." Kairi said
A waiter then showed up to take their order; Sora ordered pancakes while Kairi got eggs and bacon. As they were eating they started talking about what they've been up to which sometimes got a laugh out of either one. Once some of the laughter died down they started looking at each other, which caused them both to look away with red cheeks.
"So listen, christmas is coming up and...I wanted to give you something important." Sora said as he started to pull out his gift.
Seeing this made Kairi start to panic and started to look from side-to-side.
"Kairi-"
"Whoo! It's getting late isn't it? Heh, well I better get going!" she said interrupting him.
"But it's only 11:30." Sora perplexed.
"Uh yeah, I'm late for a...thing." Kairi said.
"What thing?" Sora asked.
"Don't worry about it." she said.
Kairi kissed him on the cheek and said, "love you, bye!"
"Love you..too." Sora said, confused after she had left.
Outside, Kairi had her hands on her knees as she was panting loudly.
That was close! Sorry Sora but I still need more time to find your gift.
With that in mind she ran to the mall to find a perfect gift for Sora.
Later
Kairi wandered around the mall and looked around frantically at the different shops with a bunch of lines in front of them.
"Not good, not good at all. How am I going to find a present at this rate?" she asked herself.
Eventually she sat down on a bench and mulled over the situation.
"I guess I'm going to have to face the fact that I can't give Sora Hikari anything he doesn't want, need, or already has." she said to herself.
As she was talking to herself, she heard a child crying somewhere. She decided to follow the sound and found a young girl near a fountain with her head in knees crying. The girl had brown hair and blue eyes with a purple coat and grey pants as well as a flower hairpiece in her hair
Kairi kneeled down next to her as the girl raised her head and looked at Kairi with teary eyes.
"What's wrong sweetie?" she asked.
"sniff* I can't find my parents. I-i *hic* thought they would be here because *hic* This is where we always g-go during Christmas. But they're not!" the girl said as she started crying again.
Kairi, feeling sad, decided to give her a hug to comfort her.
"It's okay, I'll help you find your parents." she said.
"Y-you will?" the girl asked.
Kairi nodded her head, "what's your name?" she asked
"Mary." the girl named Mary said.
"Okay let me call my friend and we'll help you find your parents." Kairi said as she got her phone.
Later Sora arrived at the mall and found Kairi and Mary holding hands.
"Came as soon as I could, what happened?" Sora asked
"She lost her parents and now she can't find them. She thought they might be in the mall so we were planning on searching around" Kairi explained.
"Alright, Mary I want you to take us to all the places you and your parents go." Sora said while kneeling down to her level.
Mary nodded her head and the three went off to go find the girl's parents. As they were walking they all held hands to keep from separating, if one were to look at the three they would assume they're one big happy family and that's what Sora and Kairi felt too.
They traveled all over the mall at the different places Mary said they usually go but found nothing. As time went by, the shops started to close and the lines were getting shorter.
"What're we gonna do? The mall's gonna close soon." Sora said.
"I know." Kairi said.
Hearing this made Mary start sniffling.
"Hey it's okay, we'll find your parents." Sora said.
"But we searched everywhere, where else could we go?" Kairi questioned.
This then made Mary gasp and say, "the big tree!"
"You mean the tree in town square?" Sora questioned.
"Yes, that's got to be where they are! We go there every year for Christmas." she said.
"Guess that's our best bet." Kairi said.
"Right, let's go." Sora said.
Later that evening.
Sora drove them to the big tree in town square and they all got out and searched the area looking for Mary's parents. A lot of people were gathered here to watch the tree light up making it harder for them to search.
As they kept searching, hope was beginning to wane within the young girl and the couple, but just when all hope seemed lost, they heard a voice call out her name which made her run after it with the two following behind.
The voice started getting louder as they got closer. Once they made it through a crowd of people, on the other side was a woman with black hair and a man with brown hair tearing up as they saw the young girl in front of them.
"MARY!" they both said.
"MOMMY, DADDY!" Mary shouted as she ran to them.
She embraced them tightly as they all slowly kneeled down while crying.
"I couldn't find you guys anywhere!" Mary said.
"We thought we lost you!" the father said.
"It was thanks to them." Mary said as she pointed to Sora and Kairi who smiled and waved at them.
"Thank you both so much for returning our daughter to us." the mother said.
"You're very welcome." Kairi said.
"Come on, let's go home." The father said.
"Wait, before we do…" Mary said.
She then walked over to the two and removed the flower hairclip and gave it to Kairi.
"It's a thank you gift." she said.
"Aww, thanks Mary. I'll hold onto it forever." Kairi said.
Mary then nodded her head and ran back to her parents while waving goodbye to the two.
After they left it just the two of them again.
"Kairi-"
"Oh I have to check on Namine for-" she said interrupting him and about to walk away
Sora grabbed her shoulder before she could go and said, "no, no you don't."
"I don't?" she questioned while turning to face him.
"You just need to stay right there, and take this in." Sora said as he got out his gift and gave it to Kairi.
As she unwrapped the wrapping paper and saw the gift, she gasped upon seeing what it was.
"This looks just like…" she nearly whispered.
"The good luck charm that you gave me. I wanted to give you something to let you know that, I consider you a part of my family and that now you have that wherever you go I'll always be there with you." Sora explained.
Kairi felt her heart soar then eventually sink as she sighed sadly.
"I-i mean if you don't like it-"
"No no Sora I do it's just that...I didn't get you a present. I-I-i didn't know what to get or.." Kairi said as tears streamed down her face.
Sora put his hands on her cheeks and wiped her tears with his thumbs then said, "hey, hey, stop. There's no need to cry, besides you did give me the best gift. Kairi you got me the greatest gift I could ask for. You, you just being here with me, is all I need, Just like Mary and her parents." Sora explained.
Kairi smiled and embraced Sora tightly which he returned as the tree behind them lit up brightly like a star making the audience give out cheers of approval.
"Merry Christmas Sora." Kairi said.
"Merry Christmas Kairi." Sora said.
The end
Next chapter- Rokunami: gift of Magi