Nomura said Aqua doesn't have a connection to Kairi. And...Kairi made A charm for A friend; Riku was completely neglected and excluded.
I have seen this mentioned before that Kairi excluded Riku, but correct me if im wrong but wasn't the charm originally made for herself and Sora was only borrowing it? this went along with the idea that in promising to return it to her he was also promising to come home safely.
I don't see this as Riku neglect because Sora was setting out to defeat Ansem(SoD) but also to save Riku(which was accomplished in the process). So In the end Sora was supposed to return after saving Riku and in the end he didn't return it to her until all three were reunited on the island.
Sorry that had been bothering me for awhile, as for the main topic of the connections i do have to agree that so far there is very little indication that aqua is related to Kairi. Although there are a few things that point to the other two mentioned connections.
and btw Hi! im new to the forum lol