Winds of Connection Chapter 6

“You shouldn’t go there.”

Kairi was perfectly happy to ignore Riku’s strangely controlling advice as she worked at the ropes tying the little rowboat to the dock. “Okay.”

The quick agreement meant nothing. She was still untying the knot and a judgemental look wouldn’t get her to stop like he hoped. “You and Selphie don’t know who you’re getting involved with.”

Kairi tried not to let her frustrated sigh show as she rose from her kneeling to turn and look at him. Attempting to be as cheerful and patient with him as she had always been before he decided to be a cryptic jerk. “Okay. Who are we getting involved with?” she asked.

And just as had happened the last time he tried this with Selphie, he didn’t give a satisfactory answer. “You don’t know who this guy is. Just a random stranger who lived on an abandoned island for years? A stranger nobody has heard of before?”

“So he’s dangerous?”

“Maybe! How are we supposed to know?!” he asked, as frustrated with this repeated argument as she was. But instead of it being because of hearing it before, for him it was because he could never get his point across. Not in any way that could get the girls to listen. “Why is he there? Where did he come from? Why doesn’t he talk to anyone or come to the mainland?”

“You know?” Kairi spoke, a hand to her chin, the other one holding the mooring line so the boat wouldn’t float away, “Those are some good questions. I’ll go ask him.” With a splash that wet the backpack of fresh clothes and food she was delivering, she hopped into the rowboat and grabbed the oars.

“Kairi!”

“What?” she asked, the question edging ever so slightly toward a demand as her patience thinned. “What are you gonna say now? Some more vague accusations that he could be some kind of axe murderer or rapist or something?” He pretty clearly wasn’t at this point. Both she and Selphie had been alone with Ventus more than once. If he wanted to do something like that he had plenty of opportunity. Nothing. “Do you think I should just take it on faith he’s a bad person because somebody else said so? I didn’t with you.” She saw his face fall at the words she wished she hadn’t said. “Riku, I’m–”

“No,” he turned away from her but she could still hear the hurt in his voice, “No it’s fine. You’re right. Do what you want.”

Regretfully, the redheaded girl began to row away from the mainland toward Ventus’ island, watching her friend drift away. She’d apologise properly when she got back.

On the docks, Riku’s fists were clenched. Not out of anger or hurt feelings but from frustration at himself. What was he supposed to say to convince her? That someone had taken over the body of his friend? She’d think he really was crazy, that the trauma of going back was too much. That he was delusional. But he wasn’t. He knew what he saw, who he saw on that island. And his name wasn’t Ventus.

A memory that had haunted him recently, half-forgotten under the tragedy that happened soon after. Of a stranger from a strange land who gave him a priceless gift, but one that didn’t help when he really needed it.

“Strength, huh?” asked the stranger from the world outside. “What do you need strength for?”

“To protect the things that matter,” Riku had answered as though it was obvious. “You know, like my friends.”

The stranger smiled down at him. Made a giant key appear out of nowhere and presented it to him. “In your hand. Take this key. So long as you have the makings then through this simple act of taking, its wielder you will one day be. And you will find, friend, no ocean will contain you then. No more borders around below or above, so long as you champion the ones you love.”

Tears streaked from his eyes as he stood there on the dock, alone. “It wasn’t enough,” he lamented, the hurt springing anew from seeing his friend’s face again. “I wasn’t enough! I couldn’t save him from whatever that thing is! But I will! I’ll get stronger, and then I swear I’m going to save you, Sora!”

-(-)-

Ventus breathed a heavy sigh of relief as he felt the clean and soft fabric slide over his torso. Comfortable clothes weren’t something you missed until you couldn’t have them. “I can’t thank you guys enough for getting me this stuff.”

“No worries,” Kairi responded, kicking her feet off the edge of the treehouse as Ventus changed. Not to say she wasn’t looking inside as he did so. She very much was. He didn’t mind for the simple fact she had seen it all already and also because it was nice to be appreciated. He worked hard and he looked good. Even if he wasn’t doing it for the sake of simply looking good, it was nice all the same.

And Kairi didn’t care about unashamedly ogling him because... Well, because Selphie was a terrible influence who wouldn’t stop giving unsolicited advice.

Not that Kairi ever complained. Unsolicited didn’t mean unwanted.

The two girls had ventured out to the island multiple times since the first, bringing the mysterious boy supplies. Cast-off clothes from family members, food that would go to waste otherwise, just nice little gifts and gestures for someone who might not need them, but was all the same grateful for them after years of roughing it.

“Well,” Ventus said as he dropped down next to her in baggy capris, a grey tee and darker grey jacket. “You ever think of a way for me to pay you back, just let me know.”

She gained an impish smile after pretending to think. “I can think of something.”

“Oh yeah? Just say the word,” he shrugged, taking a bite of an orange. The joy of eating fruit that wasn’t a coconut or wild berries or those weird star-shaped fruit.

“You can tell me what the deal is with that key of yours!”

“Grk!” he choked, coughing and taking another bite to clear the lodged fruit bits. “Okay I guess there’s limits. How about anything but that?”

“Aww, come on! I’m just curious! It’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen. Like it was real magic or something. Wait...” she leaned in to peer at him from close up. “You aren’t from another world, are you?”

“Uhh, heh,” he reared back from her close inspection, laughing nervously, “Why would you think that?”

Her eyes narrowed. “I just said why I think that,” then widened again, “Oh my gosh you are! You’re from another world!”

“Okay, stop saying that! You’re talking crazy!”

But she wasn’t listening to his not-quite-denials anymore. “Riku always talked about getting away from these islands and visiting other worlds. He always seemed so sure there was more out there even though he’s never seen it. Is that it?! Is he like you?!”

“No!” Her victorious grin told him exactly how he just messed up. “I mean... Even if I were from another world, which I’m not! I’ve never seen him before in my life!”

“So he’s not from another world but you totally are! This is amazing! What’s it like out there?! Is it pretty? Are there other people? Do they all look like us or are there different kinds?! Oh my gosh, I have so many questions!”

Ventus hand slapped to his face, covering one eye. He messed up. He messed up bad. There were rules about this sort of thing. Fighting the unversed was one thing. He could play a little looser with it. Protecting the world order was pointless when every world was being attacked by monsters. At the time it was easy to show up, kill the unversed, save some people then leave as the mysterious hero, but that whole thing was over. The threat was gone and he was stuck in one place, trapped to be peppered with questions until he inevitably slipped up.

He had never been a great liar.

“Okay, look, there’s rules to this kind of thing, okay?” he tried to explain. “Even letting on as much as I have could get me in a whole lot of trouble. It’s important to keep the world order so everyone’s free to live their lives without worrying about all the stuff that goes on beyond their borders.”

“What, so I’m just not allowed to know?” she asked, folding her arms. “Rude.”

“I don’t make the rules!” He wasn’t even particularly good at following them. “Only Keyblade Masters, their apprentices and a few select, really important people are allowed to know.” At least that was how he assumed it worked. Yen Sid was a Keyblade Master once but Donald and Goofy were just King Mickey’s adjutants. Master Eraqus hadn’t really gotten to teaching Ventus the intricacies of those rules before he ran away. And Xehanort hadn’t bothered to teach him anything beyond becoming strong.

“Just masters and their apprentices, huh?” the girl asked, sounding disappointed.

Ventus breathed a premature sigh of relief. “Yes. So you need to not tell anyone about any of this or–”

“I guess you’ll just have to make me your apprentice then.” She looked for all the worlds like she had just said the most sensible and logical thing in the world.

He gaped at her. “That’s a terrible idea! For...! For so many reasons! I can’t even count how many reasons!” He wasn’t a master, he’d never trained anyone, he wasn’t exactly the best example to set, he barely knew her, he didn’t know if she even could become a keyblade wielder, much less whether she should–

“Well that’s a shame,” she shrugged, brushing off her skirt. “Guess I’ll go tell all my friends everything about how you’re from another world and you’re part of a secret order of magic key warriors and stuff.” The smile she sent his way as she continued to sit there, but let the threat hang.

“... You’re evil,” he spoke in a dull tone.

“Heehee, so you noticed!” she grinned with all her teeth. He still didn’t look particularly impressed. “Come on, I’m just joking. I wouldn’t actually do that. But would it be so bad?” she asked, putting a hand on his upper arm and leaning into him. She didn’t think she’d use Selphie’s pointers for something like this but if it worked... “Taking me out with you to see the stars together?”

Ventus was really starting to wish she’d stop getting so close to him. Every time she did it his nose couldn’t help but take in her scent. It made it hard to think straight. He’d been alone for a long time. “Look, it isn’t that simple,” he tried to explain using one of the more practical reasons why it wouldn’t happen. “To wield a keyblade you need to have a really strong heart. Like, so strong it’s kind of abnormal. The chances of you being that kind of person are–”

“So try me.”

“What?”

“Try me,” Kairi repeated, “See if my heart’s strong enough. You can do that, right?”

“I, uh...” He had no idea. He wasn’t a master and the more esoteric aspects of wielding the keyblade were lost on him, at least in terms of theory and practical application. “Maybe?” There was a certain intuitiveness to some of it. So... Gauging the strength of another’s heart must be possible, right?

“Well then let’s try it!” she suggested eagerly, “What do I have to do? Should I stand up?”

He hadn’t the slightest clue. “Sure.”

“Okay!” she leapt to her feet, eager to follow his instructions if it meant she could do real magic. “What’s next?!” she asked as he followed her up onto his own feet.

He still hadn’t the slightest clue. But why not wing it? If it didn’t work then he could just say it didn’t work and they could drop this craziness. “Come here,” he beckoned her to walk towards him, enter his personal space.

As she closed, he pulled her toward him to wrap an arm around her. “U-uh!” she uttered, growing warm at the surprising intimacy. That warmth growing to a burning embarrassment as she felt a hand on– “Where are you touching?!”

“Your heart.”

“O-oh, th-that makes sense, I guess,” she muttered. Still, there was no escaping the intimacy of the action. No boy had hugged her like this. She hoped he couldn’t feel the heat of her blush as he leaned his forehead against hers. “I-is this, still part of the–”

“Shhh...” he gently shushed her, trying to concentrate. On what, he wasn’t sure. He needed to find out the strength of her heart, so he needed to communicate with hers. He stood holding her for a short while, taking in the sound of the waves lapping against the shore, the gentle breeze scattering the sand far below them. And there in that momentary trance he sank below conscious awareness into the domain of the heart. He could feel the pain of his own stitched and healing heart more keenly. The pain he had learned to live with as it ever so slowly recovered. But off in the intimate distance was another heart. Kairi’s heart.

And it was strong. He could feel it, beating an effortlessly compassionate and joyous rhythm. A desire to help. To make things better for the people she cared for, to heal, to protect. More innocent it might have been, but those things somehow reminded him of–

Something changed.

He didn’t know what. It felt like a pulse of acknowledgement, of Kairi’s heart aligning with her will right before his concentration was broken and his moment of meditation ended. His eyes blinked open just as hers did, the two pulling back. And as he let her go, Ventus could see something that shouldn’t have been possible. “Uhh...”

“Huh?” Kairi just looked at him confused until she followed his eye down to her right hand. “Oh my gosh!” she gasped as she raised her hand to inspect the giant key that felt like it weighed nothing in her hand. “Oh my gosh!” It was beautiful. Intricate. Very different from what she expected based on the appearance of Ventus’. The teeth of the key had the appearance of colourful flowers and vines that snaked around the shaft. The handle a heart shape with a crashing wave running along the top. From the handle a keychain-like paopu fruit hung from a cord. “Oh my gosh oh my gosh thank you!” she squealed, pulling Ventus back into a hug that did nothing to help his confusion. “I promise, I’ll keep it secret! I’ll be the best apprentice I can possibly be! I’ll train hard and learn everything I can from you, Master! Thank you thank you thank you!”

“Uhh... Yeah, you’re... Welcome?” he answered? There were a lot of thoughts swirling around his mind and he was not especially happy with how priorities shifted when she called him ‘master’.

He blamed Vanitas. It was usually a good enough explanation for when his thoughts took a weird turn.

But as he wrenched back control of his thought process, he couldn’t ignore the entirely new list of problems this created. He wasn’t a Keyblade Master. He shouldn’t have an apprentice. He was messed up in both head and heart. He didn’t have a way to get himself safely to other worlds, let alone an untrained apprentice who needed real training that he couldn’t give. But those were all medium-term concerns for how this could go spectacularly wrong. In the short-term, there was one thing that stuck in his mind.

He was fairly sure, like ninety-five percent, that Kairi didn’t get her keyblade from him. That wasn’t how keyblades were passed on. “Kairi?”

“Yeah?” Only her response told him she was even still listening to him, spending far more of her attention examining every inch of her keyblade.

“Have you ever seen one before?” Ventus asked. “A keyblade, I mean. Before mine.”

“Hm?” she looked up, still grinning. Seeing his expectant expression she ran back the last few seconds in her head. “Have I seen... Oh, no I don’t think so. Well... Maybe? It seemed weirdly familiar the first time I saw it but I don’t know why.”

So someone had performed the bequeathing before. He’d call it an astonishing coincidence but he had literally found himself on the ‘Destiny Islands’. He didn’t like the idea of destiny since if it existed then it wanted to make him its punching bag. But times like this it was hard to argue.

“So?!” the redhead asked excitedly, her eyes shining with glee and anticipation. “What’s my first lesson?!”

“Uh...” How was he supposed to know?! He didn’t even mean to be her teacher! But... Well, if he was the only one around, a bad teacher was probably better than no teacher, right?

“Um,” the girl began with sudden trepidation as she swung the blade around, “Can the first lesson be how to make it disappear? Because I don’t know how to keep this secret if I carry it everywhere and I don’t wanna lose it...”

Yes. A bad teacher is better than no teacher. “Okay,” he put a hand on her arm to stop her wild swings, “A lot of the basics are real simple. Everything about the keyblade is powered by your heart. So if you want it to go away then... just...”

The great key vanished in a flash of glittering lights. Its wielder made a sound not unlike a boiling kettle as she pulled her arms in close to herself. “So cool!” What followed was several minutes of her flashing her keyblade in and out of existence and jumping for joy.

Well, if nothing else, being able to watch Kairi get so excited about every new thing promised to be rewarding in itself.

-(-)-

“Hey Ven.”

The blond looked up in surprise on hearing a voice, half expecting it to be Kairi just for how often she had visited him over the past few weeks. She had been more than eager to learn everything she could about how to use her keyblade, dreaming of the day she’d see other worlds, asking him for stories about his travels. He was still working on that ‘seeing other worlds’ part himself.

Regardless, as his head fully popped out of the pond where he took his baths, he didn’t see Kairi. Instead, “Selphie! Sorry, I wasn’t expecting anybody to come by. Gimme a sec to get dressed.”

“Don’t feel obligated on my account.” Her voice was as cheerful and guileless as ever. He could never tell when she was up to something. Kairi had assured him that it was because she pretty much always was, though it was said with fondness more than scorn. “I don’t mind if you finish your bath.”

“Oh. Well, thanks I guess,” he shrugged, relaxing back into the water. He wasn’t completely oblivious to the girls’ interest in his appearance. Kairi got cutely embarrassed about it but Selphie would be shameless in her ogling. If she wanted to look, she could look. He didn’t really care that much.

“So, Kairi’s been pretty happy lately,” she observed aloud as she slipped off her sandals and sat on the edge of the pond, twiddling her toes in the fresh, cool water. “Always excited when she leaves me behind to come see you, always satisfied when she gets home.”

Though that comment he didn’t really get. “Well I’m glad she’s happy?” he asked more than answered. Kairi hadn’t broken her promise and told people, had she?

The girl sighed dreamily, “Aww, that’s so sweet that you don’t kiss and tell. I’m really glad she found somebody nice for her first relationship.”

“First relationship?” he asked. Wait, ‘kiss and tell’? “Oh, you think we’re– No, we’re not intimate,” he borrowed Aqua’s word for it, “It’s nothing like that. I’ve just been... Teaching her some survival skills and stuff, that’s all.”

Sadly, Ventus as ever remained a poor liar. But in this instance it did him favours. She could tell he wasn’t telling the whole truth about why Kairi was so happy to visit, but she could also tell he wasn’t lying when he said the two of them weren’t intimate. “So... You’re not together?”

“Well we haven’t been,” he answered. “I mean I guess she’s kind of interested, what with her looking when she thinks I can’t tell. But she hasn’t done or said anything about it.”

“... Huh.” So Kairi wasn’t making a move. Figured. Same old Kairi. “You know what?” she asked rhetorically, grabbing the hem of her sundress and pulling it up over her head, “I think I’ll join you.”

“Sure.” He didn’t hide how he watched her as she stripped off first her dress, then her underwear, then finally the silver pendant that hung around her neck before she slipped fully nude into the water with him.

The water wasn’t deep. Around waist high thanks to the seasonal rainfall. If either of them wanted to even keep the pretense of modesty they would need to sit on the bottom of the shallow pool. Neither were particularly interested in that. Ventus genuinely didn’t care. Selphie wanted to show off.

And because Ventus didn’t care to hide it, she could tell he very much liked what he saw. His large and erect penis bobbing on the surface of the water.

Ventus had a feeling he knew what Selphie was after here. The way she moved, the way she posed, all of it to show off an attractive body on an attractive girl. Not toned, but soft and slender. A young woman who put the work in to look as good as she did. Her modest but perky, pink-capped breasts, her belly a flat plane that swooped into an angular v between her hips drawing the eye toward her neatly trimmed, dark pubic hair and the secrets it hid. “You like?” she asked with a wink as she rested her weight on one leg to cock her hip, putting one hand behind her head to highlight her chest.

“I do,” he answered with the confidence and desire of an experienced man rather than a horny teenager. Something that only earned him more points in Selphie’s book.

With slow, seductive steps as much because of the water as intent, the brunette moved closer. “You wanna t– Oh!” she squeaked as she felt his arm grab her around the waist and pull her in, as she felt the heat of his manhood press angrily against her midriff. Her eyes widened, then lidded, “Oh,” he knew what he was doing. He leaned in toward her, his lips pressed against hers, insistent, telling her without words that they both knew where this was going. And by her lips parting to allow his tongue to slither between them, she confirmed it was going exactly where she wanted it to go.

The two stood, body to body, kissing heatedly to the sound of a rushing waterfall. It brought forth a wave of nostalgia for Ventus that he quickly but regretfully pushed aside. Aqua was waiting, but this girl, this woman pressed against him deserved all of his attention in this moment. With a quick turn and a gentle push he had the girl pressed against the wall of the man-made pond, leaving her nowhere to run as his hardness slid insistently against her skin, a droplet of precum bubbling from the tip to leave a smear below her navel. One quickly rinsed away by the water.

Grabbing two handfuls of her pert backside, he lifted her to perch her on the ledge, giving him room to worshipfully kiss his way down her body until he found her wet sex. She cooed as she felt his lips press against her lower lips, a peck on her clitoris before his tongue swirled around her labia. “V-Ven!” she gasped. It was a new sensation for her. She wasn’t completely innocent. Not by any means. But boys had never been willing to do this for her. She thrilled in the fact that he was so willing to work just for her pleasure, his dexterous muscle wriggling a dance inside her core, his lips and nose working in tandem to tease the outside. “Ven!” She grasped his head, holding him where he was, encouraging him to keep going, to not stop, to keep– “Mhaaaa!”

A light spritz of fluid crashed onto Ventus’ tongue, more of her delicious juices he had been tasting up to now. Selphie wore a breathless smile as she basked in the afterglow of a more than pleasant climax. Her partner gave her just a moment to recover before he pulled her part way back down. Carefully, he positioned one of her feet to rest on the edge, the other dangling in the water as he held her up, the position left her legs spread wide and his manhood prodding at her twitching entrance. He looked to her for permission but the moment their eyes met she was already nodding eagerly.

“Oooooh,” she moaned, “Oohoohoo, that’s big!” her moan morphed into a laugh of mild discontent as she tried to adjust to the unusually large intrusion.

“You okay?”

“I will be when you stop hesitating!” she shot back with a smile. It was a lot but the only way to get used to it was to take more.

Ventus wasn’t exactly hard to convince in this, finally feeling the inside of a woman again after so long was bliss. Selphie’s womanhood barely fit to contain him but that just made the soft, sucking sensations all the sweeter as she slid in and out of her clutching insides.

The two worked in tandem, their bodies moving as rhythmically as the nearby waves, driving each other further and further.

Eventually it was too much to take. Ventus couldn’t abide this position anymore. He pushed Selphie up and out of the water before pulling himself out. The brunette only had long enough to express surprise before he was on her again, her legs hiked up and spread as he pressed his weight down onto her, filling her again. More deeply than he could in their previous position. Each passionate thrust driving the entirety of his shaft inside the cute little brunette. She squealed the first time he bottomed out inside her, each slap of his hips against hers bringing forth a renewed, pleasured squeak.

She couldn’t even feel the discomfort of the hard surface she lay on. Her entire consciousness was laser-focused on what Ventus was doing inside her, rubbing every inch, places no one had ever reached before. “V-Ventus, I’m gonna–!”

“Me too!” he groaned, rutting into her faster and faster, spending more and more time with all of him inside her as his instincts demanded he fill this more than willing girl with what he had to give. “Ah!”

“Mmm!” Selphie bit her finger in hopes of quieting what might become a scream.

“Nnnnnnngh!” Ventus groaned as he felt his balls clench, his load that had been built up for so long firing rope after rope of hot, sticky seed inside Selphie’s deepest and most sacred of places.

“NnnghAAAAH!” Attempts to muffle herself failed completely as Selphie was overwhelmed by her surprisingly intense second climax. Her legs twitching and shaking in the air, her hands scrabbling for purchase, to find anything she could hold onto for dear life as she rode out the orgasm of her life.

As the girl writhed, as her hips shook, Ventus slowly withdrew himself from her well-used orifice. The sticky mess of their combined fluids coating the surface of his length. Once again, he gave Selphie a moment to come down from her pleasure high before slowly, gently sliding her back into the water with him.

“Hah... hah... hah...” she panted as she sat on the bottom of the pond. “Th-that was... I don’t think I can feel my legs!” she giggled.

“I’m glad you liked it,” Ventus smiled at he, “It was a lot of fun for me too.”

She giggled again, then let out a wistful sigh. “Honestly I wish I enjoyed it less. Gonna be hard to let you go.”

Ventus frowned, his head tilted in confusion. He didn’t really know what she meant by that. Weird thing to say. She didn’t seem like the fatalist type.

The two relaxed together in the soothing waters for a while longer, before Selphie was the first to emerge and get dressed. “Ah, wet clothes. Oh well,” she shrugged carelessly before turning back to watch Ventus emerge from the water himself. “I’ll, um, I’ll let Kairi know she should probably make a move if she’s really interested. The things I do for a friend, huh?” she asked, smiling sadly.

“It’s great that you care about her so much. She’s lucky to have you.”

“I know, right?” she laughed. “Take care, Ven. And take care of Kairi too.”

“Of course,” he answered, waving as she walked back to the dock.

Why had she seemed so sad right then?