It was hard being the new girl on the island, but Sora had the ability to somehow make Kairi feel like she'd been here for so much longer.
When she'd first arrived, Sora had been the one to reach out to her, curious. When she'd said she'd felt bad that everybody else was so interested in her, he'd been the one to remind them that she was a normal girl.
Even now, he'd been the one to insure she joined them in any and all plans he was in. Sora had been the one to ask her to come to the play islands today, and she'd been excited. It hadn't been a question for her to say yes. They'd set up the towels and umbrella for cover from the sun, and Sora had run right in while she sat down, playing with the shells that she'd managed to find along the shore in hopes that she could make something out of them.
"How come you aren't coming in?" Kairi looked up to see Sora standing near her, soaked to the bone and frowning, his head tilted to the side.
"I didn't want to go into the ocean." It was a lie, Kairi had wanted to go in and join him, but it was embarrassing to tell any of the other islanders that she couldn't swim, even Sora.
"I guess, but we could go together! It'll be fun!" Sora extended his hand to her, hoping to get her up. "Come on, it's gotta be lonely just sitting on the shore over here by yourself. You gotta come in!"
It was an invitation, and he was hoping for her to come. But she shook her head. "Sora, I'm...I don't know if I can swim?"
"What do you mean you don't know if you can swim?" Sora took a step back, exaggerating his shock at her answer. It made sense that he didn't expect that; Sora had lived his whole life on the islands. He had to have spent so much time swimming that it was just a normal part of growing up. She'd come from another world, one she didn't even know if it had a body of water large enough to swim in, and from her past, that was all she really knew. She tapped her head once with her finger, indicating her lack of memory, and Sora immediately nodded. "Oh, right, you don't remember anything, do you?" He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, almost as though embarrassed that he had forgotten that fact about Kairi.
"It's no big deal, I'm sure it'll come back to me at some point." But it had been a few weeks, and Kairi still had no memories of her time before the islands. She refused to lose hope or let Sora see that, but her expectations of ever regaining them were low. "I'll just wait until after I remember to go in the ocean."
Sora fell silent, pacing back and forth. It was clear he wanted to go back in the ocean, but didn't want to leave her behind either. It took a few seconds, but he snapped his fingers together and flashed Kairi a big grin. "You could do that, or I could help you learn how to swim again!"
There was no way Sora could teach her how to swim. Even if he knew what he was doing, they were the same age, there was no way he could ever be a teacher. "You?"
"Of course! I've been swimming for as long as I can remember! I'm the best person to teach you how to do it!" Sora grabbed Kairi's wrist, getting her to stand up, and started pulling her down towards the ocean. "Then you can come with me and we can go swimming together!"
Kairi bit her lip, both trying to hold in her laughter at Sora's excitement and her nerves at his suggestion. "I'm not sure..."
"Don't worry about it. It'll be fine!" Unable to convince Sora this was a bad idea, she let him drag the two of them out into the ocean. They were about waist deep in the water when Sora stopped running, letting the two of them stand in the water.
"So all you gotta do to swim is kick your legs, like this." To demonstrate, Sora turned himself face down towards the water and began kicking out his legs, propelling himself forward in the calm waves before righting himself to face Kairi. "And then you just use your arms to move forwards." He pushed his arms out in front of him, and began moving them in wide strokes to push the water out of his way. "And that's how you swim!"
Kairi narrowed her eyes, skeptical. There were so few steps and things to remember for her to be sure he was actually teaching her anything. "Are you sure that's all there is to it? It doesn't seem that easy."
"Of course it's that easy, I've been doing it for years! It's all just kicking and moving your arms to turn around." He put his hands behind his head and smiled at her, absolutely confident that this was all it would take for Kairi to begin swimming. "You'll be a pro in no time!"
Well, he had at least gotten her into the water, it would be a shame to let the lesson go to waste at this point. Especially since she did want to be able to spend the time with her friends whenever they came to the beach in the future. "I'm guessing you want me to try it now?"
Sora nodded quickly, eager to see if his instructions helped. "Of course! And I'll be right here to make sure you're safe!"
She had a feeling about that, if there was one thing Kairi could count on Sora for, it was that he would never let anything bad happen to her. "Alright, but you'd better save me if something happens."
She didn't wait to see if he would, or his response of another confirmation about saving her before following his lead and facing the bottom of the ocean. There was an immediate sting as the salt water entered her eyes, and she closed them immediately. She could adjust to the water later, instead focusing on the motions as she kicked repeatedly, feeling herself propel through the water. Rather than pushing the water away and around like Sora, she used her arms to push her body up, a muscle memory rather than an active one and took a deep breath before plunging back underneath and doing it again, repeating the motion several times before standing up, now on her toes in order to keep her head above water.
Sora stood next to her, having followed her as she'd gone forward with a grin on his face. "You did it! I knew I could teach you!"
"Did you really?" Kairi teased him. Sora had been confident the whole time, though she wasn't sure he expected his lessons to go well.
Sora laughed weakly, rubbing the back of his head, but gave no answer to her question. "Come on, I'll race you back to shore!" And without waiting, he started swimming for shore, kicking the water behind him into Kairi's face.
She wiped her eyes from the splash, watching Sora go off. "Hey! No fair!" She swam after him, despite knowing that his head start would mean he would get there faster than she could. Sora stopped at the same depth they had started at, grabbing Kairi's leg as she started to swim past him. "You cheater!"
"Not my fault you didn't move fast enough. But we can do more lessons, and then I can teach you how to swim better!" Sora stuck out his tongue at her, and Kairi splashed him in response. "Hey!"
A splash fight broke out, filled with their laughter as they tried to get the other to admit defeat first. In the water, with her best friend as he helped her remember a skill that the other islanders knew, Kairi couldn't help but grin wider.
It was the first time since she'd come here that Kairi really felt like she belonged.
After the first lesson, Sora had kept them up with a constant determination to make sure she was the best swimmer on the islands. Whenever the weather was nice enough for it, he would drag her to the beach alone, coming up with more complicated techniques to get her passed the basics and as strong a swimmer as he and Riku were. The lessons had fallen off as the years had passed, of course, but it still wasn't uncommon for the two of them to do what they could in finding the time to spend time together on the beach, in the middle of a 'swimming lesson' that Sora could make up. Aside from the occasional questions from her two closest friends, fewer people had been questioning her on her origins, and even she had her days where more often than not she'd believe that she'd been here from the beginning too.
Now it wouldn't be long before the two of them and Riku set sail, their raft was nearly complete, and now that Riku had gone home, Kairi couldn't help but treasure the time that she had with Sora while they were still here. They sat on the docks, and their feet kicked at the water. Kairi looked over the ocean to the horizon, wondering just how far they'd manage to make it, and what worlds they'd manage to see, if she'd be able to show just how far she'd come to her family back home that even now, she still couldn't remember.
There was one thought in her mind, a fear that now that she's found her place here, that once they set sail, she'd never be able to return back home where she belonged.
Thoughts like that weren't for now, however, and she focused on the water droplets landing on the water, bringing back memories of an earlier time between her and Sora on the water. "Hey, do you remember the first time you brought me to the beach?"
Sora, tilted his head. "The first time?"
"You know, when you taught me how to swim?" Kairi giggled. She knew now that she had likely learned how to swim back on her home world, of course, but that didn't mean Sora believed it.
"Why are you saying it like that? I did teach you how to swim." Sora crossed his arms, a pout on his face, and Kairi couldn't help but laugh harder at his face. "I mean it!"
"If that's what you want to think." She stuck out her tongue, and Sora grinned at her. Before she could ask what was so funny, she felt hands on her back and air beneath her before she fell into the ocean. She pushed herself up, treading the water to stay above the surface while Sora laughed. "Hey!"
"See, I taught you that!" He had at least gone over the technique in a later 'lesson' to ensure that she could swim just as well as him. But Kairi wouldn't give him the win on that one.
Before she could come up with a way to convince him of that, Sora jumped right into the water, leaving behind a larger splash that got her wet all over again. He popped up moments later, grinning.
"What was that for?" she asked.
"Well you're already in the water, would it hurt to have one last swimming lesson before we leave?"
Kairi opened her mouth to answer, but immediately closed it. Wasn't this what she wanted, to have one more lazy, fun day with her best friend before they left and before everything began to change. "Okay, you win, I'm sure there's something new you can think up for me to learn!"
Sora pumped his fist and grabbed Kairi's hand, starting to lead her into deeper water. "Let's get started then!"