AN: Something. Goes. Down... :D
Kairi walked across the play island, past the shack built into the rocky cave. She stepped up the wooden ramp - and then the second one.
She stood there, looking right - to the waterfall flowing into the little pool. She looked straight ahead, and straight up, at the winding wooden walkways up to the big old treehouse.
And then her eyes were drawn...to the deep bushes in the dark corner, hiding a little cave entrance. The secret place...
The place where it had all, really, truly begun for them...
The place where she had gotten her Keyblade...
The place she had gone to, that fateful night, following feelings inside herself she didn't even understand...
Trying to do something impossible...
Kairi's feet moved without conscious thought, taking her toward that secret entrance...
"H-hey, Kairi, what're you- doing- going over...in there for?" Sora's voice, as he came running up to her, feet pounding on the old wooden ramps.
Kairi turned to him, and she was surprised...to see that he looked nervous. Really, really nervous. Flat out anxious, even...
His big blue eyes blinked at her, and his lips were curved into a frown, and...his cheeks had a...little pink tinge to them?
"Nothing, really," Kairi responded, watching him closely now. She placed her hands behind her back, turning away slightly. She gazed over at the hidden entrance. But...from the corner of her eye... "I suppose I just wanted to check up on things - make sure it was all still...all right in there. That is where the literal Heart of our entire world is, after all...and I have to do a better job protecting it than I did last time."
"R-right, yeah, b-but...I'm s-sure it's fine! Yeah, everything's - probably great in there! Xehanort wouldn't have any interest in it now, would he? But, if he did, I mean, last time I was in there...that was when I met him, remember?" Sora babbled. Babbled! "What if he's waiting around for us again in there or something...? You shouldn't go...in there..."
Kairi sighed, turning back to face him. "Okay, Sora: why don't you want me to go in there? What's going on with you?"
"Wha- me?! Why wouldn't I want you to-"
"Soraaaa..." Kairi said, glowering.
Sora stared at her, silent. Blinking at her slowly. Then he looked down and away, slumping where he stood. His blush grew more intense than ever. "Ummm...I just..."
"What?" Kairi asked, her heart beating faster now. There was a feeling inside her stomach, a fluttering, an all new...something. This behavior from him was so new, so different, too, so...what was going on with him...? What could possibly be in that cave that would make Sora act like this?
"I-" Sora cut himself off. He drew himself up, turning away from her. He strode down the ramp a few steps, and he sat down there, resting his arms on his knees. His back to her. "Y-you- you can go inside if you want. I'll be...out- out here."
Kairi stared after him, baffled. But... She looked back toward the secret place's entrance. And suddenly, she felt like not going in there. She felt like just...sitting with Sora, or- or running away down the beach, or-
No! Come on, girl, you're not a quitter! Whatever it is, you know you have to know, and it won't leave you alone until you do! Whatever Sora...because it's Sora...
Kairi let out a soft laugh, pushed her hair back, and she crossed her arms. "I'll be right back, then. You better still be waiting for me out here, Sora."
He startled, glancing at her over his shoulder. "Y-yeah..." he murmured, nodding.
Kairi turned, and she put one foot in front of the other, taking her nearer and nearer to the cave entrance.
She pushed through the bushes and the tree branches, and she ducked into the long, curving tunnel...
She walked down along it, until it opened up into the cave, proper.
Kairi gazed around, walking the perimeter of the cave. Just looking at all the years worth of old drawings...
Not just theirs, but other kids, too. Selphie's, Tidus, Wakka...
And then her eyes found the door.
The big, old wooden door in the middle of the cave.
Kairi smiled, letting out a breath and striding forward. She raised a hand, gently touching her palm to that wood. She pressed herself to the door, wholesale, closing her eyes.
"No one gave you a welcome back, too, did they...?" she whispered out. "But I'd bet you're just as happy to be back as all of us are."
Kairi felt a sudden warmth under her palm - from the door itself. Or...maybe from behind it...?
Her smile widened, and she curled her fingers to caress the door.
But then...her smile faded somewhat.
"I'm sorry," she whispered on. "I'm sorry for doing an awful job of protecting you. I couldn't do it with my Princess powers, and I couldn't do it with my Keyblade, either. I let you fall, and I'm sorry...But I promise that will never happen again..."
Kairi felt that warmth recede, leaving only cold wood against her skin.
She sighed, sliding down to the floor. She put her back to the door, legs splayed around her, sitting there. She opened her eyes, letting her head fall back against the door, gazing up to the little hole in the ceiling that let light of the sky in. That blue, the clouds passing by...
And then, she- turned her head to the left.
Instinct, or- something seen in the corner of her vision.
And she choked.
There, on the face of a smooth, large rock, right near the floor, right next to the door...
It was those two drawings, of Sora's adorable little head, and her own...
They'd drawn them together, when they were really little. It had been within that first year of Kairi coming to the islands...
So little, so lost, so afraid and uncertain, still...
And on one particularly bad day, when their parents had taken them out here to play...
Kairi hadn't felt like playing at all.
She'd just been...thinking of home...the place she missed, the place of her dreams, the place she'd stopped even talking about because everyone said it sounded like a fantasy...
Because...
And Sora had taken her hand, and he'd brought her into this place. This cave. This secret place...
He'd shown her all the other drawings there, at the time.
And he'd taken her right over to the door, gotten down there with her, and handed her a rock.
A rock!
And he'd asked her to draw with him.
He said...he'd draw her, and she could draw him...because-
"'Cause we're friends now! And we're gonna be friends forever!"
And they had. And they were. And Kairi...
The Kairi of today shuffled forward on her knees, falling before the cave wall, a tear falling down her face, as her smile returned - a trembling smile.
She reached out, and touched her hand to the altered image...
Something only Sora could have done...would have done.
It wasn't just their heads looking at each other with those big dumb smiles anymore...
It was Sora, his arm outstretched, offering her...a paopu fruit!
He had come back, he had added this to the image - that-
That was why he hadn't wanted her to come in here!
Because he knew what it meant, he knew why he'd done it, and he knew if she saw it-
He...knew...what he was doing for once? He KNEW! He knew...and he did it anyways. He did it...for me. Because he...
Did Sora...want that for them?
With...her?
The symbolism of the paopu fruit sharing wasn't strictly a...a romantic thing - but it did have romantic connotations in most stories...if...if the people involved with sharing them...wanted them to...
If they...
Kairi laughed softly to herself, sniffling and wiping at her tears. "Why are you even trying to kid yourself?" she whispered, to herself alone. "Even S-Sora knows...You know too..."
She knew.
And she wanted it too.
That was why she fished about for the nearest sharp rock, sat back, and began to add her own new addition to the long-standing image...
And when she was finished, Kairi stood up, and she walked back out of the secret place, into the shining sun again.
She strode down the dirt path that curved past the pool of water...stopping there.
Right before Sora.
He was standing there, waiting for her. Watching her intently...silently...
Staring...into her eyes...
He looked so scared now...
Kairi swallowed. Then she flashed a grin and put hands to her hips. "What are you so afraid of, Sora?"
Sora gulped, looking down. He kicked his foot. Then he looked back up at her. He did a terrible job returning the grin. "I dunno...What're you afraid of, Kairi?"
Kairi gazed at him for a long moment. Considering his question seriously. Her hands fell away. "I don't know," she replied honestly, quiet. "We usually don't have to be afraid when we're together, do we?" she went on.
"I..." Sora nodded, flushed. "Yeah...hehe. When I'm with you, Kairi, I...I don't feel so afraid of anything anymore. You're strong, Kairi, and- and you make me feel strong, too. I wanted to tell you that...I- I've wanted to for- for a while now..." he confessed, in quiet, scratchy tones. "And- and I wanted to tell you that- that for all of our lives so far I was always...wanting to protect you...but I've learned over these past months now that you don't need protecting. That you could even protect me better than I ever could you."
"Sora..." Kairi breathed, taking a shaking step forward.
"Y-yeah...?"
Kairi took another step. And another. She reached her arms up, her hands...and then she lowered them, and stepped away.
Sora's face flickered. His expression went through trepidation, shock, and...disappointment, for an instant? Or- was that something she imagined? A figment of a projection of the thing she herself felt inside, in that moment...?
No...
"No." Kairi shook her head, seized his hand, and started off toward the shack. "Come on."
"W-what? Kairi...?"
Kairi didn't speak, dragging him into the shack, up the stairs, and out across the bridge to the plateau.
To the tree.
She let Sora go, striding over to the branches. She reached out, and she pulled two star-shaped fruits free of it. She turned back, hopping up to sit on the tree, holding them in her lap. She gazed at Sora silently.
He hesitated, then climbed up to sit with her there. Right next to her.
Kairi handed him one fruit, keeping the other for herself. She gazed into his eyes, leaning forward. She raised her paopu, holding it before her. Sora raised his...crossing arms with her, his face shining with understanding, and with passion, and...
And they made their wishes, their drawing, real.
Together.