I CAN BARELY SAY

Chapter Four: Just Like Old Times

His shoulders aching and his clothes covered in sawdust, Sora managed to drag himself across the island all the way to the dock where he found Riku and Kairi waiting.

"Hey," Sora greeted, out of breath and bent over slightly with his hands on his knees, "Glad you could make it, Riku."

The older boy tried to hold in a laugh but failed, "I could say the same to you. Jecht worked you too hard, huh?"

Sora shook his head, "More like Wakka. I saw Jecht for all of ten minutes." Riku walked closer to him and gave him a heavy smack on his back, to which Sora let out an audible, "Oww…"

Ignoring the questioning look that Kairi was giving him, Riku commented, "It's just a different kind of work than what you've been doing. You'll get used to it soon."

Stretching out and then rubbing his back, the brunette replied, "I hope so."

"So," Kairi stepped in between them, "You two ready to go?"

"Sure." Sora looked back and forth between her and Riku, "Who am I going to bum off of today?"

Kairi quickly pointed in Riku's direction who shrugged, "I guess I can pity you today. You should really get your boat fixed, though."

"I will, I will. Geez, Riku. You must have gotten used to me being around again since you're not being nice anymore." He stuck out his tongue.

Riku chuckled, "Something like that." Getting his boat ready, he added, "I'm not going to be able to stay for very long, though. So you're gonna have to catch a ride back with Kairi."

"I think I'll be recovered by then." Sora flashed a smile to her, "So I won't make you row back, promise."

"Thanks. But I will if I have too." She smiled back.

Once they had all gotten farther out into the water and Kairi was a bit behind them, Sora asked Riku, "So why do you have to leave early?"

"The sunset's been you and Kairi's thing for a while now, you know. Plus I'm sure you want some alone time with her." His eyes flickered over towards the red head as he responded in a low voice.

Sora glanced over at her too, but she was too focused on rowing to notice either of them. "I mean, I do." He answered honestly, "But I haven't seen you in three years, either."

"Yeah, but all's good between us." He replied back, "I'm not going anywhere and for the most part, you're not going anywhere. Or at least you'll be coming back here more often, so we'll catch up with each other. You and Kairi have more stuff you need to work out, so focus on her for right now."

The brunette gave a soft smile, "I guess you're right… and I dunno if I told you, but Selphie hates my guts for what I did to Kairi. I know Kairi seems okay with me at the moment but yeah, that still stung a bit."

"She's probably just being overprotective, but either way, just try to ignore her. If Kairi's making the effort and wants to be around you, that's all that matters. Selphie will see that being around you makes her happy and she'll let it go." Riku consoled him.

Noticing that the island was getting closer and Kairi would catch up to them soon, Sora replied, "I'm just worried that even if she's happy right now, it might not stay that way. But we can talk about it later. She's probably gonna overhear if I keep going."

"Gotcha." Riku nodded.

The two boys docked the boat and stood on the other side of the dock, waiting for Kairi. Once she had caught up with them, they all began to walk towards the little island with the paopu tree. "So what were you two chatting about the entire time?" She moved between them.

"Nothing much. Just how school's going and stuff." Riku replied right off the bat and Sora was extremely thankful. He was absolutely terrible at lying and Kairi would probably have known something was up if he answered. But Riku, as always, was calm, cool and collected.

"So how are your classes going, Riku? I feel like you're so busy I hardly ever see you for more than five minutes." She asked curiously.

He laughed, "I could say the same about you. They're going well but they're definitely not getting any easier, that's for sure."

"I know the feeling." She sighed, "But I still have enough time to come out here and hang out with you two, so I guess I can't complain too much."

Pausing, Sora asked quietly, "Do you think there'll be a point where you can't anymore?"

Kairi shrugged, "I mean… I'll always come if I can. But I'm sure there's going to be some days where I have to be somewhere else."

"And the same goes for me." Riku echoed as they crossed the bridge and reached the paopu tree.

"That's good." Sora let out a sigh of relief to himself, "But come to think of it… I guess there'll be times when I'm not here either. But it's okay, that just means I have to just appreciate the time I have with you guys even more."

Everybody took their usual spots as Riku replied with a nod, "Right."

"So what sort of adventure should the three of us plan for next? Pretty much everything is been there, done that." Kairi swung her legs back and forth.

A smirk took over Sora's face as he turned to her, "I dunno, but I hope you have more realistic expectations for how much food we'll need."

Kairi let out a gasp and playfully slapped his shoulder, "Shut up! It's not like you two argued with me about it."

"Hey, Sora. I recall Kairi having to remind you that we needed fresh water and not salt water, so you can't talk much." Riku chimed in.

"Oh yeah? Well you—you…" Sora tried to snap back at him, but failed, "Damn. I can't think of anything."

Riku laughed and crossed his arms, "Yeah, cuz I was constantly working on building the raft, unlike you two slackers."

Sora had slumped his shoulders in defeat before Kairi pointed out, "But you managed to find time to swordfight and race Sora."

"Touché." Riku nodded in acknowledgement while Sora felt his face grow a little warm, remembering the deal that he and Riku had made.

Of course the whole thing seemed extremely stupid now, especially since they hadn't even asked Kairi how she felt about the whole thing. She probably would have smacked them both if she had found out they'd essentially bet on her.

The trio continued to pick on each other, bringing up moments that they each remembered fondly and ones that made the cringe until they laughed it off. There were never any awkward silences, despite the time that they had spent apart and that, more than anything, made Sora feel like he was truly at home again.

"I thought of the next adventure." Sora commented suddenly.

Curious, Kairi stared at him, "And what's that?"

"Just growing up; becoming adults." He answered softly, "That's crazy enough on its own."

Kairi let out a little laugh and looked back out into the ocean, "True."

"On that note," Riku stood up straight, "I guess I need to get home and get some work done."

"I just turned in a paper today so I'm free." Kairi stretched her arms out excitedly.

"Rub it in, why don't you." Riku rolled his eyes jokingly, "Anyway, I'll see you two later."

They both gave small waves, "Bye, Riku." "See ya!"

Noticing the sun was really low in the sky, Sora realized Riku actually stayed later than he thought he would. "It's going to be completely dark by the time we reach the main island, even if we left right now." He pointed out.

Kairi shrugged, still looking out at the ocean and the sunset, "It's okay. Since I moved out of my parents' house, I don't have a curfew anymore."

"Right." Sora nodded with a small laugh, "But still, is there a certain time you wanna be home by?"

"Not really. Just as long as it's before midnight so I can get some sleep." She replied with a turn to him.

"I definitely need sleep too, so not a problem." He smiled before asking curiously, "But do you think we'll really be out until midnight?"

Kairi's face fell as she looked back out into the water, "Well, you know how yesterday I said I wanted to talk about everything later? I don't want to push it off too long, so I'd rather just get it over with… if that's okay with you."

Sora's eyes widened and his lips parted, "Oh." Letting out a breath of air, he answered, "Yeah, that's fine."

"I guess I'll start." Kairi let out a deep breath of air as well, continuing, "When Riku and I first got home, I was just in shock. I knew deep down inside what you meant when you said you weren't coming home for a while, but I wanted to believe that maybe that meant a few weeks. Or even a few months. But time kept going on and on and the pain just grew deeper and deeper the longer that you weren't here."

Sora's frown deepened as he noticed Kairi's fists were now clenched and he saw tears threatening to fall from her eyes. "Everything we'd been through and even you just started to seem like a dream." She held her hands in front of herself, "I used to summon my keyblade almost every night to try and remind myself that everything was real and that you were coming back. And sometimes I wished that if I kept summoning it, maybe something would happen and I'd find some way to try and get to you instead."

"Kairi…" He wanted to touch her shoulder or just comfort her in some way, but he wasn't sure if that would only make her more upset.

"Eventually I just tried not to think about you, so I started dating other guys…" She admitted quietly, "But that didn't work for obvious reasons. They would always get fed up after a few days or a week at most. I did manage to have one somewhat healthy relationship, but that just dissolved too. We were better as friends. Anyway… I had thought I had forgiven you and accepted the reasons of why you couldn't come home. But seeing you again for the first time just made me feel everything all over again and then I felt guilty for all of the things that I had done to try and get over missing you all at once. And to be honest, I had only just gotten used to the idea of you not being around, so needless to say it was overwhelming."

He smiled sheepishly, trying to let that all sink in, "Yeah, I would say so."

Kairi motioned towards him, "And now it's your turn."

"There's really not a whole lot to tell, despite how much time I spent away." He answered honestly, "I did get to see some new worlds, but I spent a lot of time revisiting others. Heartless were pretty few and far between, I was just basically making sure that worlds were rebuilding themselves and not running into issues with any inhabitants who got funny ideas. But if I wasn't busy doing something, more than likely I was staring at your good luck charm. I thought about you all the time. I mean, I thought about everybody here at home too. But with you, there were just so many things still up in the air."

Kairi was quiet for a moment before she asked jokingly, "No other girls?"

He smiled and shook his head, "No other girls."

Kairi laughed nervously, looking down twiddling her fingers, "Wow, I feel kinda even worse about that now."

"Don't." Sora replied quickly, causing her to look up.

"It's not disappointing or weird for you at all?" She questioned.

Sora shook his head again, "Not really. I was still your first kiss." Pausing and laughing sheepishly, he added, "Plus I didn't have to actually see you with anyone else so… that makes it easier."

Kairi giggled a bit before sliding closer to him and calling, "Sora."

"Hm?" He watched her intently.

"I love you." She placed her hand over his, "I've known that for a long time now. But I've been too scared to say it. I thought about saying it in the moment before Riku and I were separated from you, but it didn't feel right. And now I'm glad I waited, because this definitely feels right."

Sora beamed; all of the guilt and worry that he had built up over the past three years all vanished within that instant. "I love you too." He shifted and Kairi expected that he was leaning in for a kiss, but instead found him dropping from the paopu tree onto the ground. Lightly grabbing her hands and slightly kneeling, he spoke softly, "You already know that I'll still have to leave home sometimes, but I promise that I'll always try to come back as soon as possible. You've done way more than enough waiting."

"I appreciate it, but don't rush yourself. I don't want you to get hurt." She looked down at him with a small smile.

"Of course." Sora nodded, adding, "And whenever you're free, you and Riku could always come with me too. I know it's a little complicated because of your classes and jobs, but just throwing it out there."

She held onto his hands as she slid off of the paopu tree and joined him on the ground, "That sounds great." She took a step closer and motioned for him to let go of her hands.

"Heh." He laughed nervously as he complied, her arms moving up to wrap around his neck. Once he had his arms lightly around her waist, he opened his mouth to say something else but Kairi quickly shushed him and guided him down to her.

It was a little awkward at first, Sora only faintly remembering what their kiss was like before, but Kairi was patient. Once they had developed a rhythm that worked, the kiss quickly intensified. As Kairi parted her lips to give him entrance, Sora held her tighter almost in desperation. He had missed her for so long and it was one thing to say it, but he was starting to think that this was a much better way of expressing it. Kairi's hands had since moved to Sora's hair, running through it and occasionally stopping to pull him even closer till the point that there was no longer a gap between them.

Eventually she was the one to break the kiss, resting her head on Sora's shoulder as she tried to catch her breath. Sora, however, continued to pepper a few more kisses on her forehead and on her cheeks which caused her to go into a short giggling fit. "You don't know when to stop, do you?" She looked up at him with a wide smile.

He kissed her one more time, answering, "No." Pausing for a moment, he asked, "Since you made it sound like you don't want to go home until later tonight, how about dinner since you blew me off yesterday?"

Kairi rolled her eyes with a laugh, "I didn't blow you off, I had a paper to write; remember?"

"Same difference." He replied jokingly, retreating his arms backwards a little bit but keeping his hands on her sides as he asked, "So?"

She looked up in thought, as if she were debating the options in her head. "I dunno, that means I have to be seen in public with you. I was hoping this whole thing would be kinda secret." She replied in a teasing manner.

"Oh, I see how it is." Sora played along, his arms dropping back to his side as he turned, "I guess I'll be going, then." He took a few steps towards the bridge before Kairi caught one of his wrists.

"I'd love to." She answered seriously, slipping her hand into his.