Things were going by rather fast. My world was developing at rapid speed, and although I was desperately trying to slow down and get ahold of my feelings, no one else seemed to notice.
"Great, ok, you have a name now. I'd say she looks about our age, right?" she wondered, looking to the two boys for an answer. They both nodded. "Ok, Yumi, 17 years old. Now you have a name and an age. The rest we'll just have to make as we go along. Does that sound ok?" I mouthed an agreement. "I'm Kairi, that's Sora, and the grumpy one is Riku." She pointed to each one in turn, including herself, which I found a bit amusing.
"Hiya!" Sora greeted, waving at me. I paused for a moment, then raised my hand and waved back at him. He grinned, which was what I had wanted and made me happy to see. I looked to Riku but didn't wave. Merely stared at him the way he did me a moment before looking back to Kairi. A gaze seemed to be his favorite form of communication, and while that was interesting I think I preferred Kairi's warmth and Sora's energetic acceptance.
"Alright, now that we've got that down, do you want us to show you around the island? Oh, and get you some real clothes. You can't keep walking around in Sora's shirt," Kairi explained, and I nodded in agreement. She pushed off with her hands and stood up, then Sora did the same next to me. I looked between the two of them with concern.
"Can you stand?" Sora asked me, but I didn't know the answer to that one either. He held out his hand for me, and after a moment of thought hesitantly reached out and took it. He wore another material similar to the shirt around his hands, but they cut off at his fingers. I stared at them, trying to decide if that would constitute pants or a shirt.
"They're gloves," he said suddenly, and I nodded. I quite liked them. "Ok, ready?" I nodded again and suddenly felt him pull on my arm. I pushed off with my feet and felt myself rising until I was standing up completely as they were. My eye level went over Kairi's and was about the same level as Sora's, if not a little bit higher as well. I could feel the pressure of the wood against my feet, but I was afraid to let go of Sora's hand should I fall over. "Don't worry, I'll catch you if you fall," he assured me, and so I released his hand. I had to readjust my weight on my feet to keep my balance and my arms waved involuntarily immediately upon the release, but after a moment I knew I wasn't going to fall. I looked up from my feet to smile at Sora, a bit more confident than the first one I had done. I noticed Riku's expression change when I did so, but it was only for a second before he looked away again. I wondered if I was in some way bothersome to him.
"Great," Sora said, smiling back at me. He took a few steps backward to give me room and continued with, "Now see if you can take a few steps." I looked down at my feet, unsure how well this was going to go. But, if they could do it there was nothing to suggest I couldn't. I looked back up because seeing the act would only trip me up, then pulled my right foot underneath me and quickly moved it forward. I felt my weight balance change but I didn't fall. Gaining some confidence now, I repeated the action with a little more haste, providing the same result. I was walking! Again I went, this time with fewer pauses. I know I probably didn't look very good, but at least I was managing to stay on my feet.
"See? Easy!" I heard Kairi say behind me, but I was afraid if I responded I was going to lose my concentration and fall. I could already feel myself going farther forward than I should, but I was very close to Sora so I just dove for it really. Our hands met a second later and I used them for balance to put myself up right again. I looked from our hands to Sora's face and grinned at my accomplishment.
"Good job! We should probably work on that for a little bit longer before we try the ladder though," he mentioned, which I actually preferred. If I was going to be doing this for any distance I wanted to be a bit surer on my feet. "Try going to Kairi now." I nodded and turned around, seeing Kairi was all the way on the other end of the tree house, hands extended. I took a breath and moved my foot forward, starting the process all over again.
"It's weird… she walks like a baby," I heard Riku remark. Baby, an infant, someone brand new to life. I supposed that was an accurate description, at least for now. I didn't see it as an insult, but apparently not everyone agreed with me.
"Riku!" Kairi hissed, looking to him with a distressed expression.
"I wasn't trying to be mean! Look, people suffering from amnesia aren't usually like this. They have certain instincts, long term memories that are so ingrained in their brains they don't forget. Language is one, which she obviously understands even if she can't speak it. And walking is supposed to be another. But she looks like she's never walked in her life before," he explained. I wondered if it was typical to speak of people in the third person, as if they weren't even there. I couldn't give him any answer of course, but it felt like these were observations that should have been directed more towards me, given the subject matter.
"Maybe she just has it worse than them," Kairi replied simply, not looking like she wanted to hear it. Our hands met a moment later and she smiled at me. "No baby can learn that fast. You're doing great Yumi. Why don't you try walking to Riku now?" I looked at her skeptically. I was almost sure that was the last thing he wanted. "Don't worry, he acts all tough but he's really a sweetie. He won't let you fall." I turned around and looked at him, frowning slightly. He didn't look all that happy about it either, and for a moment it looked like he was going to leave us to our own devices. Then he sighed and opened his arms, hands extended for me.
Something tugged at the back of my mind again, and words came with it. I mouthed, "Thank you," and smiled briefly at him. Something in his expression changed again, although I couldn't tell what it was exactly. It made his gaze less intimidating, at any rate. I took a step forward, feeling less and less shaky the further I went on. When I finally reached him, I didn't take his hands but tried to stop and stay steady on my own. It worked alright until I tried to spin around and put too much weight on my toes. I started to tumble backwards, throwing my arms out to break the fall. I didn't even get that far though before I felt his arms hook underneath mine and stop me before I hit the floor. I tilted my head to look back at his face, thoroughly surprised.
"What? You thought I was going to let you fall?" he questioned, looking vaguely irritated. I shook my head and quickly regained my balance again, out of his arms.
"Hey Sora? Do you mind if we give her your pants to wear? I can get a belt from my house, but she's too tall for my clothes," Kairi said suddenly. I looked to Sora, who was bright red and looking in all directions but my own. The shirt was just barely long enough to cover below my hips, and I assumed that when I had fallen backwards the shirt hadn't been able to cover me properly.
"Uh, yeah. I'll be right back Yumi!" Sora cried, smiling at me awkwardly before making his way out the door.
Kairi put her hands on her hips and stared intently at Riku. "Watch her," she ordered, her voice containing force behind it. "And be nice. I mean it Riku." With Sora, the two of them descended down the ladder, leaving me alone with Riku. As they left together I heard pieces of their conversation floating up into the tree house, most if it comments like, "You were so staring at her Sora!" followed by cries of pain and impassioned denials.