Passion

He had gone to see the door. To make sure nobody or nothing would be going in or coming through from the other side. Sleepless nights and restless afternoons had him in a constant worry, too much time on his hands, too much thinking to do and the question never left his mind i what if the heartless return to the island? /i But there were no heartless and sitting still for so long made him restless, at least that was the only logical reason he could give himself for the insomnia.

Sora let his fingers trail along the inner walls of the cave; he walked slowly, steady, his eyes wandering over the drawings that littered the stone. He allowed himself be distracted from the reason he had come there in the first place by studying the drawings carefully as though each one held a significant memory. It was strange to him, to be back there in his secret place, i their /i secret place. After all the worlds he had been to, and after all he had seen, he found himself wondering if all of it had been a dream. The past few years suddenly felt like a blur to him as he studied the crude drawings etched into the stone.

A soft noise echoed through the cave i the door /i he remembered and briefly glanced up at it as his thoughts continued to wander. Did any of it make sense? Did any of it really happen? The people he had met, the places he had been suddenly seemed so far. The only thing he saw now was the drawings. His eyes traced lazily along the outline of the door, then fell on something nearby. The most important drawing in the cave, one that had been drawn so many years ago and yet something was different; it had been changed since the last time he had seen it.

He knelt before it slowly unsure of how to react his eyes growing wider by the moment. i Kairi? /i he wondered, was it really such a surprise? After all, they had shared a heart her feelings for him should have been obvious. However, seeing the drawing in front of him, knowing she had sketched the paopu the way he had for her years ago sent his heart soaring and for the first time since his return, he no longer felt restless. Sora grinned, taking in the moment to stare at the drawing, and let sink in the fact that Kairi felt for him the way he had always felt for her. His heart raced as another soft echo surrounded him, the shuffle of a foot, someone had been watching.

"Who?" he began, standing up quickly when a glimpse of red peeked around the corner, Kairi took a few shy steps toward him.

"I was looking for you and…" she blushed, glancing over at the drawing in the stone. Sora's heart leapt into his throat, she was holding a paopu.

Unsure of what to do next he remembered the enemies he had faced in the past and suddenly found himself preferring them to this, this was something new at least then he knew what he was supposed to do. His stomach tied itself into millions of intricate knots and he found himself lacking the ability to speak.

He didn't have to do a thing, however, for in a second Kairi had dropped the fruit to the ground and had flung her arms around him, catching him off guard causing them both to fall to their knees. Sora's heart raced in his chest and he wondered if she could hear it too. An aching of his own and something else from deeper within him was tugging at his heartstrings.

"Kairi…" she quieted him with the simple brush of her lips as he rested the back of his head against the long forgotten door. Grabbing hold of her and drawing her in close he knew he never wanted to let go.