kingdom hearts; kairi/sora
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Characters/Pairings: Kairi/Sora (yes in that order; although if you don't like it you could probably ignore it, it's subtle)
Title: Sleepsand
Rating: PG
Notes: Kairi is seme! XD Big spoilers for kh2. Post-game, pretty recently after everything's over.
Posted: kh_drabble, for the challenge 'castles'.
Kairi was walking along the beach, their beach, still so familiar even after so long away. The day was sunny and warm and the hot sand felt good between her toes -- but something was strange.
Everything was bigger than it should have been, she realized, and she knew she was dreaming when she saw ten-year-old Sora building a sand castle by the water.
But that wasn't quite right either, because Sora wasn't shouting or grinning or flinging sand like he should have been; he was being quiet. He was building slowly and deliberately, and he didn't look up when Kairi approached him and knelt down.
"What're you making?" she asked in her pure, unscarred child's voice. Quiet child Sora looked up at her with blank eyes and said,
"Proof of Existence."
And Kairi's heartbeat floundered for a moment as she looked, because it was the castle, that castle, just as stark and horrible in sand as it had been in stone, and rendered with harsh, precise detail that no child's hands could have produced.
"I'll tell you about it," Sora-not-Sora continued quietly. "There were these people, only they weren't people really, because they had no hearts. And even though people said they couldn't feel, they still laughed and cried and had best friends just like we do. But everyone told them it wasn't real, and that they didn't exist -- they were nobodies. So they made this place to prove that they were here, so maybe someone would remember them after they were gone."
Kairi didn't say anything. She made herself look at the castle. The ceiling was missing over that room, and she could see inside. The markers were there, all thirteen, shaped with perfect precision. She could even read the numbers. I, II, III, IV, V...
"Because, see," he continued, still emotionless, "I killed them. So now they're gone and this is the only thing that's left." Kairi looked up. The blue eyes were dull and hard. "But it's no proof at all," Sora-not-Sora said, and now there was a flicker of something -- anger, regret. "I don't know why they called it that because it doesn't prove anything. Look."
And he bent down and he blew on the little room -- softly, barely a breeze -- and the markers disintegrated; every last grain of sand scattered and blew away; all that was left of the thirteen graves was an uneven texture on the castle's floor.
Kairi watched him watch the sand blow away, and suddenly he wasn't a child anymore, but Sora grown again, Sora fifteen years old but so much older, lying in the remains of a ruined sand castle and sobbing.
Kairi opened her eyes to the ceiling of her room. She got up quietly; tiptoed past Riku, asleep on the foldout bed in the corner; slipped out into the living room, where Sora was sleeping on the couch.
He was crying in his sleep, softly -- curled up into himself, like the child he had been in her dream. Kairi sat down on the edge of the couch and gently touched his shoulder.
His eyes opened slowly. "Kairi." He said it in an exhale, as if he'd been waiting.
A pause.
He shifted closer to her but didn't look up. "I can't stop thinking about it," he said in a sleep-choked mumble.
"About them, you mean," Kairi said, and he murmured something incoherent, curling into himself a little further. She reached down to touch his cheek. "I know," she said softly. "It's okay."
Sora shook his head. Kairi smudged the tear tracks under his eyes and felt sleepsand -- like the sands of the time they had lost, of everything that everyone had lost. Sand that, in the end, meant nothing.
"It's okay," she said again. She cradled his head and waited, and finally his eyes closed.
Characters/Pairings: Kairi/Sora (yes in that order; although if you don't like it you could probably ignore it, it's subtle)
Title: Sleepsand
Rating: PG
Notes: Kairi is seme! XD Big spoilers for kh2. Post-game, pretty recently after everything's over.
Posted: kh_drabble, for the challenge 'castles'.
Kairi was walking along the beach, their beach, still so familiar even after so long away. The day was sunny and warm and the hot sand felt good between her toes -- but something was strange.
Everything was bigger than it should have been, she realized, and she knew she was dreaming when she saw ten-year-old Sora building a sand castle by the water.
But that wasn't quite right either, because Sora wasn't shouting or grinning or flinging sand like he should have been; he was being quiet. He was building slowly and deliberately, and he didn't look up when Kairi approached him and knelt down.
"What're you making?" she asked in her pure, unscarred child's voice. Quiet child Sora looked up at her with blank eyes and said,
"Proof of Existence."
And Kairi's heartbeat floundered for a moment as she looked, because it was the castle, that castle, just as stark and horrible in sand as it had been in stone, and rendered with harsh, precise detail that no child's hands could have produced.
"I'll tell you about it," Sora-not-Sora continued quietly. "There were these people, only they weren't people really, because they had no hearts. And even though people said they couldn't feel, they still laughed and cried and had best friends just like we do. But everyone told them it wasn't real, and that they didn't exist -- they were nobodies. So they made this place to prove that they were here, so maybe someone would remember them after they were gone."
Kairi didn't say anything. She made herself look at the castle. The ceiling was missing over that room, and she could see inside. The markers were there, all thirteen, shaped with perfect precision. She could even read the numbers. I, II, III, IV, V...
"Because, see," he continued, still emotionless, "I killed them. So now they're gone and this is the only thing that's left." Kairi looked up. The blue eyes were dull and hard. "But it's no proof at all," Sora-not-Sora said, and now there was a flicker of something -- anger, regret. "I don't know why they called it that because it doesn't prove anything. Look."
And he bent down and he blew on the little room -- softly, barely a breeze -- and the markers disintegrated; every last grain of sand scattered and blew away; all that was left of the thirteen graves was an uneven texture on the castle's floor.
Kairi watched him watch the sand blow away, and suddenly he wasn't a child anymore, but Sora grown again, Sora fifteen years old but so much older, lying in the remains of a ruined sand castle and sobbing.
Kairi opened her eyes to the ceiling of her room. She got up quietly; tiptoed past Riku, asleep on the foldout bed in the corner; slipped out into the living room, where Sora was sleeping on the couch.
He was crying in his sleep, softly -- curled up into himself, like the child he had been in her dream. Kairi sat down on the edge of the couch and gently touched his shoulder.
His eyes opened slowly. "Kairi." He said it in an exhale, as if he'd been waiting.
A pause.
He shifted closer to her but didn't look up. "I can't stop thinking about it," he said in a sleep-choked mumble.
"About them, you mean," Kairi said, and he murmured something incoherent, curling into himself a little further. She reached down to touch his cheek. "I know," she said softly. "It's okay."
Sora shook his head. Kairi smudged the tear tracks under his eyes and felt sleepsand -- like the sands of the time they had lost, of everything that everyone had lost. Sand that, in the end, meant nothing.
"It's okay," she said again. She cradled his head and waited, and finally his eyes closed.