A/N: I'm so proud of this! I tell you, Exam stress does weird things to me. It gave me all these awesome ideas for this oneshot. I 'wrote' the majority of this during Exams. I say 'wrote' in quotations because I didn't actually have time to put pen to paper to write it out until after exams were over. In the end, 'Beautiful World' by Utada Hikaru heavily influenced the writing. I love that song. I could listen to it over and over..wait, I already did! I put my cd player on repeat and listened to it as I wrote the last scene and did the proof reading while listening to it over and over.
I know it's kind of weird that I'm doing something Spring-themed three days before Christmas, but what can I say? Exam stress does weird things to me.
Written in the tradition of 'Check Yes or No', giving a new twist to an old cliche, I proudly present: Petals.
Disclaimer: All I want for Christmas...
EDIT: EGAD!!!!!!!! I accidentally left part off! It was just a teensy scene with Riku, but I liked it and I can't believe I forgot it! Fixxed it now, though.
Petals
Kairi loved Springtime in Destiny Islands. Everything was alive. Trees were in blossom, and there were flowers everywhere. One of her favorite ways to pass time in the Spring was to journey up to the hilly part of the island and just sit in the wildflower fields. The view of the islands, the overpowering scent of the flowers; it was wonderfully peaceful, and she adored it. Kairi would often bring a book or her sketchbook with her and read or draw. Sometimes she would simply take a nap.
Day after day, year after year, she never got tired of it. The rest of the year, she practically lived on the kids' play island, but in the Spring, anyone wishing to find her would have to come hunting through the flowers.
Kairi glared at her sketchbook. The drawing on this particular page was of Sora. Kairi turned the page and started doodling. It started with just an eye, and then expanded to half a face. Kairi scrutinized the drawing. It had started as a doodle, but now it was turning into Sora.
Just like everything else she'd drawn today. She'd only succeeded once that day in drawing someone other than Sora; but she'd drawn Roxas, so it wasn't exactly a huge victory.
Try as she might, Kairi couldn't get him off her mind. He was all she could think about. She was thrilled that he was home; her Sora was home (he would forever be her Sora, because long before he was the Keyblade Master, the key to Kingdom Hearts, or the rebellious brat of the Organization, he was hers; and that was that).
Kairi threw her Sora-centric sketchbook one last glare before closing it and sitting it down beside her. She sighed and looked around at all the flora surrounding her. She idly picked a daisy and twirled it in her hands. Feeling somewhat silly, Kairi picked off a petal.
"He loves me," she picked off another petal. "He loves me not." Kairi laughed at the pure cliché-ness of what she was doing. "He loves me," Another petal.
"He loves me not," Feeling rather bored, Kairi continued pulling the petals off the daisy.
Kairi sighed exasperatedly as she picked the final petal off. "He loves me."
She frowned at the petal. "Tell me something I don't know."
Kairi picked another daisy, and pulled off one of its petals.
"He's got the guts to tell me,"
Another petal fell to the ground.
"He's got the guts to tell me not."
SK
Riku coughed. He hated Spring. Darn Allergies.
He continued his trek through the tulips to find Kairi. As much as he hated being surrounded by flowers, he was bored, he couldn't find Sora, and he figured that maybe if he bugged Kairi enough she'd draw him something.
He did find her eventually, though he was quite surprised at what he saw.
She was sitting in a pile of petals and flower stems, glaring at a lily. She picked one of its petals off and glared more intensely at it.
"I bet she's blond. A fake blond. A dumb fake blond." Kairi tossed the petal away, and smiled as she picked off another one. "Which is why he'd have no interest in her."
Riku stared. Kairi didn't seem to notice him.
"What are you doing?" he asked blatantly, not even bothering with a hello.
Kairi didn't even look up. "What's it look like I'm doing?" She pulled off another petal. "Maybe she's why he took so long to get home." She yanked off another petal. "But he didn't give his heart up for her."
Riku glanced at the petals, and decided to give a wild guess for Kairi's antics. "What, is 'he loves me, he loves me not' too common-place for you?"
"Yes," Kairi said, looking up from her flower.
Riku stared at the amount of petals which had accumulated around Kairi. He'd hadn't actually thought he was right.
He took a seat beside her. "So, what's this one, then?" Kairi pulled another petal off her flower, and held it up, a look of distaste on her face.
"He met another girl while he was out adventuring." She threw the petal over her shoulder and plucked another one off her lily. She smirked as she held this one up. "He only has eyes for me, and even if he did meet another girl out there, it was only because he was lonely, and she meant nothing to him."
Riku stared. Lack of romantic confirmation on Sora's part was doing some weird things to Kairi.
"Okay," he said slowly, not quite sure how to respond.
Kairi's proud smirk faded as she turned back to her flower. Her look turned sour as she plucked the final petal.
"Lecher!" she shrieked, glaring at the stem.
"Okay! That's it!" Riku said, grabbing the petal and flower stem from Kairi's hands. "This is going too far."
"Hey!" Kairi shouted, as Riku took her flower. "What do you mean this is going too far?"
Riku rolled his eyes at her whining.
"You just accused Sora of lechery based on a flower."
Kairi sighed and looked down. "Okay, so, maybe that was a bit much, but-"
"No buts." Riku looked around. He needed something to reassure Kairi. "Hm." An idea struck him as he saw a dandelion. He picked the weed and held it up for Kairi to see.
"Try it this way. Does he love you? Let's find out." He looked at the dandelion. "He loves you," Riku took a breath, and then blew hard, sending the thousands of white seeds flying into the air. He smiled at the bare stem. "Well, I guess he loves you."
Kairi rolled her eyes. "Duh. I already know that."
Riku huffed, and picked another dandelion. He handed it to her, saying, "Just try it."
Kairi frowned at the weed. "He's got the guts to tell me," And she blew the seeds off. She smiled softly at Riku. "Are you sure about that one?"
"You're the one taking relationship advice from flowers."
Riku's cheeky reply earned him a punch in the arm. He picked another dandelion and held it out to her. "Did he meet someone else?"
Kairi took the dandelion and blew off the seeds. Immediately her eyes narrowed and she scowled at the bald weed. "That dirty rotten cheater!"
Riku hadn't been counting on the order of that one. He quickly snatched the dandelion away to get Kairi's attention.
"And her name was Namine, and he thought she was you, and Roxas was head over heels for her."
And Riku could have sworn two girls were smiling at him.
"He really does care about you, even if he never gets up the nerve to say it."
Kairi frowned at him. "You're his best friend, isn't it your job to tell him to get a move on?"
"If you already know, then why don't you tell him?"
Kairi shook her head and smiled at Riku as if he were a child.
"You are such a guy. The confessing is his job. Especially since I spent a year and a half waiting on him. Which, I wouldn't have had to wait so long, if somebody hadn't made it so hard for him to find them, so that he could have spent more time trying to find a way home. And of course if that certain someone hadn't been such an overdramatic emo, they could have used their teleportation powers to bring him home to at least visit me!"
Riku quelled under her gaze. "I'll, I'll go find Sora."
Kairi smiled triumphantly. "Yes, yes you will."
'SK
Riku paused at the top of the hill where he and Kairi had been conversing and stared longingly down at her back. He reached down and picked a dandelion. Riku stared at the flower for a moment before muttering, "She loves me."
He blew hard, but only half of the seeds took flight. The rest clung resolutely to the stem. Riku sighed.
"Can't a guy dream?" The dandelion made no reply. Riku sighed again.
"I know, I know." He drew in a breath.
"She loves me not."
And the rest of the seeds were blown free.
SK
Sora sneezed. Again. He'd been sneezing for the better part of the day. He supposed it was because of all the pollen in the air.
That was the one thing Sora couldn't stand about Spring. The flowers, and the beautiful weather, and all of that was great, but he couldn't stand having to constantly blow his nose, or sneezing constantly, as was the case today.
Although Sora couldn't shake the feeling that there was another reason for his sneezing.
Sora stood outside a flower shop, debating rather or not he should go in. He knew he would have to go in, eventually. But with his constant sneezing, he was just afraid it would get worse.
Finally deciding that his mission was worth it, Sora entered the shop.
The reason Sora was flower shopping, was because of the annual Flower Festival. Originally, the holiday had been created in honor of a young bride who was brutally murdered on her wedding day by her fiancée. The tradition was that all the young men were supposed to give a flower or bouquet to a girl; any girl would do; friend, girl friend, sister, cousin; just a girl.
The irony was that the young woman had been choked with her own wedding bouquet.
Nowadays, the tradition had turned into the guys' biggest opportunity to completely ruin their reputation with the girls. Any guy who didn't give a flower or bouquet to a girl, even if the only girl they knew was their sister, he would immediately be branded as an insensitive jerk by the female population of Destiny Islands.
For Sora and Riku, this meant every year giving Kairi a flower. Neither had ever been able to scrounge up enough cash to buy her a bouquet, but each had always scrimped and saved enough for a single flower.
The festival didn't begin until that night, so Sora had until then to get Kairi's bouquet. Sora had returned from his Multi-world trek with more than enough munny to buy a simple bouquet of flowers for Kairi, and since he'd yet to tell her how he felt, he figured he might as well try again tonight.
Oh, yes, try again. He'd tried to tell Kairi how much he loved her, but he'd yet to find the perfect moment for such a confession. Every time he'd tried, he'd found himself unable to get the words out.
Sora looked around the shop, trying to decide what kind of flowers to get Kairi.
Sora knew that Kairi liked lilies.
Sora had no idea there were so many kinds of lilies.
There were water lilies, there were calla lilies, there were tiger lilies, there were lilies-of-the-valley. When Sora had asked the shop keeper where the lilies were, the shopkeeper pointed him to a whole wing of the store. Asking the florist's help didn't help him much either. They'd mentioned dozen of popular flowers, and Sora wasn't quite sure which to get Kairi. He'd about died when the florist mentioned Forget-me-not's. Just what he ought to get Kairi; flowers that make her feel bad about forgetting, and that make Namine feel bad about making everyone forget.
Sora stared at all the lilies, as if by standing there long enough the flowers would tell him which to buy.
"The lilies are right through there."
Sora smirked. Who ever was looking for lilies was about to be in great surprise.
"Oh great." Sora turned to see that Riku was the one inquiring about the lilies.
"I have no idea which ones to get her." Sora said, saving Riku the trouble of asking.
"She really wants you to get a move on, you know." Riku said, as he began looking at various kinds of lilies.
"She knows?"
"Duh."
"I figured as much," Sora sighed. He picked up a white calla lily. These were pretty. Maybe Kairi would like these.
"If she already knows, why doesn't she say something?"
Riku shrugged. "Apparently because it's your job to tell her, and my job to tell you to get a move on." He shook his head. "It's girl logic. We'll never understand it."
In the end, the two had to call in reinforcements, a.k.a. Selphie, who instructed them to buy white calla lilies and daisies. Sora was infinitely proud of himself for correctly guessing that Kairi would like the calla lilies.
Sora, bouquet in hand, went looking for Kairi.
As per tradition, he could either give Kairi her flowers before, or during the festival. As long as a guy had a girl somewhere with a flower from him, word would trickle down the female grapevine, and his reputation was secured for another year. Sora had resolved to give Kairi her flowers early for several reasons. There were the obvious ones, like not wanting to have to give her her flowers in front of everyone; then there were reasons such as wanting to try again with the whole 'confessing his undying love' thing.
With this excellent resolve in mind, Sora literally headed for the hills, to where he knew Kairi would be sitting in a field of flowers.
SK
Kairi stared dreamily at the drawing in her sketchbook. It was, like everything else she'd drawn lately, of Sora. She'd forced herself to put down the flowers, and try to draw something to get her mind off her doubts about Sora. Seeing as the drawing was of him handing her a daisy, it is safe to say she failed miserably.
She wasn't actually in the picture, but since she knew she was the only one Sora would be giving flowers to (the dandelions had proclaimed it so) she had decided that she was the one he was holding out the daisy to.
Kairi smiled. This had to be one of the best drawings she'd ever done. It looked just like Sora, or at least just like she saw him. Unable to completely dispel the flower fever, Kairi began doodling on the petals of her drawing-daisy.
He loves me, he loves me not, He loves me.
Letting her mind wander, Kairi wasn't completely aware of the amount of embellishment she was adding to the words "He loves me."
"Whatcha drawing?" Kairi freaked, and slammed her sketchbook shut. She spun around to see Sora standing over her, now with a puzzled expression.
"Nothing!" she said a little too quickly. Sora raised an eyebrow. "Just, doodling!"
"Okay," Sora took a seat beside her. He sneezed. "Stupid allergies."
Kairi smiled apologetically. "So, what's up? What brings you to the flower capital of the world?"
Sora grinned shyly. "Y-You." Realizing how stupid his reply sounded, Sora quickly pulled out the bouquet of flowers he'd bought earlier. "I-I mean, these, I, these are for you."
Kairi's eyes lit up. "Sora, they're beautiful! I love calla lilies! I think I'm going to wear these in my hair to the festival tonight."
Sora watched with an amused smile as Kairi began weaving the flowers into her crimson locks.
She had managed to braid five or six flowers into her hair before she ran out of places to put them. "And the rest I'll make into a wreath." She turned to Sora. "How do I look?"
Sora laughed. "You look ridiculous!" It was true. Kairi had flowers sprouting out all over her head. She looked cute though, in a strange sort of way.
She frowned at him. "We'll, I'll look better tonight."
Sora shook his head. "So, can I see your sketches?"
Kairi's smile faded and she blushed.
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"How come?"
"Cuz I said so."
"Fine." Sora waited a moment, and then sprang up and grabbed Kairi's sketchbook.
"Hey!" And he was off, with a very ticked off Kairi at his heels. "Sora! Give it back!"
But he was too fast for her. Sora sprinted across the field and quickly climbed into a nearby tree. Kairi stopped at the bottom of said tree, and glared at her friend.
Sora grinned down at her. She wouldn't attempt to climb after him in a dress.
Kairi pursed her lips. "Sora!" she whined.
Sora's grinned widened. "I just wanna see your drawings! You never show me any!"
"Soraaa! Give it baaack!" Kairi stomped her foot.
Sora ignored her, and began flipping through her sketchbook. He only got a glimpse of a drawing of himself holding out a daisy before he felt something hit his shoulder. He caught whatever it was and found it to be one of Kairi's purple sneakers. He looked down at her.
"Sora! Give me my sketchbook NOW!"
Sora laughed. Kairi looked very intimidating, what with daisies and lilies in her hair, and with one shoe missing.
Sora finally conceded and lowered himself from the tree. Kairi continued to glare at him until he handed her the sketchbook and her shoe. Kairi snatched said items out of his hand, and slapped his arm with her sketchbook.
After she'd returned her sketchbook to her pouch, and her shoe to her foot, she took advantage of Sora's relaxed demeanor and tackled him for stealing her sketchbook. Big mistake. Kairi had underestimated the forces of gravity acting upon the small 100 pounds of flower-haired fury she'd thrown at Sora.
The end result was that the two of them were sent tumbling down the flowery hillside, clinging to each other for dear life. They landed in a heap at the bottom of the hill, laughing giddily as dandelion seeds swirled around them.
Kairi tried to open her eyes, but the sun overhead blinded her, and she quickly squeezed her eyes shut again, giggling.
"I can't see!" Suddenly the sun shining through her eyelids decreased, and she opened her eyes again to see what was shading her.
She was surprised to see Sora leaning over her, with a wildflower caught up in his spiky hair.
Kairi giggled as she pulled it out. Sora shifted slightly, and the sun shone once again into Kairi's eyes. She closed them and began blindly pulling the petals off the wildflower.
"He loves me, he loves me not," Kairi was sure she was blushing, but she didn't care.
"He loves me, he loves me not." She felt a hand gently pull hers down and a soft whisper in her ear
"He loves you."
Was that a falling flower petal that graced her lips, or was that a kiss? It was so light, so gentle; she had trouble believing it was real.
She had to confirm that this was more than a wonderful dream brought on by the overpowering scent of spring, that he'd said it, that this was real.
What a Beautiful World
Kairi reached her head up, desperate to recapture that Spring sweetness.
She felt Sora smile against her lips as they met his again. Even the kiss tasted of flowers.
What a Beautiful Boy
The smell of wildflowers and cherry blossoms, and the taste of lilies and sea salt ice cream.
Kairi loved spring.
Riku, who had been spying on his two best friends the whole time, snapped one last picture with his camera phone and smirked. There would be a lot more than who did and didn't give flowers to talk about at the flower festival this year.
FINI
A/N: Review pleeeeeease. That's what I'd like for Christmas. I hope y'all like this. I'm quite happy with it. Yay for fluff and third-person confessions!