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Valentine’s Special

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Author: Mariah

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A/N: Oh Yeah! Today’s Valentine’s Day and I thought I’d whip up something
sweet to the ears. Not the greatest fluff writer, but here’s a one-shot.

I really doubt Destiny Islands have a Valentine’s day or anything........And
some of the KH cast doesn’t play instruments............But hey! This is fan-
FICTION, right? Enjoy! SK 4eva!!!!!

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~*Kairi’s POV*~

Wow, it was hard to believe that today was finally the performance day.
Tidus, Wakka, Selphie and I really beat ourselves to perfecting our well-
planned song that we’d perform tonight on the beach.

I sat down on the dock. It was usually Selphie’s spot, but today, I
occupied it since she was fine tuning her guitar. For now, I was resting my
voice that I would have to use later.

Staring off into the distance, I could see the main land of the Destiny
Islands. That was where we’d be performing. My stomach was soon aroused
with giant-sized butterflies. Oh, I was so nervous!

It was such a big deal cause tonight; all our fellow islanders would be
there to perform for the Valentine’s Celebration. Just the very thought of
standing on stage and singing made me all weak-kneed even though I was
sitting.

Wringing my hands nervously in my lap, I didn’t hear Selphie or Tidus
calling for my attention till they were practically two feet away from me.
My eyes met Selphie’s bright green eyes that held much concern, “Hey, you
okay, Kai?”

I nodded, “Yeah, just fine.”

Tidus crossed his arms sarcastically and replied in an equally amused tone,
“You sure don’t look it. Are you sure you didn’t swallow a fish whole and
have it flopping about in you?”

Selphie nudged him sharply in the ribs and gave him a murderous glare
before she smiled apologetically at me. I grinned back and stood up, “So
what’re you guys doing here?”

“Oh! We came to fetch you for lunch!” My green-eyed friend told me. She
tugged on my arm, “Come on! You might not want to go with an empty
stomach!”

“Or one that’d puke on the audience,” Tidus muttered and was quickly
stabbed again in the same spot by Selphie.

Ah, that’s my friends...........

The three of us made our way to our boats and rowed across the gentle clear
blue waters. The sun bathing down on my skin caused me to feel a whole much
better as the breeze lent a hand and ruffled my hair and clothes lightly.

The ride was somewhat short in my mind as we clambered out and onto the
main land’s dock. It was much larger than the other one at our private
island. At least by a good twenty feet or so by width. It was obvious why
there had to be so much space though. There were many more boats floating
at the docks, I’ll bet that they were here for the big Festive.

And that only made me more nervous. We were to be the last act since the
show needed a climax song.

The old dock manager walked up to us, “Why look at you three youths! Where
have you been to?” He asked.

“We were at the usual place, Mr. McClay!” Selphie responded for us as she
smiled brightly the old man.

He grinned back at her to show a few missing teeth, “Yes, yes, that’s
wonderful! Having a good sense of adventure! Are you all up to the giant
show tonight?”

I shifted uncomfortably and I guess Tidus noticed, “Yeah, except for the
lead singer.......Ow!” As he received another jab. I could never thank Selphie
enough.

Mr. McClay gave a good hearted laugh, “Now young man, you wouldn’t want to
anger these cute ladies, now would you?”

Tidus muttered incoherently. Some thing that sounded a lot like, “No
kidding, you old geezer.”

Ah, good old Tidus. He loves making fun of people sometimes, but that’s
just what make him seem more like a brother than a plain old friend of
mine.

Soon, Selphie and I were dragging him away and waving goodbye to the
senior. We marched right into town and sought to find Wakka. It wasn’t too
hard as we were out for lunch and the best place on Destiny Islands with
great food was the food stands along the beach.

The three of us found Wakka standing by a palm tree, munching down on a
good-sized sandwich. He smiled and waved at us as we I got some snacks for
ourselves and walked over to him.

“We’ll blow away the people today, ya?” And that’s Wakka for you with his
Jamaican accent deep in his voice.

Selphie nodded fervently as she chewed her burger and Tidus waved his hand
nonchalantly at the air, “Oh yeah, we’ll do good alright, my man!” He put
on a sunny grin and continued snacking away at his fries and soda.

I didn’t know what to say when Wakka and the rest of them looked at me.
“Yeah, sure............we’ll do great............” Jeez, that sounded extremely lame to me.

Wakka slung an arm around my shoulder, “Hey Kai, cheer up! You’re bumming
yourself too much, ya? Put some faith into that voice of yours!”

“Ya,” Selphie added for our friend while keeping a smile on her face. Tidus
snorted and Wakka glared at them.

“Well, it seems that you all still haven’t really changed in the past two
years,” I heard a strangely familiar voice say.

My head turned to locate the source and found, “Riku!” I didn’t notice my
half-eaten Italian salad fly into the air and slam-dunk right on Tidus’s
head.

I ran up to my old friend and flung my arms around him. Pulling away and
stare up into his grinning face. He looked slightly different now. His
features were much maturer and he was still as strong looking as ever.

But there were similarities too. The familiar silver strands of his were
just like before and his aquamarine eyes still held his old spark in them.
After these two years of missing my best friends, one of them was finally
back!

“I can’t believe really it’s you, Riku! Where were you?! What took you so
long?! You’ve grown up during the past two years!” I began to bombard him
with many more questions and words until he laughed, “Who else would I be?
And speaking of looks, I see you’ve grown your hair longer.”

I then suddenly remembered my other friend...........Sora..........Wouldn’t he like to
know how I’ve grown up to become?

Riku’s smile diminished slowly as if he could read my mind, “No, he’s not
with me Kai, I’m sorry.”

A part of my heart shattered as you could say. I had wanted both my friends
to come back. To be with me once more, just like old times! But will that
ever happen? Will my dream be a waste of space in my heart and mind?

Riku hugged me like a big brother, “I’m sure he’s gonna come back Kairi,
trust me.”

As much as I’d like to believe him, I couldn’t. Wouldn’t I just bring up
too much false hope? Sora’s never going to come back and for all I know, he
could probably be dead already.

Riku let go of me and gave me a grin when he saw my eyes tearing up, “Come
on. Knowing Sora, I’m guessing he gave you his word that he’d be coming
back for you. And besides, who’d be willing to leave behind such a pretty
girl like you forever?”

His silly words made me crack a small smile once more.

“Hey Riku! You’ve finally decided to come back, ya?”

Selphie leapt over to us and stood on her tip toes trying to come level to
level with my silver haired friend like she had done for what seemed to
have been ages ago. “Jeez, you’ve gotten waaaaayy too tall. And I thought
that one day I’d be able to reach your height!”

Talk about a weird way to greet someone............I guess Riku thought so too as
he gave her a odd look.

Tidus marched up to me instead of my best friend, “Look what you did to my
hair!” He pointed to his dressing sauce and lettuce covered head. I could
only grin as innocently as possible, “It was..........an accident?”

The blonde huffed and stood a little ways away, trying to shake the
vegetation out of his “preciously styled” hair.

The four of us talked for a while before Tidus got thoroughly more
irritated with the sticky substance from my salad, “That’s it! I’m gonna go
for a swim to wash this stuff off. Who wants to join me?!”

Selphie and Wakka immediately agreed and waited for Riku’s and my response.
I shrugged and smiled. That meant yes.

“What about you Riku?” I asked turning to face him.

He shook his head at us, “Sorry guys, but you have understand that I still
need to go home and straighten some things out. But you can count on me
being at that Valentine’s concert event tonight.”

With that, he waved at us as he walked out of view.

So our remaining hours of the afternoon was spent swimming. Heck we were
playing with Wakka’s blitzball also. Not the real game of course, since
there weren’t any goal posts under ocean. The closest we got to describing
our little game was something like volleyball.

But during the second half of the game, I was beginning to lose my
concentration. Riku was back, but Sora was not. Where exactly could he be?
Was he still traveling around with his companions Donald and Goofy?

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone standing by the shore, not too
far away from our game. And judging my delusional mind as of now, I turned
to face the person.

I realized that he was just standing by himself with water washing up to
his feet. He looked so serene...............and he reminded me of someone.

The instant I blinked, he was gone from sight and caused me to pause in
confusion. Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka’s calls were distant in my ears, as I
stayed frozen like stone.

“Kairi! Look out!”

But before I could move a muscle, the ball hit a bull’s eye on me and I was
sent falling into the ground below me. Ugh............I hate having a mouth full of
sand..........

“Wakka! You killed her!!!!” I heard Selphie shriek.

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It had been a while since Selphie had made me wash out my mouth thoroughly
which I was glad to oblige. Have you ever chewed sand before? You know...........
It’s like eating tiny grains of rock with that annoying crunching sound. It
was really disgusting!

Night had fallen already and I was getting ready for our performance. And
it was like a whole new swarm of butterflies were flying around inside of
me.

I was picking through my nicest clothing in my closet, but I couldn’t
decide just by randomly flipping through them so I dumped everything out.

It was much easier this way and soon I had picked out a sparkly black
spaghetti strap top and a denim mini skirt. And to fight off the night’s
cooler breezes, I pulled on a transparent purple blouse with sleeves that
ended at my elbows and left it unbuttoned.

Next I added some make up. I’m not a big fan of cosmetics so the most I put
on was some light pink blush and a light shade of eye shadow that
contrasted my blue-violet eyes nicely. Last but most importantly a good
coat of lip gloss. I WAS the lead singer and my lips would do better of
they could actually be seen while I was on stage..........

And just for the heck of it, I added just a touch of glitter in my hair.

I looked at the digital clock in my room. Five minutes to get to the
concert and meet up with everyone.

I locked the door to my house and walked down the shore to where I could
hear the music and noises blasting. As always, Riku, Wakka, and Tidus were
already there and dressed nicely.

I gave a wave to them to show that I had arrived and swerved my way around
people to get to them. Quite a challenged might I say.

Many people were dancing with their partners and laughing and enjoying
their time. Plus, there were tons of colorful designs and artwork hanging
in the town square and main streets. After what felt like an eon, I made it
to them, slightly out of breath.

“Looking nice Kairi, ya?”

I smiled brightly at Wakka and the guys. The place was slightly dark and I
couldn’t really see them clearly since the only light sources were from the
shops lined along the square and attracting visitors and the stage itself
where the third to last show was being held.

“Selphie here yet?” I asked.

Tidus shook his head, “Nope. You know her, she takes too long trying to
make her complexion the best.”

There was a whacking sound and Tidus immediately double over clutching his
head, “It is IMPORTANT to have a nice face on stage!” I heard Selphie’s
dignified voice say loudly.

Tidus looked up, “Well if it isn’t Miss Fashion and her strange styles. I’d
say you went too far as to try and imitate a clown tonight.”

Riku, Wakka, and I were trying to hide our smiles and laughing fits but
were failing miserably. Selphie’s “playful” glare was directed at Tidus and
I caught him staring a little too long at her face.

She actually didn’t overdue her make up at all and it was applied lightly
like mine. To say the truth, she was really looking pretty............and Tidus
could help but show he noticed.

By the time we had finished talking, it was the middle of the second to
last act of the Festive. We left Riku in the crowd and he told me to keep
my chin high and sing my best. I wasn’t about to disappoint one of my best
friends.

We arrived backstage and Selphie hooked her guitar up with the sound
projector and tuned the volume level just right while testing it as quietly
as possible. Tidus took his stance at the keyboard and Wakka sat down
behind the percussion set. The stage manager gave me the hands free
microphone and I clipped it on my blouse and adjusted it so it wouldn’t
come off.

I flexed my arms to release the muscle tension as I helped my friends check
all the electric wires to make sure everything was perfect and wouldn’t
come undone in the middle of our performance.

And finally, it was our turn.

.............

..............

..............

..............

..............

The crew before us left and we heard the audiences applaud loudly and
whistle. I wondered what it’d feel like if it were us that would be
applauded for after we finished.

I shook my hair so it was nice and loose and crossed my fingers before the
curtain pulled back so the audience would discover us behind the fabric.

My head was already lowered in start position, my legs slightly apart and
my arms hanging at me sides. I was ready.

I could feel the burning warmth of the stage light upon me as I relaxed,
leaving my worries behind and feeling the feelings that were already
arousing inside me. With a silent breath, I gave my friends the signal to
start and we began; my voice distinct in the music.

~~~When you walk away,

You don’t hear me say,

Please, oh baby!

Don’t go!

Simple and clean

Is the way that

You’re makin’ me feel-------

Tonight.

It’s hard, to-

Let it go!~~~

I paused, my eyes closed and my right hand was clutched tightly by my
heart. Taking a breath I looked at the audience, my eyes full of emotion
and Selphie began to string the guitar and I caught on singing softly.

~~~You’re giving me............

Too many things...........

.......lately.........

You’re all I need,

Oh no...........

You’ve smiled at me------

And said!

Don’t get me wrong------

I love you!

But does that mean,

I have to meet.

Your father?

When we are older,

You’ll under-stand!

What I meant,

When I said, “No!

I don’t think,

Life is quite that Simple!”

When you walk away,

You don’t hear me say!

Please! Oh baby!

Don’t go!

Simple and clean is

The way that,

You’re makin’ me feel,

Tonight.

It’s hard,

To let it go------~~~~

Tidus switched his keyboard sound to xylophone and began playing a
beautiful tinkling harmony. And I immediately caught on with Selphie
strumming the harmonic chords.

~~~The daily things (like this and what is what)

That keep us all,

Busy,

Are confusing me..........

That’s when you,

Came to me!

And said,

“Wish I could prove-

I love you!

But does that mean

I have to,

Walk.

On water?”

When we are older

You’ll under-stand!

When I say,

So.

And maybe,

Somethings are,

That Simple!~~~

Wakka made some fancy movements as his pair of drumsticks hit the various
drums he had in perfect beat to the song and accenting my voice as I became
more and more wrapped up in the song.

~~~When you walk away!

You don’t hear me say!

Please! Oh baby!

Don’t go!

Simple and Clean

Is the way that,

You’re makin’ me feel,

Tonight!

It’s hard!

To let it go!

Hoooold me!

Whatever---

----Lies beyond

This morning!

Is a little later on!

Regardless,

Of warnings,

The future doesn’t scare me,

At all!!!!!

Nothing’s like----

Before!

When you walk away,

You don’t hear me say,

Please! Oh baby!

Don’t go!

Simple and clean

Is the way that

You’re makin’ me feel,

Tonight!

It’s hard!

To let it go------

Hoooold me!

Whatever-----

---Lies beyond

The morning!

Is a little later on!

Regardless,

Of warnings,

The future doesn’t scare me-----

At all!!!!!!!

Nothing’s like,

Before!

Hoooold me!

Whatever---

----Lies beyond

this morning!

Is a little later on!

Regardless,

Of warnings,

The future doesn’t scare me----

At all!!!!!

Nothing’s like----

Before!~~~

My friends did the finishing music while I sang along in as soothing
harmonic background. Right at the end, Wakka stopped and Selphie played her
final chord as Tidus let the keyboard change to a whisper at the end.

And during the song, I hadn’t realized that I had tears in my eyes as I had
sung with so much feeling and emotion. I guess, I the song just reminded me
of my own feelings.

But those tears soon became tears of joy as the audience erupted in the
loudest ear-splitting applause that I’ve ever heard. It seemed that they
too were truly touched also.

At the front of the stage where I was standing, it seemed like it were
raining flowers at my feet as the people tossed colored petals and full
stemmed or bouquets of flowers at us.

I brushed a strand of my lightly glittered hair away from my face.

At my side, Selphie kept rubbing her eyes carefully to wipe away a small
portion of the wetness from her eyes and she too was grinning from ear like
Tidus and Wakka who had left their positions and come to stand beside us
also.

We bowed and smiled and waved at the audience before the curtains drew
closed again. The four of us rushed out the backstage and met Riku outside.
Upon greeting us, he had on his trademark grin as he saw all of us walk
over to him; all out of breath.

“That was awesome you guys, great job.” He complimented.

Tidus panted, “I am so dehydrated. It was burning up there! Let’s go get a
drink shall we?”

We agreed and bought a few smoothies and sodas. We sat down at a nearby
table and relaxed and created small talk. I remained quieter since my voice
still hurt a little. But sipping my strawberry banana smoothie, it eased
the tension in my throat.

After finishing up, we tossed our cups away. Amazingly, Tidus had asked
Selphie to dance with him, and the more amazing thing was that she
accepted! Wakka had wandered off with a random girl to dance with and that
left Riku and me.

“Your voice was absolutely beautiful, Kai.”

I grinned, “Thanks Riku. I couldn’t believe I had doubted myself like
that!”

He laughed and said, “Don’t worry about it. You’ll probably get used to it
the more you do it. And besides, everyone gets nervous.”

“Yeah......”

“Listen, I’m going back home since I’m getting weary from traveling and
this Festive. I can walk you home if you want.........?”

I shook me head, “Nah. I’d like to stay a little longer. You know, enjoy
this while it lasts!”

He smiled and nodded a goodbye, but not before he told me to be careful as
he left my vision and was swallowed up by the swarm of colorfully dressed
people.

I went to a corner and watched everyone dance. It’s not that I wasn’t good
at it, but it was just......... I didn’t have anyone to dance with.

Sighing, I leaned against a stone wall of a building and listened to the
music while looking up at the sky. It was dark, but brightly dotted with
distanced stars. It was beautiful.

“It’s gorgeous, isn’t it?”

I jumped when I heard someone’s voice. My head turned to the side quickly
to see the person standing beside me. I couldn’t see through his half mask
to completely know his features and plus it was dark, but he was staring at
the sky, just I had been doing.

My heart jumped a beat as he turned his gaze to me. He was
so.........mysterious??? Or maybe it was the mask.

I saw him grin, “Would you care for a dance? A lovely young lady like you
should be a part of the fun tonight.”

Blushing, even though I already had “blush” on, was it possible to get any
pinker?

“Sure,” I said gently.

He offered his and hand I accepted by placing my own in his. Then he led me
onto the floor and we got into a waltzing position before the music
switched to a flowing and gracious melody.

I felt slightly embarrassed and continued to blush as he twirled me around
and we moved perfectly with the tune. It then switched to a slower song and
that was when we had to dance close.

All the time, I felt very conscious about his hand on my waist and my own
hand on his shoulder and our other entwined fingers. I think I was being a
nutcase, wasn’t I?

My eyes kept darting anywhere but his and I could feel him watching me. It
was kind of scary, but the more we danced, the more I began to relax about
having his company.

And without realizing anything, we had drawn so close that my cheek rested
on his dark clad shoulder. He felt warm and oddly comforting. I suddenly
remembered that we hadn’t even spoken of our names yet.

Just then, the music ended and we pulled away hesitantly.

This time, I had the courage to look into his eyes. They were sky blue.

He smiled and led me farther away from everyone else until we were by the
shore again. The waves lapped gently, washing over the sand with only the
moon and the star’s light for us to see anything. I noticed that here, I
could see much better than I did at the Festive.

It was much quieter and we were isolated. I was beginning to grow a bit
nervous though. I was all alone, with a stranger! Maybe I should have gone
home with Riku..........

His back was to me as he spoke tenderly, “I can tell you’re getting
uneasy...........Kairi..........”

I was startled, “H-How do you know my name?”

He turned around, his boyish grin still as present as ever, “Would you know
me better if I did this?” He undid his mask and held it in his hand.

My breath caught in my throat and I could’ve sworn my heart had stopped
beating, or was it the other way around? I was confused.

“It......It can’t be.........”

My knees collapsed and I fell. But his arms were there to catch me and we
sank to the ground with him holding onto my limp form, “............This
isn’t...........happening............”

“Shh.........Kairi it’s me.”

Tears escaped my eyes as I sat there with him. “S-Sora.........” I gasped his
name through quick breaths.

He held on tighter to comfort me and let my tears seep into his shirt. I
hugged him back, fearing he’d disappear again. I felt his hand stroke my
hair and hear him whispering gently into my ear, consoling me.

“I told you I’d come back Kai, and I am back. I’m not going to leave you
again.”

All I could do was continue to cry quietly. It was as if my mixed emotions
were flowing out in liquid form through my eyes, the windows to my very
heart and soul. Anguish, happiness, relief, fear,.............everything came in
silent streams.

Sora pulled away from me and made me look into his eyes while he peered
back into my tear glossed ones. With two gentle strokes of his hand, my
tears on my face were wiped away, “Don’t cry like that Kairi, I’m here with
you now.”

He leaned in and planted a soft kiss on my lips and in return, I kissed him
back just as softly. It was meant to make us feel protected by each other’s
undying care for the other. And slowly, the kiss developed more
romantically.

It wasn’t very passionate, but it was an extremely sweet mutual feeling. I
could feel Sora pulling me in closer to him and I gladly let him. After a
few moments, we pulled away to take a light breather.

I let my head lean by his shoulder and his cheek press against my hair. His
arms encircled my smaller frame. As we looked up at the star-dotted sky, he
whispered into my ear, “You’ll always be the one I love and if you remember
that, we’ll never be apart...........ever.”

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A/N: Ohhhh.........I wonder if any of you felt the fluff suffocation in this
one............first try at trying to make my stories a tad more romantic! ~^

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=^.^=

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