STANDARD DISCLAIMER APPLIED.

sticky notes for the boy crazed and the lovelorn
by: pixie paramount (7/24/2009, 2:20 AM)
Kingdom Hearts, Rikku/Kairi & when you where young (the question is: when where you ever not young--in heart, in mind, in body)

It is no secret that Rikku likes boys. She likes how they walk, how they talk, how they have silly ideas of what is most important in the world (which is: adventure). She likes how they, for the most part, will settle their disputes with a fat lip or a bruised eye, or two, and then be buddy-buddy by the end of the day. Boys are so weird, so odd, and she likes to believe that she's solved bits and pieces of their obscurities.

One boy in particular: Tidus.

She likes everything about him. She likes how his smile lights up his face and the way his eyes crinkle upward. She likes how he'll sneak her an extra bun, or two, in school or ruffle her hair affectionately. She likes how he makes her feel: butterflies in her stomach, her knees weak, and her heart hammering steadily.

But, most of all, she likes him.

Rikku babbles because she's a girl in love and Kairi, next to Paine, is he bestest gal pal. She tells her everything: keeps her up-to-date on the latest Tidus this and Tidus that, because as her friend it is her business to know.

And Kairi will roll her eyes and kick the sand in front of them and bite her lip like she means to say something but nothing ever comes out.

And Rikku, being Rikku, didn't notice—or just didn't care to notice. Because Rikku was a girl in love and as such she was only human.

Tidus ends up breaking her heart when she turns six and Kairi is five. She sees him give this new girl, Yuna, the sweetest smiles and promises and an extra cake from the pantry and doesn't forget Rikku—it's impossible to forget her.

And Rikku doesn't like crying. It makes her nose clogged and hard to breathe; her eyes red and puffy and sore.

But she does. She hides under the docks—in their very own Special Place—and cries until it is dark and the tide creeps closer.

And the whole time, Kairi is smiling and distracting her with sandcastles and imaginary princes named Tidus whose castle is struck down by Kairi's foot. She does this until Rikku can't help but laugh and smile brightly and wipe away the tears and call Tidus a big dummy.

It isn't until much later—when Kairi is sixteen and she is seventeen—that she feels embarrassed over the memeory.

Because she registers: you never once acted like that, while I did.

And makes up for all the times she didn't realize, unintentionally, with kisses and other such public displays of affection until she thinks it is enough.