The summer sun beat down heavily upon the Islands, sending the thermometer soaring to a record fifty degrees Celsius (Which is roughly 90 degrees Fahrenheit, for you Americans) Everyone was holed up inside, out of the heat with their air conditioners on as high as they'd go. A few daring souls were hiding in the shadier bits of the beach, swimming about in the cool water with globs of sunscreen smeared on their bodies.
Three of these people were on a small island, not far off the coast of the mainland. They had built several shacks when they were young, and were now hiding in one to escape the heat. All three of the trio was sprawled on the floor, no closer than a foot away to each other, because it was just too hot for any sort of contact. There was almost no breeze, and Riku and Sora had stripped their sweat-soaked shirts off to try and stay cool.
Kairi, however, refused to remove any of her clothing, and had made a small fan out of a very large leaf, and was using it vainly to remove the sweat from her brow. However, the small fan's faint movements were the only thing stirring up the sweltering air, and finally Sora had had enough.
"Right, that's it; I'm going for a swim." He said, climbing to his feet and picking up his shirt.
Riku and Kairi looked at him from the floor.
"Right. Off you go, then." Riku nodded absently, after a few moments' silence.
Sora grabbed him by the wrist and tried, unsuccessfully, to pull him up "You're coming with me."
Kairi laughed "Do you need someone to hold your hand, Sora?"
Sora aimed a light kick at Riku's ribs, winding the other male slightly. "Come on, dead weight. I'll race you."
Before he could move, a hand shot out and grabbed his ankle, yanking it out from underneath him, sending the boy tumbling to the floor with a heavy crash and a yell. When he came back to his senses, Riku was on his feet and out the door.
Sora howled something unintelligible after him. Kairi laughed and jumped up, following Riku out the door.
Kairi still had her shoes on, so she managed to catch up to barefooted Riku very quickly, who was standing in the shallows with a sigh of relief. She took her shoes off and waded in up to her ankles. Sora was right, this was much nicer than sitting in the shade.
A smirking Riku aimed a splash at her, and she shrieked and splashed him right back. When they were both good and wet, she stopped, wiped the water out of her eyes and looked back at the shack.
"Sora's certainly taking his time." She muttered, brow furrowing.
"Maybe he's scared of monsters." Riku laughed, bending over to roll his jeans up to his knees to stop them from getting any wetter.
"Wasn't this his idea?" Kairi turned to Riku, worry evident on her face.
"Did he get up after I ran out?" Riku asked, still bent over. Kairi shook her head dumbly.
"I don't think so."
"Crap!"
They both ran for the shack, ignoring the burn of the sand under their feet. Riku got there first and wrenched the door open to reveal a very pale Sora, curled up into a ball on the floor, clutching his leg.
He looked up at them "Oh, so you finally decided to come back now?" he grimaced angrily.
Riku squatted down next to Sora "Where does it hurt?" He asked, as Kairi grabbed his shirt and shoes.
Sora clutched his ankle, glaring at Riku "My ankle. You broke it, you son of a --"
"Shut your mouth before I break it, too." Riku snapped, trying to hook his arm under Sora's. Kairi dropped the clothes to help Sora to his good foot, but Riku pushed her away.
"He can't walk." He snapped at her as his other arm hooked under Sora's leg. Sora caught the drift, wrapping his arms around Riku's neck and hanging on for all he was worth. With a heave, Riku straightened up and carrying Sora almost bridal-style, proceeded to sprint out of the shack and across the sand, Kairi hot on his heels.
When he reached the jetty he practically threw Sora into his row boat and lowered himself in afterwards. Kairi began to climb into her boat, but Riku stopped her.
"Do me a favor and get our clothes? We'll meet you at the hospital if you don't catch us." He called quickly, before seizing his oars. His powerful arms stretched to the limit as the small boat rocketed across the sea like a speedboat. Before long, they were nothing more than a speck on the distant shore.
Kairi took her time to retrieve the clothes. Sure, she was worried about Sora, but he'd be fine. He'd suffered worse injuries in the past and bounced right back, and Kairi did not doubt for a second that he'd be running around again soon.
She was a little more worried about Riku. As much as he loved beating the crap out of the younger with his silly wooden sword, he actually hated the thought of his best friend in serious pain. Especially if he'd inflicted it.
Kairi knew that Riku would take this pretty heavily, like the time he pushed Sora into a bookcase in the third grade, deeply gashing the boy just above the hairline. He'd bled like his head had fallen off, and, she recalled, none of the teachers had been able to tear Riku away from his side, even at the hospital when Sora was getting his head stitched up. She'd run from the room screaming that Sora had died. As bad as she felt about it, Kairi really didn't like blood.
As she pottered about in the shack, looking for Riku's left shoe, she recalled the time she'd broken her arm when she fell off the flying fox. It was a high fall, too, and her arm had been broken in three separate places. Nobody had to carry her to the jetty, but she did remember a pale Riku working the too-big oars of his boat as fast as he could, while she sat in the back seat and bawled her head off.
She'd never really stopped to think about it, but Riku really was the 'big brother' of the group, and she was lucky to have him as a friend.
Finally, she spotted Riku's shoe in a corner, and as she moved to get it, something red flashed in the corner of her eye. Stunned, she turned to take a closer look.
It was a small pool of blood, right where Sora had been laying before.
Oh, hell.
---
"Riku!"
The shirtless, shoeless, silver-haired boy that was slumped forward on the seat in the long, cold doorway looked up, took one glance at Kairi, who was practically running to him, and his head sunk back down.
"Hey."
Kairi tossed his shirt and shoes at him. Riku didn't even bother catch them and they fell harmlessly to the ground. He really is taking this hard, isn't he?
"So, I, uh, I saw the blood." Kairi said stiffly, unsure if she should comfort Riku or confront him.
"The last thing I needed was for you to freak out." He looked up at her, green eyes dull beneath a layer of silver hair "I know you hate blood."
She sat down next to Riku, learning against him a little comfortingly. "Yes, I figured. Thanks for that, you smart cookie you." She smiled.
Riku's face was trained on his bare feet again. He didn't make a sound.
"So, how is he?" Kairi asked slowly.
"His bone snapped clean in half when I grabbed him, and when he fell down a sharp bit penetrated his skin." Riku muttered "He's in theatre."
Kairi was shocked. This was way more serious than she thought.
"Have you called his parents?" She asked. Riku shook his head. "Right, well I'll go do that. You stay put and guard this seat, okay? I'll want a full status report when I get back." She said, mocking a general of war, hoping to cheer him up.
Riku, head still down, gestured a small salute. Through the gaps in his hair, Kairi could see a rueful smile on his lips.
Mission accomplished. She turned away and began her search for a telephone.
After getting good and lost, a passing nurse told her that there was one on the floor below, and she gave her directions to the lift. Kairi thanked her and was on her way.
The lift was easy enough to find, but there was quite a wait for the thing to actually come to her. There were many islands in the surrounding waters, and Destiny had the only proper hospital for a thousand miles. Even though the surrounding buildings were quite small, the hospital stood at eight floors. The fire department was forced to ship in a bigger fire truck with a very powerful hose to reach the top floor, in case it caught fire or something and the less powerful hoses couldn't reach it.
Kairi's mind came back from a world of fire and fire trucks when the elevator let out a pleasant ding and opened. This was also the only elevator Kairi had ever ridden, and though she was fortunate enough to only do it rarely, it was always a treat to ride in it.
"So you're going to ignore me again?" A voice said, sounding a little unamused.
"Huh?" Kairi said, realizing that she'd spaced out again.
"You're really spacey, you know." The blonde girl said, standing next to Kairi. Today the white sun dress was gone; she was wearing instead thin faded jeans and a bright yellow shirt with some pink design on it. A second glance revealed butterflies. The silver butterfly charm was again seen at her throat.
Girl likes butterflies. I'm more of a dragonfly girl myself. Kairi mused as she mentally smacked herself over the head.
"Oh! You again! Heh, I know, I don't mean to, but it happens." Kairi scratched the back of her neck in an embarrassed way. She stopped when she realized it was something Sora would do in a similar situation. The door closed with another gentle ding, and Kairi felt the funny dropping sensation as the lift moved downwards.
"'You again'?" The girl sighed. "And I was having a good day today." She frowned into the distance, almost sadly.
Again, Kairi mentally smacked herself. Was it so hard to treat this girl like a normal human being?
"I'm so rude, I'm sorry." She held out her hand for the other girl to shake "I'm Kairi."
The girl just looked at her.
"I know."
Kairi gaped at her. Did she know her from somewhere before? No, Kairi was sure she'd recall someone like this girl.
"It was on your name tag at Destiny Café." She explained, clearly wondering why Kairi didn't know this.
Again, Kairi mentally smacked herself on the head. She did that a lot around this girl, but she couldn't think why.
"Anyway, I'm –" The girl was cut off when the lift shook violently and suddenly stopped. The lights flickered dangerously, but stayed on.
"Oh my god! No! We have to get out of here right now!" Kairi panicked, beating her fists against the door. She looked about for an emergency phone or something of the sort, but found that there was nothing to indicate what she should do in an emergency. Who the hell designed this thing!?
"Sora! Riku! Hold on! I'm coming!" She tried to wrench the door open, but her strength failed and she slid to the floor in a miserable heap.
The blonde girl watched her calmly, standing in exactly the same spot she had before.
"… Are you done?"
Kairi sighed and nodded. The girl muttered something and slid down the wall opposite Kairi. The lift was just large enough to give them some room, but small enough for their legs to be almost touching.
"Well, I'm Naminé." She finally said after a short silence. Kairi nodded.
"That's a nice name. Is it French?" She asked.
Naminé nodded, looking a great deal happier than she had the other day. She reached forward and clasped Kairi's hand in hers in a warm handshake.
Kairi looked down at her hands and was struck by something odd.
"Your nails.. They're blue today." She said simply.
Naminé paused. Usually people just observed that they were a certain colour, but never that they had been different before. Even though this Kairi girl was spacey, she sure was observant.
"I paint them according to my mood." She smiled across at her.
Kairi nodded. "So, green is… bad mood?" She said slowly, trying to piece together the facts. Naminé smiled and nodded.
"That particular shade of green is saved for my really bad days. And when my nails are dark green, watch out, because misfortune and disaster will follow." She smiled mischievously.
"But if the green paint brings bad luck... could you just… not paint your nails?" Kairi asked, a little bewildered. This Naminé sure was strange, but it was a good kind of strange.
Naminé shook her head "It doesn't work like that. I have to paint my nails according to my mood, and I can't paint them a different colour, because if I do…" She trailed off, eyes glinting with excitement "… really bad things happen."
Kairi nodded again, beginning to catch on. Naminé was probably crazy or on drugs, but Kairi couldn't help but like her style. "So, what's blue?"
"Blue's my favorite colour, and it means I'm in a good mood. The lighter, the happier I am, and the darker the paint, the worse I feel. It goes for all colours, not just blue." Naminé smiled, revealing pearly white teeth.
Kairi laughed "Just how many colours do you have?"
"Well, I have several shades of each colour. I have blue and green, purple, red, brown, pink, orange, black and white." Naminé paused, as if trying to think of any more.
"Holy crap, you must have a hundred bottles of the stuff!" Kairi smiled.
Naminé smiled back "Yeah, I have about that. I'm only as strong as my nail varnish, after all." She pulled a small mobile phone out of her pocket and used it to check the time. "We've been in here for ten minutes."
Kairi blinked. Time sure was flying. Poor Riku must be wondering where she got to. Quickly, she stood up.
"We've gotta get out of here, Naminé. A friend of mine is in surgery and my other friend is waiting for me to get back from calling his parents, and I have to get back to them." Kairi frowned sadly at Naminé as she offered a hand to help her up.
"Sora and Riku, right?" She laughed at Kairi's shocked face "You called their names when the lift broke down. You should probably sit down; we're not going anywhere."
Kairi thought about mentally smacking herself, but she decided against it. This girl was just sharp, not Kairi's fault.
"So, what happened to your friend?" Naminé asked kindly.
Kairi slumped over in defeat, next to Naminé, as she told her of the afternoon's events. Naminé was a wonderful listener, nodding and gasping in all of the right places, staring at Kairi intently as she told the story.
Once it was finished, Naminé learned back and blew a gust of air from her cheeks. "Oh, wow. Poor Sora. Well, when he makes it out of surgery tell him I wish he gets better soon." She patted Kairi's shoulder comfortingly.
And, strangely enough, Kairi felt better instantly.
---
They must have dozed off after that, because the next thing Kairi knew a distant clang sounded, rousing her partially. She faintly noticed that she was learning against Naminé's shoulder, and Naminé's head was resting over hers, her long blonde hair falling into her face, but she didn't really care because she was so comfortable. All she wanted to do was close her eyes and go back to sleep…
Dimly, Kairi was aware of someone pulling her away from Naminé, shaking her a little, calling her name. She frowned, wanting to be back with Naminé. Damn, when'd she get so tired? She could just close her eyes and sleep forever, with Naminé's comfy shoulder as her eternal pillow.
And she would have done just that, if she hadn't registered the fact that the person who was shaking her had long, silver hair and greeny sort of eyes. Kairi's senses sharpened as she decided that it would be best if she woke up for this person. He was important.
"Kairi! Come on, Kai, don't go back to sleep!" Riku shook her gently, trying desperately to wake her up.
"Riku?" She muttered quietly. Riku let out a sigh of relief and pulled her into a tight hug.
"Nobody's dying on my watch." He laughed into her ear.
She felt the warm arms pull away as she was lifted up by a doctor and placed gently into a bed. A cold sensation washed over her mouth; someone was putting an oxygen mask over her face. It made her feel ten times more awake in seconds.
"Where's Naminé?" Kairi asked, feeling a little more alert, looking around. "Naminé. Where is she?" The nurse began to push her bed away, and Riku followed beside Kairi.
"They took her away. She's fine, Kairi." Riku smiled at her.
"And Sora?" Kairi asked, feeling a little sick with the motion of the bed.
"He's set for a full recovery, and worried sick about you." Riku smiled, almost laughing. This day was really getting on his nerves. His two best friends, both hospitalized in one day from separate incidents… yeah, it was days like these that made his hair turn silver in the first place.
"Naminé… I have to see her! Make sure she's okay… okay?" Kairi told Riku, head a little muddled.
Riku grabbed Kairi's hand in his "We have to see Sora first, okay? He's in the recovery ward, so once you get a little better we'll go see him, then we'll go see Naminé. Okay, Kairi?"
Although the bed was in full motion, she tried to sit up and hop off. "I'm fine, we have to go see Sora so we can go see Naminé." She said to the nurse.
"Right." The nurse knew it would get her in trouble, taking the girl to the recovery ward instead of her room, but she looked a lot healthier, and all she really needed was to have her blood pressure measured and a snooze, so she saw no harm in her going to see her friend. Besides, it'd put her mind at rest.
The bed stopped, turned around, and went back the way it had come.
"Kairi!" a feeble voice called out once they had made it into the recovery ward.
Kairi sat up again, feeling much better than she had done before. "Sora?" the nurse pulled a curtain aside to reveal a lightheaded Sora, sitting upright on a stack of pillows, drinking orange juice from a straw in a paper cup.
She smiled when she saw that the only thing wrong with him was that he looked very groggy – the blankets were pulled up to his hips and she couldn't see the bandages on his leg.
"How are you feeling?" She asked as the nurse pushed her bed in next to Sora's.
Sora's head rolled around a bit "I feel woozy." His hand rose, dreamily, and he poked Kairi in she shoulder hard. It made her wince. "How are you?"
Kairi pulled the gas mask off her face "I feel like a million bucks." She smiled across at Sora.
"So. How long was I out for?" Sora asked, frowning dreamily off into the distance.
Kairi shrugged "I'd just got to the hospital when they kicked Riku out of the theatre, and then I went to find a phone to call your mum, and I went in the elevator and it broke down. I must have fallen asleep, after that." She scratched her nose "I don't know how long it's been."
"Oh." Sora looked about, confused. "Where's Riku?"
Kairi began to look around for him, too. He'd been standing at the end of their beds, but he wasn't there any more. Panic washed over her, for no reason at all.
"Riku! Where is he?" She climbed off the bed, having the sudden urge to find him, and was hit by a massive dizzy spell. She staggered, and fell down with a loud thump. "Riku?"
The nurse from before ran in and helped Kairi up. Once she was on the bed the nurse roughly shoved the oxygen mask onto her face.
"He's gone to find the phone. And you need to keep this on; it'll make you better."
Kairi gave in and let the nurse finish putting it back on. Once she was gone, she turned to Sora "It seems that our parents are still in the dark about today." Her voice was muffled by the mask.
Sora moaned and put his hand over his face "Man, my mum is gonna freak when she finds out what happened." Taking a deep breath, he offered his orange juice to Kairi. She took a quick sip from the straw and handed it back. The strong flavor made her feel a lot better. "Riku was with me the whole time, so she won't be mad at him."
"Tell me what happened." Kairi asked as Sora finished the last of his juice.
"Well, when we got to the shore Riku half carried me, half dragged me to the hospital. There was blood all through his boat; I'll have to clean it up later. Anyway, when we got inside he dumped me on the bench and they took one look and put me in a bed. I was in Emergency for a little while, and they gave me a needle and some pills to make it stop hurting and looked at it. The doctor said some stuff with long words in it, and they took an X-ray." He put his empty paper cup on the bench beside his bed.
"They took one look at the x-ray and said 'we need to operate.' And then there was a piece of paper me and Riku had to sign 'cause our parents weren't here, and then they took me into a room and gave me some needles and wheeled me out into the theatre." Sora's eyes closed in horror "There were so many doctors there… it was scary."
Kairi patted his shoulder. Sora continued his story "Riku just came out of nowhere, wearing this big plastic jacket thing and a shower cap over his head, and he looked really stupid, but I was really glad to see him. Then the doctors put a gas mask over my face, and the last thing I remember was holding Riku's hand." He shrugged "Next thing I knew, I was here and I couldn't see Riku anywhere."
Kairi giggled at the thought of Sora and Riku holding hands. And the thought of Riku in a shower cap. The whole situation just seemed pretty funny to her.
As if on cue, the boy himself appeared at the foot of their beds, minus shower cap, much to her disappointment.
"So, um, I called your parents, Sora, and they're on their way. Your dad got a bit angry at me, but when I told them how I dragged your sorry backside to the hospital he forgave me." He said, running his fingers across his scalp before turning to Kairi "And I called yours too – your mum said something about pressing charges." He smirked at her. "Sucks to be the elevator company right now."
Kairi smiled and shook her head. Her mother was certainly a fighter, and Riku was his regular arsehole self once the danger was gone and everyone was safe. Things were finally as normal as they would be for a while.
The nurse came in, looking a little harassed. "Kairi, you have to go to your room now." She forced a smile as she pulled Kairi's bed away.
"Bye, Sora." She said quietly as she passed him. Sora waved dreamily at her. Riku waved too. Kairi momentarily panicked.
"I have to be here when his parents get in." He explained as he sat in the chair next to Sora's bed. Kairi was afraid of the thought of being alone, but she figured Sora needed the support more than she did. Besides, she would soon be seeing Naminé again, and for some reason, the thought cheered her up more than the mental image of Riku being handcuffed to her bed.
"So we're going to see Naminé now?" Kairi asked the nurse once they were out of the ward.
"Naminé, she's the girl who was stuck in the lift with you, right?" Kairi nodded "Well, she was here with her parents, visiting a friend, and as soon as Naminé was conscious they took her home." The nurse said calmly, assuming that Kairi could just call her or something once she was free to go.
Kairi's stomach sank in disappointment.
I didn't even get to say goodbye.
---
Author's Notes: Some of you may remember my stuffed tiger, Benjamin. Yeah, well, he's making it very hard to type right now. _
He pointed out to me that I seem to enjoy hurting Sora a lot. And I lol'd when I realized he was right.
Most hospitals do actually let one person into operating theatres while the patient is still awake. I was mauled by a dog when I was nine and I had two operations, and I can still remember my dad coming in to see me, shower cap and all. xD I'm pretty sure it's relatives and guardians only, though, but whatever. This is a fanfiction – I can do whatever I like.
Don't ask me what Naminé's other nail polish colours mean, they will all get their own appearances by the time this fic is over, don't stress~
AH! What is this? A hint of Riku/Sora? D Maybe.
Anyway. I'd be forever happy if at least one person reviewed this, even if it's to flame. I feel like I'm talking to myself here. D:
