CHAPTER 8

After a few minutes of rowing, the boat slid into the island harbour. Kairi quickly jumped out of the boat and onto the dock where Sora shortly followed. He secured the boat to a wooden pole to ensure their escape instead of getting themselves stranded. Kairi looked directly at the land in front of her, old memories began surfacing, causing Kairi to smile at the times she had on the island.

"This place is a lot larger up close." Sora commented. Kairi nodded, yet for her, it felt smaller than usual.

"Alright, time to start the official tour!" Kairi was excited to show Sora around. She had never been a tour guide before.

"On your left, you can see the fort we built as little kids. It covers the entire mountain and is filled with a maze of rooms. On the right, you can see the ocean, stretching as far as the eye can see." Sora laughed at Kairi's manner of speaking. She sounded like an actual museum tour guide.

"Why so formal? Should I tip you afterwards?" Sora joked.

"I wouldn't mind if you did." Kairi added.

The two explored the fort together with Kairi leading the way. The insides were quite dark, making it a little hard to make out what was going on. The fort was built with the usual wooden boards, yet not every board was evenly stacked. As a result, Sora tripped over one of the outstanding planks and was sent straight forward.

Kairi had turned around to see if Sora was still behind her, only to be met with the spikey brunette's body pinning her to a wall. Sora had shielded himself by using his hands to stop the forward motion. If he had not done so in time, he might have crushed Kairi.

"I'm so sorry, I tripped." Sora apologized. Kairi's eyes were focused on Sora, realizing the position they were in. Sora had her caged in with his arms as the bars.

"I-its fine. Are you okay at least?" even though Kairi's face was bloodshot, her worries were still fictional.

Sora backed away, and like a soldier, got back to his previous post. They had finished walking through the fort and decided to go back outside. Kairi had so much to show him, yet there was one place in particular she wanted him to see.

"Hey, what time do you need to be back home?" Sora asked, afraid he might get Kairi into trouble.

"Whenever I want, I should just let my mom know where I am. Why do you ask?"

"It's just, the sun is setting and I don't see Riku and the others on the beach, at least not from here." Kairi focused on the shore to see that all their stuff was gone and there was no one in sight.

"Has it really gotten this late?" Kairi questioned. Sora nodded and looked at Kairi, waiting for her to decide if she wanted to go home or stay a bit longer.

"Alright, before we go, there's a place I really want to show you. Just promise not to tell anyone about it. It's my own secret hiding spot!" Kairi seemed to have kept the best for last. Sora's curiosity began to start up.

Kairi led the way past the fort. Next to a small waterfall there were a few bushes that have been covering a small cave. Sora and Kairi had to bend down in order to walk through without bumping their heads. On the other side of the tunnel, was an entire room filled with stone. On the stone were drawings that look similar to that of a little girl.

"Wow, what is this place?" Sora was amazed.

"I call it, the Secret Spot. Whenever Riku and I would play hide and seek, I'd hide in here. You should have seen how frustrated Riku got when he couldn't find me." Kairi giggled.

"Till this day, he doesn't know anything about this place." Kairi admired the room, realizing she hadn't been here in years.

"How about the others? Don't they know about this place?" Sora asked.

"To be honest, you're the only one who I brought here. So, no spoiling this place." Kairi warned. Sora smiled.

"So, is this OUR secret spot now?" Sora asked. Kairi thought about it, thinking that there is no harm in sharing her secrets with Sora.

"Very well, this is our secret spot now." Kairi smiled, feeling happy to be able to share such a place with Sora. Sora felt so honoured to have been Kairi's first visitor.

"Hey, I noticed there are a lot of drawings here, did you get bored waiting for Riku to find you when you were kids?" Sora asked.

"Exactly correct, waiting for Riku was so boring. So, I brought some crayon with me and just started doodling on the stone walls. But that was years ago. Can't even make out what I drew." Kairi stood beside Sora, looking up at the walls and thinking about the old days.

Sora placed his hand on one of the stones, imagining a small Kairi drawing to her heart's content.

"I wish I could have been here." Sora whispered.

"Why you say that?" Kairi asked.

"Thinking about you being alone in this cave, kind of makes me feel sad. Wish I had been here to draw with you." Kairi's heart bashed against her ribs. Sora's concern for her made her happy.

"Sora…" Kairi whispered to herself.

Sora found a picture that kind of looked like a trace of Kairi's hand when she was a little kid. He went down on his knee and closely examine the "hand thing" on the wall.

"Hey Kairi, mind giving me your hand?" Sora asked while extending his hand out to Kairi. Kairi had no idea why he wanted her hand but she decided to play along.

Sora gently took her hand into his and let her beside himself. Sora placed her hand next to baby Kairi's hand print, comparing the two with each other. Naturally, Kairi's hands are larger than they were all those years ago.

"You must have been really small when you drew this." Sora laughed.

"I was a little kid, of course it would be small." She laughed with Sora. After their amusement ended, they both realized they had been holding onto each other's hands, again, for a very long time.

The expression on their faces were indescribable, but there was a touch of love in every bit of their eyes. They both broke from their contact, acting as if it was nothing.

"Uhm, Sora." Kairi couldn't look into Sora's eyes, she was afraid her blushing cheeks would make her look silly. Same went for Sora who was looking up at the ceiling while Kairi was looking at the sand.

"Yeah? You need something?" he asked.

"Uhm…can I have your hand." Kairi's blush grew brighter. Sora was shocked at the question and looked at the redhead with a shade of red covering his face. Kairi was still looking at the sand, but she slowly reached out her hand, declaring how serious she was.

Sora obliged and gently gave her his hand. Kairi's attention shifted and all eyes were on the touching flesh of their hands. Both their minds went blank, not even caring about keeping anything away from each other.

They pair of hands moved in unison, palm against palm, finger against finger. Kairi's hand felt so small in the grasp of Sora's. As if they were being controlled by another entity, their fingers spread, giving the opposite person access to curl their fingers around their hand. Slowly, they both fit into one another, as if they were made for one another.

"T-this feels…nice." Kairi whispered, scared that any loud noises would shatter their moment. Sora's attention got grabbed by Kairi's words. His eyes were on her now, same with Kairi who sensed the heat from Sora's stare.

They were on their knees, with their hands fused, yet it was still not enough. They were so lost in the moment that they did not care how long they were looking at each other or how long their hands were fitted. Again, they moved slowly, taking their time to reach each other.

Their faces moving slowly towards one another, eyes refusing to break apart from the depth of the other. Sora could smell Kairi's sweet strawberry scent even better with every passing second. Kairi felt Sora's breath gliding on her skin as well. They were inches away from each other, yet it wasn't close enough. They wanted to be completely against one another, no distance in between to separate them.

Closing their eyes, they braced for impact. Their eyes might not be making contact, but their lips were another story.

Kairi could feel something soft barely touching her lips, same for Sora. The feeling became better as pressure was placed. At last, their lips were pressed together, expressing the feelings between the two with zero hesitation.

Kairi couldn't think anymore, she was in heaven. Sora had no words for the feeling he was experiencing. Everything felt perfect, as if the world had become brighter. Their hearts connected with every second that went by.

Kairi made the first movement and extended her hand to brush it through Sora's hair. Sora used his arm to wrap around Kairi's body and pull her closer. Passion increased with every movement, every breeze, every crash of the waves.

Unfortunately, they had to break free from one another to catch their breath. Their bodies were together, their eyes on each other, nothing could come close to perfection like this.

Sora noticed the room became a lot darker since they started their adventure. He worried that they might get home too late and end up wandering in the dark. Although it wouldn't be the worst thing to ever happen. Kairi and him under the stars, he could definitely see that picture clearly.

"Shouldn't we get back?" Sora asked with a wide smile on his face.

"We probably should, but…" Kairi said before moving back in to meet Sora's lips once more. Their fused hands broke apart and Kairi's arms wrapped all around Sora's neck. Sora wrapped his hands around Kairi's body, afraid that she might slip away from him.

Their passion was all over the island, their love surrounded them like a shield. Kairi slowly moved away from Sora's lips but pinning her forehead against his, scared that moving away any further would separate them completely.

"Now we can go home." Kairi smiled at Sora.

Sora smirked at the beauty against his body. They both let go of each other, a hard battle indeed, and stood up from the sandy floor.

The sun had completely vanished from the world and the stars came out to play. Sora and Kairi were still walking, hand in hand, shoulder against shoulder, heart to heart. It was almost tragic for them to have reached their homes already.

"Would you like to come in?" Sora asked. He just didn't want Kairi to go just yet. He wanted to be with her a little while more.

"You just don't want me to leave, am I right?" Kairi joked.

"Okay, have a good night then." Sora started walking up, leaving contact with Kairi. Kairi panicked and immediately grabbed onto Sora's hand.

"YES! Yes, I wanna come in!" Kairi cried. She didn't want Sora to go either. Sora smiled at how cute Kairi's reaction was and pulled her closer to himself.

They walked up to the front door and entered the house. Sora walked into the kitchen, noticing that all the lights are on but no one was there. He walked a little further, trying to investigate. Kairi on the other hand was frozen in place, staring into the tv area.

"Wonder where Roxas…" he got cut off when he looked over to the living room and saw two blonds, together, making out on the couch.