Life On Destiny Islands ~Chapter One, Part One~

My feet dangled over the edge of the small island, only inches away from the sparkling water that surrounded it. My long, flowing skirt was fanned out beside me to avoid it from touching the water, and my lacy tank top fit me snugly, and bunched up playfully around my waist. With the rest of my body propped up on my elbows, I looked out into the distance at the sunrise on the water. It was an early summer morning, and nobody was awake except for me. Ever since I was a little girl, I’d been secretly watching the sunrise every morning. I didn’t know why, but it just felt like something that I had to do. And if there was ever a time when I wasn’t able to row my boat to the island, I became entirely sorrowful, and I shut myself away from everything.

I lived not too far from the beach, maybe half a mile or so. And every morning, hours before my family woke up, I’d sneak out of the house, walk out of the town, and continue to travel to the beach where my one-person boat sat, tied to a rock. Grabbing the paddle inside, I’d row myself over to the island a mile or two away. It was basically my daily exercise. Once I got to the island, I’d tie my boat up again and walk to the high patch of land that overlooked the waters. It had the perfect view of the sun, and it just so happened to be where I was lounging at that exact moment.

To my left, a few palm trees grew elevated and narrow up to the sky. To my right stood a misshapen tree with a curved trunk. At the top of the tree on the tallest branches, Paopu Fruits grew, their yellow star-shapes reflecting the sun and water. Legend said, that if two people shared the Paopu Fruit, their destinies became intertwined. They became part of each other's lives forever. I suppose you could have called it romantic, but I didn’t call it anything. It was just a legend, right?

I liked to spend my time on the island daydreaming. It was what I did best, according to my mother. She said she could never get me to concentrate on anything without me staring off with a blank look on my face. I’d get in trouble a lot at home because I could never fully concentrate at times. Even though I may have sometimes tried my hardest to get a task done, there was always something there to block my thoughts and send me into a hopeless daze. Dad poked fun at me and said I was cursed, but mom always silenced him before he could retort anything else. I felt happy whenever I was on the island, and it seemed like the sun and the palm trees were always there to keep me company.

There were kids my age (of fifteen) that I did hung out with. People like Selphie and Tidus who lived not too far from my house. Then there was Sora, Riku, and Kairi whom I had known for a long, long time. Kairi and I were best friends. We had been since the first grade. She was always there for me. We liked the same things, and we did a lot together. Kairi had medium length red-pink hair and her eyes were big and dark blue. My hair was really long, and sort of a metallic golden-brown color. My eyes were a shocking shade of intense green. We were both very slender in our weight, which made it easy to share clothes.

It wasn’t until about the third grade that I met up with Riku and Sora. Riku, although a year older than any of us, was a really likable guy. Once again, girls last year in school would not stop talking about him. His long, silvery-blue hair, his green eyes that matched mine, and his muscled stature… were what seemed to be the leading cause of the adoration. I couldn’t help but to agree with all of the girls. He was really a cool guy, who just so happened to be my good friend.

Lastly, though, there was Sora. Sora, the fun loving, courageous, and witty kid who loved to make me laugh. It was because of his personality that I became a friend with him. He was very nice and considerate, and wouldn’t let anything bad happen to any of his friends. Often times, he fought with Riku to see who was "superior" at certain things, and I couldn’t help but laugh my head off with Kairi, as we watched them battle on the island…

Yes, I was not the only one who visited the island. But I was the only one, however, to visit it that early in the morning. In the afternoons of the summer, we’d all meet there to hang out. But in the mornings, I was alone. People would have considered it crazy to row a boat out, hours before morning truly started just to sit and watch the sun. I didn’t think that in the slightest. That was why I thought it was always nice to be there. It was my time to be alone, and to think and do things that I couldn’t normally do around the town. If I wanted to get up and dance, or if I wanted to suddenly start singing, no one would hear me except the palm trees, the water, the Paopu Fruits, the sand, and the tree houses that Sora, Riku, Kairi and I built. The tree houses resided in the forest on the other half of the island, yards behind me. We hadn’t played in them for years…

"Hey," said a voice from somewhere around me.

I gasped, and suddenly my mind was torn from my daydream. My body froze stiff, as if iced water had suddenly been spilled all over me. I barely breathed as I slowly turned my head in the general direction of the voice. With what seemed to be seconds of agonizing fear, I finally made eye contact with a boy, who leaned with his body against a palm tree. His hair was slightly ruffled, and he sported a quizzical smile on his face. It was none other than Sora.

To be honest, I wasn’t exactly expecting it to be him. I thought it would have been my dad. As if, maybe my mom had sent him out to find me because she found out about my secret trips to the island, and was having me punished. Without realizing it, I sighed with relief, and Sora’s looks became even more confused. I blinked slowly, and said the first words that came to my mind.

"Can I help you?" I, of course, hadn’t tried to sound mean or anything. I was just kidding around. But when Sora’s face flushed with a wave of embarrassment, I figured my words must have come out wrong. Quickly, I added in a soft voice, "I mean, what are you doing here?" I hoped this was better. He looked away for a moment, and then back at me.

"I was going to ask you the same thing," he replied with a slight smile on his lips. I couldn’t help but start to feel ashamed at myself. He had only been curious!

"Oh…" I stuttered. "Well…" What was I possibly going to say? I wondered if it would it be okay if I told him my secret. He’d understand, right?

"Can I tell you something? And will you promise not to tell my family?"

Apparently Sora wasn’t expecting this answer, because he straightened himself up, put a hand behind his head, and scratched it aimlessly with a bigger, sheepish smile.

"Yeah, anything. I promise. I won’t tell," He said in a sure voice. Then he put his hand down and looked at me, the sun glowing against his skin, his entrancing sky-blue eyes staring into mine. I looked determinedly into them to try and see if he was lying, but I found nothing but innocence and curiosity, like always.

"Okay." I said, smiling at him. With a pat of my hand, I gestured for him to sit down somewhere around me. He walked over to the Paopu tree, hopped up, and sat on its curved trunk like a seat. He looked at me again. I continued, "Well… you see…" Sora seemed to listen with every ounce of energy. "… Every morning I get up really early to row to the island and to watch the sunrise."

"Every morning?" He blurted out.

"Yeah... I’m sorry if you think it’s weird—"

"No, no, not at all." Sora waved a hand in the air. "I was just wondering." I nodded and looked away.

"My parents don’t know about this. I’ve never told them. I’m afraid that if I did, they’d punish me for not ever telling them in the first place… I’ve been coming out here like this for quite a while now."

He was silent for a long time. I guessed that he didn’t know what to say. I was about to pipe up to say something else when he finally said, "You really like it out here, don’t you?"

I slowly looked up at him, expecting him to be looking at me in a funny way, but was surprised to see that he was staring off into the sky with a calm expression on his face.

"Yes… I do…" I breathed. My attention turned back to the sun, almost fully in the sky now. My mind seemed to take a deep inhale of breath, and then let it out again slowly. I became absorbed in the way the water sparkled that I began to forget about Sora. Soon minutes were passing, and I wasn’t really thinking about Sora anymore. I didn’t even know what he was doing, or if he was still even sitting there. My eyes tried not to tear away from the appealing sight, but I didn’t want Sora to be mad at me for ignoring him… However, it was his fault for coming anyway. I didn’t have to care… He didn’t have to be here… I didn’t have to talk to him… And yet I felt obliged.

With a forceful yank of my head, and a sad mechanical sigh, I glanced to my right in the direction of the Paopu tree’s trunk, and realized that there was no figure of Sora sitting upon it like he once was before. Blinking confusedly, I spun myself around and looked behind me. I still couldn’t find him. Was he honestly that quiet that I didn’t hear him leave? A part of me felt a pang of regret, like I knew he’d been slightly bored with me and left because of it… and yet another part just wanted to forget about him and watch the rest of the sunrise. I bit my lip, thinking on the spot, and looked back at the water. The sunrise will appear tomorrow, too, I thought to myself.