let's play p r e t e n d
"We
don't want to play your dumb old game! We're going off for an
adventure, and you can't come!" an eight year old Riku
declared. "Yeah, wanna know why?" his seven year old
sidekick, Sora, chipped it. Little Kairi shook her
fiery-haired head, tears beginning to form in her oceanic
eyes. "It's 'cause you're a girl, and you'll get all
afraid and stuff and ruin it!" the two boys shouted in unison
before snickering and running of to their boats, leaving her all
alone on the main island's sandy shores. »»»
It had been Naminé who had suggested tonight.
"Come on, Kairi! Since when was the last time you, Riku, Sora and I spent some time together? I mean, you guys are going to be busy at Destiny University, and honestly, who knows how chaotic things will be getting for the band?"
"I don't know, Nami…" came her hesitant reply, "Riku might not like it. He doesn't like it when I plan things and don't tell him about them. He likes being the one who plans everything."
Naminé laughed.
"Kairi, come on! At this rate, he'll be the one planning the wedding! Live a little, take control, and tell him that I was the one who planned the whole thing. He'll get over it."
»»»
So,
Kairi did what Naminé had said. Riku had gotten a little sulky
and didn't speak to her for a few days, but when he came back with
roses –yellow, her favorite- in hand as an apology and told her
he'd love to meet up with Sora and Naminé again, she
breathed a quick sigh of relief and gave a confirming call to
Naminé.
They arranged to meet at Gaston's Belle, a local restaurant and, back when they had been high school students, a favorite hangout of theirs. Their waiter, a short man by the name of Le Fou, showed them to a window-side table and quickly took their order, whisking away to the kitchen to deliver it to the cooks.
"So…" she began, not sure where to start. She looked at her companions, these faces she knew, these people that she had built memories with (late-night conversations, first kisses, fights, sleepovers…), and she realized that it was amazing how over the course of just one summer, they had changed beyond recognition. She was seeing them in a new light. Riku wasn't just a bossy, arrogant little boy anymore. No, he had grown into a defiant, strong-willed young man, the man she was going to be spending the rest of her life with. Sora and Naminé weren't invulnerable to the ebbing tides of change, either. Sora had become a leader, finding his voice and sticking up for his dreams. Naminé, the shy, quiet little girl she had met in sixth grade Art, had become this opinionated, outgoing artist. She wondered what she had become?
Naminé giggled, breaking her thoughts. Sora's gaze was on the floor.
"Well, there is a reason we wanted to see you guys tonight," he said, for once his voice soft and serious.
Riku shot a questioning look at Sora.
"Oh really."
Sarcasm filled that statement, dripping from each syllable. Sora ignored it, and nodded. Naminé squealed with delight.
"Can I tell them? Can I?" she asked, excitement flooding her voice.
A quick nod sent her bouncing in her seat.
"Our band got signed!"
Kairi squealed happily.
"Oh Nami, that's wonderful! Congratulations! When are you going to record your CD? Can I have an autograph? You are going to take me shopping with you at all the big malls, right?"
Sora laughed.
"Calm down, Kairi. We haven't gotten all the details yet. We just signed the contract yesterday."
He grabbed a napkin and scrawled in big loopy letters:
To
Kairi,
Here's an autograph.
Now calm down because people are
staring.
-SoraNaminé
signed her name in her elegant handwriting, and Kairi put the napkin
in her purse.
"Congrats," was the only word from Riku's mouth.
Nothing else was said until Le Fou brought their food. Even then, it was a polite "Thank you" from each of them. They ate in an awkward silence – awkward because of the sudden hostility from Riku, and silence because none knew what to say. After paying for their bill, they stood outside in the cool air, waiting for someone to say something, anything, to break the ice.
No one spoke.
"It was great seeing you again," Kairi began.
Naminé nodded.
"Promise me that even when you're big and famous, you'll make time to come to our wedding, okay?"
"Kairi, stop worrying! I'll make time for your shower, wedding, anniversary, birthday, holidays—"
"Naminé, she gets the point already," Sora interrupted.
He shook Riku's hand (a little too roughly, Kairi noted) and hugged her.
"Good luck you two," he said with a twinge of sadness in his voice.
"Thanks. Same to you two," she replied, hugging both him and Naminé tightly.
Sora and Naminé set off, and she and Riku walked back to their car.
She could tell he was angry by the way he drove – silent, eyes deadly focused on the road, tightly gripping the steering wheel. He was upset, but why? She didn't know. She didn't even bother asking. If she did, he would have ignored her. She sighed, earning herself an icy glare.
"What?" she asked, hoping he'd be willing to give her some clue.
He turned back to the road. The rest of
the trip was silent.
»»»They
arrived back at their apartment, and Riku hugged her. Or at least
that's what she thought until she realized that he had taken her
apartment key from her pocket.
"Silly Riku. Did you forget yours?" she asked.
He smiled, and there was something about it that she didn't like. It was malicious. Without thinking, she took a step away from him.
"Silly Kairi," he mimicked her, "no, I did not forget my keys. I've been thinking. You don't seem happy here with me. You seem like you always want to get out of our 'happy little home.' Is it not good enough for you anymore, Kairi? Think you can do better than me? Think you deserve better? Well, you don't. I thought you had grown up, but tonight, you embarrassed me in front of everyone at the restaurant. Grow up, Kairi. I'm not a knight, and you're not a princess, but damn, at least have the decency to act your age. Squealing like a stuck pig is something an eight-year-old would do."
Kairi's eyes watered.
"Oh, and you think just sitting there, being a smartass and not supporting them is mature? You're crazy, Riku. I love being here with you. I couldn't be happier. If you'd start acting more mature and stop throwing your little "Let's-get-mad-at-Kairi-for-some-made-up-excuse", then life would be paradise."
SMACK!
SLAM!Her left
cheek stung, and she heard him locking the door. Bastard,
she thought, sitting in the hall with her head on her knees. She felt
like crying. When did her fairytale start going wrong? She
blinked back her tears, sat down, hugging her knees. They were always
leaving her behind. Riku didn't like her, and Sora? Anything that
Riku didn't like was something that he didn't as well. Same
principle applied to people; however, there had been a few times when
Riku was either away with his father and mother on one of his
father's business trips (which was rare) or when he came down with
an illness (which was even rarer –the great Riku had the immunity
of a super hero, it seemed that she had managed to coax Sora into
playing princess and knight with her. It had been fun while it
lasted, but Wakka or Tidus would see and report it back to Riku.
Usually, he would yell at Sora, degrading him with names like
"stupid" or "sissy-boy." Other times, he would throw a toy
sword at him – Sora often walked away from these matches with
bruises on top of bruises, a punishment from Riku for talking to
"that girl." "Hey, wanna play?" a friendly voice
asked, breaking through the melancholy. Wiping the tears from
her eyes, she glanced up into the face of the friendly voice. She was
greeted by intense blue eyes, a friendly, easy-going, cheery smile,
and blond, messily spiked hair. She instantly thought of Sora. His
outstretched hand was patiently waiting on hers, so she took it and
stood up, nodding. "My name's Roxas. I'm Sora's twin
brother. Who are you?" "Kairi," she answered, "you
know, 'that girl' according to Riku and, when he's playing
sidekick to Riku, your brother." Roxas frowned. "Aww,
don't pay any attention to Riku. He's probably just mad because
his mom took away his bottle or something. Anyway, what do you want
to play?" »»»
»»»
She
grinned, her tears already forgotten. She liked this Roxas boy a
whole lot better than Sora or Riku.
She stood up, confused, but ready to defend Riku against the unknown speaker.
Standing in the doorway of the apartment across the hall was a young man with intense blue eyes, a friendly, easy-going, cheery smile, and blond, messily spiked hair.
"Do I know you from somewhere?"
He grinned, reminding her of new-rockstar Sora.
"Maybe this will remind you." He cleared his throat. "I'll make Sora carry us as punishment for being mean to you!"
She grinned, ran over to him, and hugged him tightly.
"Roxas! What are you doing here?"
He shrugged.
"Oh, you know, shelling out a meager living while managing my brother's band. I used to rescue damsels from evil bubble-blowing crab-dragons of doom, but after I went back to live with my mom, that profession kind of died."
She giggled.
"You're one sarcastic ex-knight."
"I try, milady. I try."
She realized she was still hugging him tightly and let go quickly.
"Yeah…so,
you're into tap water, too? That's awesome!"
"Huh?" A
look of confusion swept through her face.
"Nothing, I was just breaking the silence. Anyway, would you like to come in and out of the hall? Or is he going to let you back in?"
She nodded, and Roxas motioned for her to come in.
"I don't know if he's going to let me back in or not. He's never locked me out before. I have my cell phone, so if he's that worried, the bastard can call me. It's probably wise if I didn't see him right now. I'd give him a earful for smacking me then an earful for locking me out. And he says I'm embarrassing? The nerve," she ranted, stepping into the apartment.
He nodded sympathetically and sat on the couch. She followed his example.
"Yeah, well, the whole floor pretty much heard his little rant. Honestly, Kairi, why do you put up with the guy?"
"Because I –" she paused. She had almost said because she loved him, but strangely, she didn't feel anything for him.
"I don't know," she sighed, "I honestly have no clue."
"Then when he asked you to marry him, why did you say yes?"
She smiled half-heartedly.
"Because at the time, I thought I loved him. But now I see that I agreed simply because it seemed like the right thing to do."
She waited on him to call her stupid, to say that it was dumb, to criticize her the way Sora would have. Instead, his blue eyes showed a level of understanding, and the smile gave her made her forget all about Riku for the moment.
"Yeah, it seems like people tend to do that a lot. Going with the flow of the moment because it seems like the right thing then. What are you going to do now?"
Again, she shrugged.
"I don't know; maybe I'll go back to my adoptive parents. They'd get angry at me for leaving him, though."
"What? Why?" His voice held a hint of anger.
She sat back on the couch and put the tips of her hands together, resting her chin on their point.
"Because he has money, power, ambition. Because it'd be my fault for making him mad at me. Because if I hadn't made him angry, we wouldn't have fought, and then he'd still be taking care of me."
Roxas scoffed.
"Kairi, no offense, but your adoptive parents are stupid. Your happiness should matter more to them than money. And besides, I have this feeling that you don't need anyone to take to care of you."
She closed her eyes and sighed, taking all of this in. It felt nice, being here with Roxas, sitting down and talking. Being appreciated and not told what to do. It felt nice, it felt normal, like this was the way it was supposed to be.
"You're right, Roxas, but trust me, sometimes it's nice to have someone to catch you if you fall."
Roxas hugged her tightly, and she found herself falling into the hug. She counted his heartbeats –soft and steady thuds—mingling with hers –rapid, excited ka-thuds.
"You know you have me, Kairi. You always have, always will."
She snuggled deeper into his chest, and when he raised her chin and kissed her, it was perfect. She lost sense of her surroundings, falling deeper and deeper and deeper into a moment of perpetual bliss. She didn't care about Riku, or their engagement, or even Sora and Naminé. Right now, the only thing that mattered was Roxas and her and the here and the now and the kiss of her lifetime.
»»» "Well,
normally, I can convince Sora to play 'Romeo and Juliet' with me,
but I don't know if you'd like that."
He
shook his head, and she felt a little blow to her pride. 'Here
comes the "It's stupid! Let's play tag instead!" line,' she
thought. "Nah, I don't want their tragedy. Hey, how about
you play the Princess, I'll be the Knight who comes and saves you,
and um," he stopped for a moment to think, then pointed to a crab
he saw walking across the shore, "and that crab can be the dreaded
dragon who breathes fire!" he exclaimed excitedly. She
giggled and pointed out that crabs don't breathe fire. His
solution? He'd be the brave knight who saves her from the evil
bubble blowing crab-dragon of doom. It was the perfect
solution. "Okay! And we'll have to ride off into the
sunset and get married and live happily-ever-after!" she told
him. "But I don't have a horse…Oh wait! I'll make Sora
carry us as punishment for being mean to you!" They both
laughed. »»»
Someone
cleared their throat, causing Kairi to crash back into reality. She
looked up, breaking the kiss. Familiar aquamarine eyes stared angrily
at her from underneath silver bangs. A vicious scowl was on a face
that not too long ago, she had pictured waking up and seeing every
day for the rest of her life. Riku was in the doorway.
"Riku," she began, but his glare was enough to make her bite her tongue.
Roxas held her tightly, and she felt safe.
"So, I leave you out in the hall to clear your head, and you come over and suck faces with our neighbor? Turning into quite the little whore, aren't we, Kairi?"
Roxas stood up quickly, fists clenched.
"Maybe she wouldn't have come running to me if you had treated her better. I'm not the one treating her like shit and smacking her around."
Riku remained calm, and Kairi found
herself wishing that she and Roxas were some place far far away, some
place safe. She knew that smile. She remembered it from her
childhood. It was the same smile he'd wear before he'd beat up
the poor kid who looked at him wrong. It was the same smile he had
worn when he had beat Sora in a "spar."
Sora
had ended up in the hospital for a week after that match. It was then
that he had finally stopped sneaking around and playing with her.
It was then that she knew he was planning on doing something cruel. Something that someone wouldn't walk away from. He saw her looking at him, and his smile grew colder. He reached into his left pocket, and she knew he was pulling out the gun.
Back when she and Riku had first moved into the apartment, he had bought the gun for "safety" he told her. He had mentioned something along the lines of it not being safe for her to stay there on her own while he was away at work. She had never needed to use it, but she had kept it loaded – just incase.
He pulled it out, a small silver and black piece of metal, filled with death. Pointing it at her, he sighed, shaking his head.
"Kairi, Kairi, Kairi," his calm gaze met her terrified eyes, "you could have been happy with me. We could have had a nice life together, but no. You went and fucked everything up. You're a waste, a stain, a pest that needs to be eliminated."
He pulled the trigger, and the next thing she knew, she was falling, eyes closed. She was waiting on the pain to spread, the blood to flow and stain Roxas' pretty white carpet, for death.
It never came. She opened her eyes, and there was Roxas, bleeding on the floor. Riku's cruel smirk never left his face.
"Roxas!" she cried out, crawling over to his side.
"Oh, poor little Juliet. Your Romeo is bleeding, dying on his pretty floor. Guess we better follow through with the tragedy. It would be wrong for Juliet to live without her Romeo."
He
pulled the trigger again, and she froze in mid-crawl. Blood gushed
from her side, and her vision began to fade. She saw Riku frown as
she bled out.
"Did you have to make such a mess, Kairi?" he
scoffed, wiping the gun off and walking out of the apartment.
She didn't bother answering him. Crawling over to Roxas, she grasped his hand with her bloody one.
"Roxas," she sobbed, "Oh Roxas. I'm sorry. This is all my fault." Blood mingled with tears and it was getting harder to see, but she held on as tighter as she could to his hand, hoping that she'd hear his voice one last time.
He squeezed hers weakly.
"Hey Juliet," he whispered, his breath coming in short bursts, "looks like we got our tragedy after all."
She tried to smile, but it was getting colder and harder to move.
"Hey Romeo, I love you."
He squeezed her hand one last time.
"I love you too, Juliet."
Then everything went black.
»»» And
with that, it was settled.
Disclaimer:
Sonairoxiku (Sora, Naminé, Kairi, Roxas, Riku) ©
Squenix.
Romeo & Juliet © William Shakespeare