Final Kingdom
Chapter 9: The Meeting.
Kaori got on the boat, but wasn't sure what was really going on.
After a couple days traveling, she started to sleep through just about everything. On the last night before they got to the Moonflow, she went to sleep, and didn't wake up till they were already in an inn on the moonflow.
While she was asleep, she had another dream. It was the same one as she had seen with the people who said that they were lost.
When she woke up she was in a bed in the inn. As she looked around she saw Yuna sitting on a chair, very tired.
"What is going on?" Kaori asked, sitting up in her bed.
"We're here, but Tidus is wanting me to take it easy. He's saying I'm too far along to do much. Overprotective husband that he is." Yuna said, looking over towards her.
"Well, you are nearly seven months." Kaori said, getting dressed and cleaned up. Then she remembered something. She gasped. "I have to hurry. I need to find someone."
"Who are you needing to find?" Tidus asked, walking into the room.
"No one important, just somebody that I saw in my dreams, and it seems like a lot of the time they come true, what with all the stuff with my brother, so I thought I would check it out and see if I could help them. They seemed lost." Kaori replied, pulling on her boots.
"Where did you see them?" Tidus asked, wondering if he had seen them. Around here, just about everybody knew everybody else.
"Near the water, I think, it looked like it, but I'm not sure. I just know that I have to hurry to get there in time." Kaori replied, grabbing her sword.
"Mind if I go with you?" Yuna asked, getting her guns and staff.
"Not at all." Kaori said, smiling at her.
Yuna smiled in return, but Tidus wasn't so sure.
"Are you sure you should Yuna?" He asked, worry etched on his face clearly.
"It will be good for me. Besides, I can't just sit here all day, it's driving me crazy, and it's doing more harm than good." Yuna replied, hitting him softly on his arm.
"I guess you're right." Tidus said, smiling softly at her.
As they walked through town to where Kaori thought they were, she was looking for them while Yuna was talking to her, though she hardly heard anything that was said.
"Kaori, calm down. We'll find them if they're here." Yuna said, taking her arm and slowing her down to a walk, since she had sped up to a run.
"I'm just so anxious. I feel they will be able to help me, and I'm guessing from the description that you've given me, the same thing happened to them as to me. Or something close to it." Kaori said, realizing they probably hadn't come through a mirror they found in their parents closet.
"Did I ever mention how you have to much energy for someone who has lived here their whole life?" Yuna asked, realizing that she wasn't completely human, though she had been contemplating on it for months.
"No, I don't believe so." Kaori said, wondering what she meant.
"I mean, no one here has that energy after doing everything that you do. It's not normal human behavior. Only the children have that kind of energy, and then not even as long as you do." Yuna told her, trying to slow her down so she could catch her breath.
Kaori slowed down just a bit, but enough that Yuna had an easier time of keeping up with her. Once they got to where Kaori thought she saw them, she instantly started looking in every corner, and not paying any attention to what was going on with Yuna. Though it was not very good.
She didn't notice, but suddenly while she was looking, she heard someone yell behind her. She instantly got out her sword, and prepared to use magic, and just in case, threw out a small bolt of lightning, thinking that someone was attacking Yuna.
"Whoa! Easy! We're just trying to help." One of the males said, holding up his hands, showing Kaori that he didn't mean to fight.
Suddenly she saw why they were trying to help.
"Yuna!" Kaori exclaimed, putting her sword away and running towards Yuna, though still prepared for a fight.
"Tidus." Yuna said, trying to get through the contractions. She was having the baby, even though it would be two and a half months early.
"We're going." Kaori said, trying to pick her up so she could take her back.
"Here." The blonde haired male said. He picked her up like she was the weight of a feather.
"I could have gotten her." Kaori said, not liking that for once since before she could remember, she had to rely on someone else for something. "But I still thank you." She said as an afterthought.
She directed all of them to the inn, where since they had been gone longer than he had planned, Tidus was pacing up and down in front of the doorway, so when he saw her being carried, he immediately came running.
"Yuna!" Tidus yelled, taking her from the blonde's arms. "Are you okay? I knew it was a bad idea for you to go out, now look what happened." He took her in the inn to lay her on a bed.
After he had taken her inside, Kaori saw Wakka run inside then runs back outside to get the doctor. After she saw this, Kaori turned towards their helpers.
"I thank you again." She said, trying to figure out why they were here, and why they would help total strangers.
"It was no trouble at all. We're glad to be able to help." The black haired girl said.
"I'm sorry. Where are my manners. My name is Kaori. That was Yuna. Lady High Summoner Yuna." Kaori said, making sure that they were respectful.
"I'm Cloud." The blonde man said, pointing to each in turn. "This is Tifa, Reno, Rude, Aeris, and Zack. I'm hoping that you might be able to help us." He said, turning back to Kaori.
"Nice to meet all of you." Kaori said, nodding to each when they were introduced. "Would you like to join me? I was just going to be eating my lunch."
"Of course, we would love to, but we don't want to intrude. Will Lady Yuna be okay?" Tifa asked, looking towards the door, noticing all the sounds emitting from inside.
"She'll be fine. She's tough. She's been through much more than this, and this is her second child anyway. She's been through this thing before, only this time she'll have drugs, since she doesn't really want to do things like last time." Kaori said, remembering all the times she had told her about it.
"Then lets leave. I'm starved." Cloud said, starting to walk over to where they came from.
"This way." Kaori said, noticing that he turned on his heel, and acted like he meant to do that.
They walked for about half a kilometer and came to the café.
"Here we are." Kaori said, walking over to the door, but not making there before Reno.
When he opened the door and stood there, she just stared at him like he was doing something unheard of.
"Kaori? Are you okay?" Tifa asked, walking up to her and putting her hand on her shoulder.
When she asked that, Kaori all of a sudden had a flashback.
'Kaori, are you okay? You really should be more careful. You remind me of your father, always getting into trouble and getting hurt. Oh well, lets get that taken care of. Dustin, can you get me the band-aids and peroxide please? Thank you.' Virginia said, sitting Kaori up on the counter and getting a wet rag.
'Mommy, how come I'm so different from all the other kids?' Kaori asked, noticing that not everyone could smell like her, or see like her, and they got hurt a lot easier.
'Maybe one day when you're older I'll tell you, but not now.' Virginia said, taking the band-aids from Dustin and fixing her cuts and scrapes.
Once that one ended, she had another that just continued without a break.
'Mom, you once said that when I was older, you would tell me why I was different.' Kaori said, taking a little break. 'Will you tell me now?'
'I suppose its time both you and Dustin knew about it. Go get him, and I'll tell you.' Virginia said, giving a worried and tired sigh.
When they both returned, they sat down on the floor in front of her and waited expectantly.
'You both know that you're different, and I know that I've avoided this as much as I could, but I guess you need to know, since you're getting older.' Virginia said, getting worried and putting her head in her hands.
'Virginia! I need help with something real quick.' Wolfe shouted, running into the room, prepared to drag her outside.
Kaori remembered that she still hadn't been told everything her mother had said, since because of that Dustin had left, and she herself wanted to take an adventure, so she found the mirror and went through, ending up here.
"Kaori! Kaori! Are you okay?" Cloud was asking, leaning over her.
Kaori realized that she was on the ground.
'I must have passed out.' Kaori thought, when she came to her senses.
"Oh!" Kaori exclaimed, sitting up abruptly. "I'm so sorry! I hope I haven't worried you, or made you wait for your meal."
"Now what a stupid question. Of course we waited. Just stay sitting down, preferably laying, but sitting will do I suppose." Cloud said, gently pushing back down since she had tried to stand.
"What happened? Why did you pass out when Reno opened the door for you." Tifa asked, thinking she wasn't around men much.
"When you asked if I was okay, it reminded me of something, though for a while I didn't realize it, but…oh, never mind." Kaori said, not wanting to trouble them, or them to think that she was mad.
"How 'bout we get some food, and you can explain it to us." Tifa said, thinking that she needed food and hadn't eaten for some time.
"Yeah, okay." Kaori said, standing up with help from Cloud and Reno.
They went inside and sat Kaori down, then went to get and pay for the food. While they were gone, Kaori sat with her eyes closed thinking through everything she had just seen.
"Here you go." Tifa said, setting a plate down in front of her.
"Wha- Oh, thank you." Kaori said, jumping a bit.
"Sorry if I startled you." Tifa said, sitting down across from her.
"No, I'm just confused." Kaori said, looking down at her plate and playing with the food.
Cloud sat next to Tifa, and Rude sat at the edge of the table, with Reno next to Kaori.
"So, what about that explanation." Cloud mentioned through a mouthful of food.
"Okay. I guess I had better start from the beginning." Kaori said, taking a deep breath.