Sora spent until sundown gathering supplies on the Island, only stopping
once he was sure he had collected a good half of the supplies they would be
needing for their coming journey by sea. All the other children on the Island had left
for home hours before.
"I am beat" Sora told Kairi in exhaustion, dropping a coil of rope at her
feet.
"Lets call it a day then, we can get the final things on the list tomorrow, we
will just have to be here bright and early tomorrow" the girl said, checking items
Sora had collected around the Island off the list she held.
Riku came up the beach behind them, hoisting two logs beneath either arm.
"Show off" Sora hissed under his breath as the boy dropped both pieces of wood
into the growing pile of supplies.
"What did you both stop for, we still have more to go don't we?" Riku asked out of
breath, wiping away the sweat upon his brow with the back of his hand.
"Sora and I both agree that we should call it a day, Riku" Kairi told the boy, who
nodded his head in agreement.
"Fine by me, but let me just take a rest before we paddle our boats back home" Riku
said, walking away from them both and heading toward the bridge spanning the water.
"Come on" Kairi said to Sora, rushing off to follow the older boy as he made his way down the
wooden bridge and over to the small Island that served as a common hangout for the three
friends.
Sora reached the two and took a seat beside Kairi upon a low curving Paupu tree, meanwhile
Riku stood leaning against its thick body. Sora could see that both were watching as the sun
continued to sink upon the distant horizon, bathing the Ocean and the Islands in its orange glow.
"So Kairi's home is out there somewhere, right?" Sora asked, breaking the silence.
"Could be" Riku answered, his gaze still on the distant horizon.
"All I know is that we shall never know by remaining here" the boy said with a hand gesture to
the Islands behind them.
"But how far can a raft take us?" Sora asked, bringing up a good point to the children, after all
could they really expect to get far upon a slab of wood in such a large body of water? It had been
thoughts that had nagged at Sora since Riku brought up his idea of traveling to the places that lay
outside their tiny Island home.
"Who knows?, if we have to we can think of something else" Riku answered with the sudden
expression of annoyance.
"So suppose we get to another world. What would you do there?" Kairi asked the boy with a
giggle. Riku then seemed to go silent with thought for a few moments.
"Well, I haven't really thought about it" the boy answered honestly, pausing for a few moments.
"Its just...I have always wondered why we are here on this Island. If there are any worlds out
there, why did we end up on this one?" Riku explained to them, pausing for some breath before
continuing.
"And suppose there other worlds....then ours is just a little piece of something much greater"
Riku finished, his voice showing his passion to travel off the Islands and explore the possible
worlds that lay beyond them.
"Nice way of summing it up, Riku" Sora teased with a wide grin.
"Shut up" Riku said, but the boy still couldn't help smiling at the boy's joke.
"The point I was trying to say was that we could just have easily ended up somewhere else,
right?" Riku asked them, growing serious once again.
"I don't know" Sora said, his voice showing he had grown bored of the subject, though he
knew Riku had brought up a good point.
"Exactly, tahst why we need to get out there and find out for ourselves. Sitting here on this Island
is not going to change a thing" Riku said with bitterness, sitting up and making his way to the
edge of the tiny Island.
Kairi studied the boy closely, as if she were trying to find the solution to a mathematical
equation.
"You have been thinking a lot lately, haven't you?" the girl said after a time of silence that
was only broken by the Ocean waves.
"Yes, thanks to you. If you had not come here, I probably would not have thought of any of this.
So I just want to say thanks, Kairi" Riku said, turning to face the girl, whose cheeks burned and
blushed pink under the orange twilight.
"Your welcome" the girl said with a small laugh to cover her embarrassment.
"Well if you are done making your speeches of other worlds and such, Riku, Then I am going
home catch you both tomorrow" Sora said in farewell, jumping off the tree trunk and walking
toward the bridge, Kairi shouted a goodbye to the boy as he began crossing the bridge.
It was when the boy had made it to the dock and was preparing to cast off for home on his boat
that he heard a shout behind him.
"Sora!" the voice shouted, causing him to turn about and find a breathless Riku approaching him.
"Yeah?" Sora asked as the boy got closer, suddenly the boy tossed a strange object held behind
him. Sora barely managed to catch the thing and not let it fall into the waters beside the dock.
Once it was in his hand Sora saw that it was a light yellow in color and in the shape of a star.
"What is it?" Sora asked, confused at why the boy had stopped to give him the strange yellow
star.
"It's a paopu fruit, you wanted one did you not?" Riku said with a knowing grin on his sharp
face.
"What?" Sora asked in confusion, prompting the boy to grin wider.
"If two people share one, their destinies become intertwined. They shall remain a part of each
other's lives no matter what" Riku explained to the boy, who still could not understand why the
boy had given him the fruit.
"I thought you might want to try one with Kairi, that's all" Riku teased, laughing at the angry
look upon Sora's face at his words.
"What are you two jokers up to?" Kairi asked with a curious expression as she walked onto the
dock, looking to the face of either boy.
"Nothing" Sora said quickly, tossing the fruit into the water and allowing the Ocean to claim it.
"Very well than" Kairi said with a laugh as she stepped into her boat, meanwhile Sora shot Riku
another angry look before stepping into his own vessel and rowing home.