Chapter 3: Water Fights

Skye was lying down next to Kairi on the air mattress, relaxing. She grinned.

"I think Sora's staring at you." She stated. Kairi turned her head slightly and opened an eye a little.

"Riku's staring at you." She answered matter-of-factly. Skye sat up and saw the two guys on the beach poking fun at each other.

"HEY!" She shouted, waving. Both of them stopped and turned to look at her. Kairi sat up next to her, tried to wave, and immediately fell off the mattress. She pouted and Skye grinned, offering her a hand up. Kairi took it and tried to climb up. She scrambled up so that she had one leg on the mattress and the other was still dangling in the water. Sticking out her tongue in her effort, she swung her leg up, and instead of bringing her leg up onto the mattress, managed to pull the entire thing over, sending Skye tumbling into the water with a splash. She surfaced, giggling. Sora and Riku were laughing at them from the beach. Skye smirked at them.

"I'd like to see you guys try to get on this thing!" She told them, defending Kairi. Riku raised an eyebrow.

"Is that a dare?" He asked, eyes flashing. She nodded. He and Sora looked at each other and grinned. They were wearing their swimming suits from playing blitzball with Wakka, and each a t-shirt. They pulled off their shirts, threw them aside and dove in. They looked for all accounts like they were racing each other. Knowing them, they probably were. Kairi and Skye were floating on their backs, trying to keep track of the blurry shadows underwater that were Sora and Riku. Kairi looked around.

"Where'd they go?" She asked, frowning. Skye shrugged.

"I don't know. They can't stay underwater forever." She answered. There was a pause, and Kairi let out a yelp that was cut short by her head going underwater. Skye sat up, starting to tread water and looking around. "Kairi?" She asked, confused. Just then, fingers closed around her ankle pulled. She gasped, taking a breath before she dropped into the water. Exhaling bubbles, she allowed her eyes to open. The salty water stung a little, but not nearly as much as she had expected. The first thing she saw was a very smug looking Riku grinning at her. She stuck her tongue out at him and tried to ask him what happened to Kairi, though her words came out only as bubbles. He looked amused at her attempt, but seemed to know what she wanted anyways, and pointed. Turning around, she saw Sora and Kairi, suspended in the water, in each others arms. She grinned in spite of her self, and started when Riku shot past her. She looked in the direction he was going, and saw that the current was dragging the mattress out to sea. With a sharp kick, she followed him. She could see the light bending where the jet of water that was the current began. She surfaced, took another deep breath, and dove again, still following Riku. As she entered the current she could feel it pushing her along. Riku was a good way ahead of her now, and the mattress was disappearing. She starting kicking again, and slowly but surely caught up, even zooming past him. Twisting around, she stuck her tongue out at him. He grinned, taking it as a challenge and starting swimming harder. In return, so did she. It didn't really occur to either of them just how far and fast they were going. Riku was slowly catching up. She was running out of air, so she surfaced and dove again. By the time she reached the jet of water again, the two of them were next to each other. Skye grabbed his shoulder and tried to push him backwards, propelling herself forward, but he caught her wrist and with a quick tug, he pulled himself back level with her. They were fast approaching the mattress now. Skye kicked and shot forward again, so that she was underneath the mattress. She kicked herself upwards and reached for it, missing by only inches. With the force of her breaking the surface, however, she had managed to knock it out of the fast-flowing current. Riku surfaced next to it and pulled himself on. Skye took her time swimming over. Finally climbing on top of it, she sighed. Both of them were breathing hard.

"That was tiring." She admitted. Riku grinned.

"Are you joking? I'm only just getting started." He told her. She pushed him. He was, in truth, tired enough that he didn't bother reacting and just fell into the water. She grinned as he grabbed the edge of the mattress and floated lazily.

"Liar." She answered. He shrugged, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. Then, with a sudden flurry of movement, he pushed the mattress up and over, with Skye falling into the water underneath it. She came to the surface, sputtering. She scrambled back onto the mattress, which Riku was already sitting on, grinning smugly. She shook her head, scattering water droplets everywhere. Then, pushing her hair out of her face, she grinned at him. The two of them sat, cross legged, across from each other for a long time. Skye was caught in his eyes; deep, ocean blue and intense like nothing she'd ever seen. He was just as tangled irreversibly in hers; emerald green and always dancing. She has beautiful eyes, he decided before he realized what he was thinking. Then he blinked, surprised at himself. Wait a minute! What am I thinking? I hadn't even met her this time yesterday! He scolded himself, looking away. His jaw dropped. She giggled, amused at the look of shock on his face.

"What?" She asked, holding back her laughter.

"Where are the islands?" He asked in return. She looked around. He was right. There was nothing in any direction. She frowned.

"Ummmm… The current! That really fast flowing current! If we find it again, we can follow it back, right?" She asked, slipping into the water. Riku nodded.

"Sure, but it's an issue of finding it." He said, diving off. She was clutching on to the mattress, making sure it didn't slip away again, and started swimming leisurely in the direction that she thought the current was in.

"Where do you think it might be?" She asked after a long moment.

"I don't know, but if we keep going in one direction for long enough, we're bound to find something." He answered. She nodded, swimming slowly forward and dropping underwater every once in a while to see if there was any sign of the current or an island.

………………………………………

Riku and Skye searched for a long time. It was well into the afternoon, when Skye finally spotted something. She was standing on top of the mattress, scanning the horizon.

"HeeeEEEYY!" She shouted suddenly, pointing. In her surprise and excitement, she took a step backwards, the pressure of her foot pushing the mattress under the water and sending her tumbling backwards. When she reached the surface again, Riku was floating with his arms crossed on the side of the mattress, laughing.

"What was that about?" He asked. She pulled herself back onto the mattress and scanned the horizon again.

"There, over there! There's an island!" She said, shading her eyes and squinting. Riku pulled himself onto the mattress and sat next to her, looking in the direction she was pointing.

"Hey, you're right! There is something there!" He said, leaning forward. Both of them jumped off the mattress and dragged it behind them as they swam slowly but surely towards it. Getting closer, Skye noticed that what she'd seen was a tiny chain of islands, more or less just bumps on a wide sandbar that ran as far as the eye could see in both directions. They reached the sandbar long before they reached any of the tiny islands. Both of them could stand up on the sand, up to about Riku's hip and about Skye's waist. She let herself drop underwater and came back up again, floating on her back.

"So? Where are we?" She asked. She was drifting slowly towards one of the larger islands, and Riku was walking beside her, still dragging the mattress. He pushed it forward and watched it beach on the shore.

"This place is called the Oasis. There's a fresh water spring over there." He told her, pointing to an island a little ways away. "I haven't been here in a long time. And now that I think about it, I don't even think that Kairi's ever been here. It's too far away for most people to bother coming to." He said, shielding his eyes and looking around. She could feel her fingers dragging against the sand and decided that she must be close to one of the Islands. She stood up and waded over to the biggest island, where Riku had said that there was the spring. This was the only one that was completely shielded with trees. The rest were mostly bare and sandy. She stepped up onto the sand and smiled.

"It's too bad that no one comes here very often. It's really pretty." As she spoke, she looked at the wall of trees that surrounded the oasis. Riku walked up on to the shore next to her and motioned for her to follow. She did as she was told and he led her to a cleared path through the trees. Down the path was a small sandy opening with a deep pool just off to the side and a semicircle of warn down logs around it.

"People used to come around here a lot more than they do now. I can't figure out why they stopped." Riku said, sitting down on one of the logs. Skye sat down next to the pool, cupped water in her hands and drank. The sand ended just beneath the surface, becoming sheer rock that dropped down into the darkness below. It was impossible to see the bottom. She passed her fingers across the surface and then stood up, sitting down next to Riku.

"You think Sora and Kairi are wondering where we are yet?" She asked, looking up at the sky.

"Are you kidding? The two of them are so absorbed in each other they wouldn't notice if the island sunk underneath them." He answered, laughing. Skye grinned at him.

"I think it's cute."

"Right. Cute. I'm not one to get googly eyes." He said matter-of-factly.

"You know, I think Sora was right. You do need to get yourself a girl." She replied, standing up. He rolled his eyes.

"Not you too." He sighed and stood up. The two of them walked out of the clearing and back out onto the strip of beach that ran around the edge of the little island. Riku sat down on the mattress. Skye flopped onto it next to him, propelling it out into the water. The rebound knocked him clear off the mattress and into the water. She was lying on her stomach, laughing. He surfaced, shaking the water out of his hair. She giggled, standing over him on the mattress.

"Nice fall." She said, smirking. His hand shot out and snatched her ankle, pulling. She fell forward, tumbling into the water next to him. He grinned triumphantly.

"Have a good trip?" He asked smugly. She smiled innocently at him.

"Yes, thanks." With that, she dunked him underwater. He reacted just fast enough, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her under with him. She yelped, though it was drowned out when she hit the water. He shot past her, propelling himself toward the air mattress. She caught his ankle and pulled sharply, pulling herself up next to him. Both of them climbed up, thought Skye had her bearings again first, so with a quick push, Riku was back in the water. He surfaced smirking, and then disappeared in the turquoise of the water. A moment later, with no warning, he came up underneath the mattress, flipping it over and flipping her off of it. She let out a quick cry of surprise and laughed, treading water. Riku stretched himself across the mattress and rested his chin on his fist. She pulled herself up and on, eyes always on him. He stared back at her, just as suspiciously. Both were smirking. He moved towards her to push her off, but she was ready; she grabbed his wrists and threw all of her weight back at him, knocking him onto his back with her on top of him. She grinning triumphantly and stuck her tongue out. She opened her mouth to say something, but whatever it was came out as a shriek and giggle as Riku caught hold of her wrists and flipped the pair of them over so that he was on top if her.

"Nice try." He said, grinning. She grinned back at him.

"I thought so." She answered. As she spoke, she used her feet to push his legs off of the side of the mattress, dragging the rest of him down with it. She sat up and crossed her legs, grinning widely at him. He surfaced and pouted at her.

"That wasn't very nice." He told her. She shrugged.

"Oh well. I win." She answered. He raised his eyebrows.

"Is that what you think?" He asked, reaching up and grabbing her by the waist to pull her into the water with him. She burst out laughing and squirmed away from him. He grinned evilly. "Ticklish?"

"No." She lied helplessly, edging away from him. His evil grin widened. She cringed. "Uh oh." She said slowly. He swam towards the mattress and she kicked water up at him. A full barrage of water continued for a long while. When she finally stopped to see where he was, he was prepared. He propelled himself forward, sending a wave of water back at her. Then, he dove underwater, swimming underneath the mattress and coming up on the other side. She didn't realize where he was until he pulled himself up onto the mattress behind her. She felt the pressure and spun, eyes going wide. He grinned at her.

"Boo." He said, catching her waist. She squealed and pulled back, laughing. She crossed her arms across her stomach and grinned, eyes flashing as she watched him.

"You'd better be careful. I'm plotting." She told him. He rolled his eyes.

"Yeh, okay." He answered disbelievingly. She lunged at him, barely managing to pin him. She grinned, thinking she was prepared for his counter. She wasn't. It took just about no effort at all for Riku to flip them.

"That never works!" Skye whined.

"Right. So what did you learn today?" He asked, smirking triumphantly. She looked thoughtful for a moment. Then she tried pushing his legs off the mattress again, though he seemed more prepared for her counter than she was for his. She pouted.

"You still don't win you know." She told him.

"Riiight." He said quietly, letting his face fall closer to hers. Their noses were touching, and if either of them moved… Riku leaned a little bit closer and Skye let her eyes flutter shut, but in leaning forward, he put enough pressure on his hands to send both of them tumbling off the mattress. The shock of the water and return of logic made Skye blush. She'd only gotten to the Islands yesterday. What was she thinking? Riku's thoughts were similar. In an effort to keep from looking at each other, they both looked towards the horizon. Skye grinned, relieved that she had something to say to end to awkward silence.

"Looks like we drifted back to the Island." She noted. Riku looked up and the first thing he saw was the paopu tree. He nodded, looking mildly surprised.

"Lucky." He said, sounding like he wasn't paying any attention. She crossed her arms.

"You certainly sound pleased." She told him sarcastically. He blinked at her.

"Huh? Oh, right. Sorry." He answered, grinning sheepishly. The two of them waded up to the shore and tossed the mattress onto the beach. Kairi came running down the beach towards them, hand in hand with Sora.

"Hey! Where have you been?" She asked, almost scolding them. Riku crossed his arms.

"Sorry mother." He said sarcastically. She glared at him. Skye and Sora tried to keep from laughing. Kairi rolled her eyes.

"Grandma Rose is looking for you." She said shortly. She looked at Skye. "Come on, we can go back to my house and get changed for dinner."

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Bad ending, but oh well. Next chappie, next day. It makes sense like that, right? I'll update soon hopefully. R+R!