Chapter 2: Boys Have Hormones

A knock on the door pulled Skye out of her deep sleep. She'd had the strangest dream…but like everything else, it slipped away from her before she could make heads or tails of it. Her memories were doing that as well: any memory that was from before she arrived on the Islands would pass through her mind, but before she could understand it, it would slip away again. Frowning, she sat up. There was another knock, this time followed by a voice.

"Good morning! Are you decent?" A woman called through the door. Skye looked down at herself. She was still wearing her clothes from the night before.

"Yes." She called in answer. The door opened and a kindly woman entered the room.

"Good morning. I'm Grandma Rose, Riku's grandmother. Feeling any better?" The woman asked.

"Yes." Skye answered shyly, overwhelmed. She could vaguely remember getting to the house, and even more vaguely seeing this grandmother figure as she and three others had helped her into the house.

"Here are some clothes for you to change into; I can imagine you'll want to get out of that dress. They're some of Kairi's old things. They're all too small for her, so I hope they fit. The bathroom's just down the hall, just so you know. Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes, come down to the kitchen once you're ready, alright?"

"A-alright." Skye said, slightly awed at how much this woman was willing to do for a girl that ha appeared on the beach with no explanation only the night before. Rose smiled at her and left, shutting the door softly behind her. Skye pulled herself out of bed and picked up the clothes. Pulling off the blood stained dress, she looked down at her arms. There were remnants of the cuts there, thin white marks against tan skin. She could tell from just looking at them and the tiny pinpoint scabs forming that the cuts were nowhere near deep enough to have bled like that all over the dress. She frowned down at the red on white crumple of cloth lying on the floor. The blood, then, couldn't be her own. She froze, a million different possibilities spilling into her brain. She shook them off as best she could. I won't be able to figure it out until I can remember where I came from, so until then, I'm not going to think about it. She decided, pulling on the short jean skirt. It fit perfectly. She'd always been small for her age. The shirt, a burgundy halter top with a pair of paopu fruit on it, was almost too big. She washed up in the bathroom and then, finally deciding that she was ready, she walked down the stairs. She found Riku in the kitchen already, eating cereal.

"Gmerfin." He greeted incompreshensibly. He swallowed the mouthful of cereal and grinned sheepishly. "Morning." He repeated, this time understandably. She grinned back at him.

"G'morning." As she spoke, she sat down and Rose walked in.

"Well, good morning to the two of you. Riku tells me your name is Skye?"

"Yes."

"Very pretty name. Would you like some breakfast?" Rose asked, now standing in front of the sink.

"Thank you, and yes please." Skye answered, smiling. She took an empty seat at the table. Rose looked through her cupboards.

"Is cereal alright? I don't have any other food in my house, I have to go shopping today." She asked, her voice slightly muffled.

"That's great. Thank you so much for doing all this for me." Skye answered gratefully.

"Not a problem! It's wonderful to have someone else in this house again." Rose said, smiling kindly at her and placing a bowl in front of her. She ate quietly, acutely aware that Riku's eyes were on her. Finally, he spoke.

"Do you want a tour of the Islands?" He offered, standing up to put his bowl in the sink. Skye nodded.

"Sure!" She finished her own breakfast, put her dishes away after Riku and followed him out of the house. Standing outside, he shaded his eyes and looked around, frowning.

"Okay, so maybe there isn't anything interesting to show you." He said. She grinned. He sighed. "Well, my house is the one on the corner, Kairi lives across from me and Sora lives there, two doors down. We usually hang out on the other Islands, this one's kind of boring." He and Skye walked down the road towards the docks where Riku's boat was tied up.

"So, who exactly are Sora and Kairi?" She asked sheepishly. Riku grinned and helped her into the boat.

"Sorry. They're my two best friends, both a year younger than me. How old are you anyways?" He asked, pushing off from the dock.

"17." Skye answered, trailing her fingers over the surface of the water. Riku blinked at her.

"You're the same age as me? But…" He stared at her, surprised.

"I'm short? I know." She said, smirking. Riku was still gaping at her. She crossed her arms. "Come on, it's not like I'm even that short." As she spoke, the boat thudded against the wood of the dock. Both of them stood up and she looked up at him, realizing that she was at the very least a full head shorter than him. He stepped up onto the dock.

"You're not?" He asked, faking surprise. She sighed.

"Okay fine I'm short. But short people are cool too." She told him matter-of-factly. He led her off the dock and onto the beach.

"I never said they weren't" He spoke quietly, grinning and putting a finger to his lips, signaling for her to be quiet. She watched, slightly confused, until she saw two people standing on the shore not far away. Riku approached them from behind until he was standing barely inches behind the amber-haired boy.

"Kai?" He was saying. His companion, the dark haired girl, smiled.

"Mhm?"

"I love you." He said, blushing slightly.

"Well, isn't that cute." Riku said, chuckling. Both of them yelped, jumping away from him.

"RIKU!" The girl scolded. "You ruined the moment!" She pouted. Skye, who had come up behind Riku, was laughing helplessly at the looks on their faces. Riku's grin widened.

"That's Kairi and Sora." He said. Skye nodded. Sora rolled his eyes.

"You need to get yourself a girl." He stated. Riku raised an eyebrow.

"Really." He said, crossing his arms, wondering what reasoning his younger friend could have for that comment. Kairi laid eyes on Skye, who was still standing next to Riku.

"Hey, I'm Kairi! Come on, I'll show you around if you want." She offered. Skye smiled at her.

"Thanks but Riku—." She started to say before Kairi interrupted her.

"I think him and Sora are a bit busy." She noted. Skye looked over at the boys. Riku was trying to throw Sora in the water. Sora was trying to turn the tables. Kairi giggled. "Let's go, before we get dragged into the fray."

…………………………………………………………………

The two girls had covered the whole Island, and then gone back to Kairi's house, where the girls changed into bathing suits and then put their clothes back over top, planning to go for a dip later. By the time they'd gotten back, Wakka had shown up and was teaching Sora and Riku blitzball basics. The two girls stood on the dock, tying up the boat, when a strained voice came from behind them.

"Look out!" It was Sora. Spinning around, Skye saw the blitzball coming flying at her. She let out a gasp and knocked it away. It veered off in another direction, gaining speed. Riku popped out of the water at a very inopportune time, and both Kairi and Skye cringed. It hit him square on the back of the head. Sora and Wakka started laughing at him. He dove under the water and resurfaced closer to the docks.

"Thanks." He said dully while Skye grinned sheepishly. Kairi shrugged it off.

"We're going swimming at the cove. See you guys later." She told them, motioning for Skye to follow her. Wakka swam towards the shore and stood up.

"Wait a minute, ya? You gonna introduce me?" He asked Kairi, motioning towards Skye. Kairi nodded.

"Right, okay. Wakka, this is Skye. She just got here last night. Skye, this is Wakka. He never goes anywhere without his blitzball." She said. Skye smiled at him.

"Nice to meet you."

"You too, ya? See you later, these two still need loads of coaching." He said, grinning. Sora kicked water up at him.

"I'm not that bad! At least I'm better than Riku!" He said indignantly. Riku laughed.

"You wish." All three guys disappeared back underwater as the two girls crossed the beach and through the beach house. On the other side, they crossed the bridge and headed down to the cove. Kairi tossed the bag with towels and things on the white sand and changed out of her clothes, Skye following suit. Kairi had on a white bikini and Skye had on a red one. Skye waded out into the water up to her knees before making a shallow dive. As she surfaced, Kairi stepped out into the water. She put her air mattress out on the water and carefully sat down on it. She grinned.

"Hey I didn't fall off!" She announced. Skye grinned back at her.

"Umm? Good job?" She said, sounding slightly unsure of what to say. Kairi leaned forward so that she could paddle out to where Skye was floating on her back, and immediately the mattress flipped over, dumping Kairi into the water. She surfaced, sputtering. Skye laughed helplessly. Kairi pouted and tried to get back on again. She fell off, again. She tried again multiple times, slowly but surely drifting out further from the shore and closer to Skye. Finally, Skye held it still as Kairi scrambled on. Even then, she still fell off. She spouted water out of her mouth and made a face.

"Salt water tastes icky." She announced. Skye grinned at her, and in one smooth motion, pulled herself onto the air mattress and crossed her legs. Kairi gaped at her.

"It's not fair!" She decided, pulling herself up onto the mattress in a much less graceful fashion. She finally got herself sitting down comfortably and pouted. Skye grinned.

"At least this time you didn't fall off." She observed. Immediately, Kairi's expression brightened.

"You're right!" She grinned and then, moving and adjusting her position slightly, she lay down on her stomach. Skye followed suit, laying on her back and looking up at the clouds. There was a long pause.

"It's so nice here." Skye commented quietly. Kairi nodded.

"I love these Islands. It's funny, two years ago, all we could ever think of was leaving, going adventuring on other worlds. We certainly got our wish, but not the way we wanted it. The Heartless came." She said. Skye looked at her.

"The Heartless…? Where have I heard that before?" She asked, frowning with thought. Kairi looked surprised.

"You haven't heard of the Heartless? Oh, right, you don't remember. You know, I didn't always live here. I came from a world called Hollow Bastion, but I couldn't remember anything about where I came from before either." She said.

"Do you remember now?" Skye asked.

"Yep. I remembered two years ago." Kairi answered.

"When the Heartless came?"

"No, when I went to Hollow Bastion."

"Oh. What are Heartless, anyways?"

………………………………………………………

The two girls lay on the air mattress for a long time, talking mostly about what had happened to Kairi during that time two years before, but also talking about what little Skye could remember about where she was from, and what it could mean.

"All I remember is running as fast as I could, and the only thought on my mind was getting away from him." Skye said.

"Who's him?" Kairi asked.

"I don't know. But I was running like my life depended on it, and he was yelling all sorts of threats after me. Then I remember falling and hitting water. At first the water was freezing, but then it got slowly warmer and saltier, until I ended up over there." She answered pointing. Kairi ran a finger over the surface of the water.

"I wonder who he was? And what he could want with you? Well, I don't think he could follow you here. It sounds like pure luck that you even ended up here." She said, sounding like she was thinking aloud. Skye nodded.

"It's a good thing I ended up here." She agreed. Kairi grinned.

"Right. We'll take good care of you."

……………………………………………………….

Wakka stepped out of the water and onto the beach.

"Okay, next lesson: how to get the water out of your lungs." He took a step and then kicked his legs up, ending up on his hands on the sand. He took a deep breath and sneezed, spraying water everywhere. Sora laughed and Riku made a face.

"Bleh." The older teen stepped out of the water and sat down, taking a deep breath and holding it in. Wakka shook his head.

"It works a lot better if you do a hand stand, man." He said, shaking his head. Riku shrugged and breathed out, spouting water out of his mouth. He cleared his throat and stood up.

"Thanks for the tip." He said, grinning. Sora came out of the water and tried to imitate Riku. He started to cough and sputter. Still making choking sounds, he cleared his throat and shook his head.

"That didn't work so well." He stated, his voice cracking and still choked. He cleared his throat again and grinned sheepishly. Wakka grinned back at him.

"We'll work on that, ya? I'm off to see Lu." He said, waving absently and walking away. Lulu was a goth who had appeared with him after the Islands were rebuilt. Selphie, too, had reappeared with the quiet Irvine. Tidus had reappeared for a short while too, but disappeared again shortly after Sora and Riku's return. Sora and Riku were left on the beach.

"Wanna head down to the cove?" Sora suggested. Riku nodded.

"Sure, Kairi and Skye said they'd be there." He replied. The two walked through the beachhouse and across the bridge. As they headed around the tower, Riku elbowed Sora and motioned towards the water. Kairi was lying on the air mattress, relaxing in the sun, in a bikini.

"Nice view huh?" Riku teased, smirking. Sora elbowed him back, turning red. The two started walking out onto the beach when Skye surfaced and pulled herself out of the water and onto the mattress. She pulled all of her black hair over her shoulder and twisted the water out of it before lying back on the mattress with Kairi. Sora smirked as he caught Riku watching.

"Nice view huh?" He echoed, grinning evilly.