Hi everyone
I know, 60 chapters O.O I had no idea KH:TFF would last so long!
IchigoNeko, read this chappy. It answers your question ^-^
*Dances the happy dance with Soradude*
Chapter Sixty-One
Sora closed his eyes, bit his tongue as the cramp in his arms got worse and worse. Still arched over Kairi, he was beginning to get tired. After forty-five minutes of holding the same position, his arms had become numb, and he felt as though he’d never be able to move his spine again. His elbows seemed to be stuck in a bent position, over the cold ground.
“Only fifteen minutes,” he reminded himself,
“do this for Kai.”
At least his efforts were working. Her skin was back to its usual healthy pink glow, her body nice and warm. Hopefully she’d wake up soon, an hour after Sora had given her the potion. Riku sat a distance away, watching helplessly as Sora tried to keep Kairi warm. He’d stayed quiet for all this time, fearful of distracting Sora, making him fall. Seeing the pain in Sora’s face, he stood up and took slow steps over. He crouched next to him, deciding that he could maybe take his mind off the intense pain.
“Come on, it’s not much longer now,” Riku encouraged him. Sora smiled a little, recognising his efforts. Riku racked his brains for something else to say, tried to think of anything else he could say to engage Sora’s mind. “So… uh…” Nothing was springing to his mind. “You and Kai…” Well, it was something to say, he thought, and he‘d been wondering. “Are you two, uh…” Sora had to think for a moment to realise what Riku meant.
“Yeah,” he smiled weakly. He would nod, but he did not dare to move, afraid his arms might give way beneath his weight. He looked under his arm, back at Riku, who seemed to have a blank expression. Sora had always wondered whether Riku was just protective over Kairi, or whether he felt something more. He‘d hate for this to upset their friendship. “That’s alright with you… isn’t it?” Riku gave a single nod.
“Y‘know, I always knew you liked her,” he replied, “and she liked you.” Sora felt guilty at Riku’s indirect answer, worried it was a well-disguised ‘no’.
“But… do you love her?” Sora whispered, quite worried now. The last thing he needed right now was to feel like he was hurting Riku’s feelings. Riku widened his eyes, realising Sora had gotten the wrong idea.
“Of course,” he smiled, “just not in the way you’re thinking.” Reading Sora’s thoughts, he wanted to set the record straight once and for all. “I love her. I just want her to be happy.” Hearing Riku’s heartfelt emotions, Sora realised just how much Kairi meant to him. He loved her too, but in a different way.
“You‘ll never have to worry about that,” Sora raised another weak smile, taking a glance at Kairi‘s face, before looking back down to the ground.
Riku grinned, stood up. He put his hands in his pockets, slowly paced around the floor, felt tiny stones clicking beneath his feet. All this waiting was horrible. He paced around Kairi, took a look at her face. It was no longer pale, her lips no longer that awful bluish colour. At least all the blood had been cleaned up now. She almost looked as though she was merely sleeping. As if she’d wake up at any moment. Hopefully, she would.
He was not sure whether it was his foolish mind just playing tricks, at first. But as it happened more and more, he realised he wasn’t just imagining it. Her closed eyes were tightening a little, then relaxing again. Her lips moved a little, then stopped. She was starting to move, showing signs of conscious life.
“Sora,” he whispered. “I think… I think she’s waking up.” He couldn’t move his eyes from her.
“Nah,” Sora sighed, sadly dismissing his words as wishful thinking. “It’s too early, she still has ten minutes.”
“No, Sora, really!” Riku’s eyes darted to her gently twitching arm. “She’s waking up, I’m sure she is!”
Sora could feel her arm moving a little, heaved himself from his fixed position over her. He sat at her side, gently massaging his arms, trying to return the feeling. Riku fell to her other side, watching her like a hawk. Sora leaned over, touched her cheek. His shoulders ached as he moved. She was still warm, much to his delight. Her eyes fluttered a little at his touch, then she slowly woke up. She looked up with dozy blue eyes.
“Kairi!” Riku shouted at the top of his voice, overjoyed to see her awake.
Startled, she flinched, still not entirely sure of what was going on. At first, she thought she’d gone blind, after staring up into the infinite darkness looming overhead. She felt a little safer after Sora and Riku leaned over, their faces up close to her own, although Riku’s shouting had scared her at first.
“W-where am I?” she whispered, stuttering, her voice quaking. She looked up at them with her round, blue eyes. They widened as she recognised the face before her. “Riku?” She blinked, unsure of whether she was dreaming. Sceptical, she looked around for Sora, looked to him for reassurance. Sora nodded, smiling back at her. He was overjoyed to see she was alright, but knew she and Riku deserved some time to be reunited properly. She felt another warm, friendly hand taking her own. Looking up, she saw Riku, his face beaming.
“Shh,” Riku smiled, “you’re with us now, you’re safe.” He stroked her hand gently.
“It’s really… you, isn’t it?” she murmured, gazing up at his face. He looked so much older now, so much more mature, yet he had not changed at all. He still had the same aqua eyes, the same brazen grin fixed on his sharp face. “I… I can’t believe it!” She sounded as though she was half asleep, her words quiet, drawn out, and even slightly croaked at times. She could barely move, her body exhausted, but Riku could see the joy in her eyes.
“It’s good to see you, Kai,” he leaned down to give her a hug, tightly holding her delicate body close. “I missed you so much.”
“I missed you too,” she smiled, gladly receiving his hug. She could hardly lift her arms to reciprocate, but Riku understood. As Riku pulled away, she saw Sora, happily sat watching. She smiled at him, knowing he was kindly giving her and Riku some time together. “It’s good to see you didn’t join them.” She looked back at Riku, saw him shaking his head.
“No way,” he said. “I’d never do that. Sora told me all about this stuff, how they’ve been messing with you and everything.” He held her hand tightly. “But what happened to you?” He watched her sigh, closing her eyes. Sora came closer, took her free hand, kissing it warmly. She acknowledged this with a smile.
“They ambushed us,” she whispered, her eyes still closed. “Kali, Meiji, and some other guy. I wasn’t sure who he was.” Both Riku and Sora assumed this must have been Jinn. They knew Ryu was there to guard them, and doubted Mikado would bother himself to leave the ravine. “They just grabbed me from out of nowhere. The others tried to fight, but Kali told them she’d kill me if they came after me. So the others just stayed still as they took me away.” She looked at Sora. “Kinda like they did with you.” Sora nodded. She took a painfully long time to speak, her words still slow and heavy. “I managed to struggle away from her, trying to get back to King Mickey, but I didn’t get far. They followed me and just lashed out when they found me. I remember Meiji and that other guy just standing there while Kali got at me with her sword. I didn’t have time to get my sword to defend myself, she hit my arm when I tried to reach for it. My arm smacked off my face, I think it split my lip open.”
“It did,” Sora pointed out, gently trailing a finger over the cut on her lip.
“I thought so, I had some blood on my arm,” she realised. “I sorta stopped for a second there, and she sliced at me with her sword. I tried to move away, but I couldn’t get far enough. She caught me with the tip of the sword, cut my head.”
“She’ll pay for that,” Riku growled, gently lifting her hair to reveal the cut across her head. He was more forward than Sora when it came to expressing his anger, although Sora was thinking the same thing.
“I got really angry then,” she blushed, embarrassed at her actions. “I lost it, I just punched her back and she fell over. That’s when the others stepped in. Meiji dragged Kali away, kicking and screaming. The other guy stood there, held his arms out, then clapped his hands together. All this weird yellow smoke puffed from his hands, it made me really dizzy. I felt really ill, my head suddenly felt like it was gonna explode or something. I thought I was gonna be sick as soon as I’d breathed it in. I think I just collapsed, I don’t remember much else after that.” Riku narrowed his eyes, thinking.
“Sounds like you were poisoned,” he mused, looking at her. “But you feel ok now, don’t you?” He hoped Sora’s potion had worked properly, getting rid of the toxins that had flowed through her veins.
“Yeah,” she nodded. “Thanks to you two.” She looked at them, examined their faces. Both pale, their usually bright eyes looked dull and dreary. “You look tired, shouldn’t you be resting?” Sora smiled at the coincidence.
“That’s what we were about to do,” Sora smiled, “until Ryu turned up with you. There was no way we were gonna sleep knowing you weren’t alright.” Kairi grinned.
“You could have slept,” she smiled, joking, “it’s not like I would have died or anything.” Her smile faded as Riku scratched his chin, an uneasy look on his face.
“Well, if Jinn poisoned you…” he said, slightly apprehensive, “then you would have, if Sora hadn’t used that potion on you.”
They were silent awhile, all in quiet thought, all thinking over the very same thing. Sora and Riku sat in silent relief, trying not to think of the worst possible outcome to this situation. It was an almost impossible task, now they knew what had happened in their absence. Kairi lay completely still, humbled by the thought of how unwittingly close she’d come to death.
Still, it was comforting to know she was completely safe now, happily back in the close company of Sora and Riku. She knew nothing at all could go wrong, as long as she was with them. She may have been kidnapped, attacked, poisoned and imprisoned by the New Generation, but now, in the cold, unforgiving, icy darkness, she felt strangely safe. Secure, with her closest friends at her side. Together, for the first time in two years. She wholeheartedly wished that nothing would separate them ever again.
Ta-da! Kairi didn't die, so you don't have to worry anymore. She has a thing with escaping death... meh. CC please!
<3 <3