#thoughts about Kairi

[airawisteria]

See, Kairi might not be my favourite character from KH (though, she's really fun to draw), but, like, the way she is so insecure about her friendship with Sora (I would say Riku as well, but let's be real here, those two could barely be considered friends, maybe acquaintances by this point, honestly) is something that would be so interesting to explore. I'm assuming it's probably from the trauma of losing her home world and everyone she cared about, like her Grandma, when her world was consumed by darkness—but, wow.

Even in KH1 where she and Sora are, in my opinion, the closest they've ever been shown to be, she's going on about leaving alone with Sora, the way that she immediately gives Sora a good luck charm the second she knows he's about to leave again, the way that she reaches out to Sora so desperately as if to say, "Please don't leave".

Then, in KH2, she straight up just forgets (not that it was her fault) about him and goes on with her life perfectly content. Once she realises, however, she immediately tries to remember him with such desperation that you have to wonder—why does she care so much for Sora but was perfectly fine staying on Destiny Islands instead of looking for her world or desperately trying to hold onto her memories of her Grandma? I think, at this point, some people would brush this off as 'her romantic feelings for Sora', but, like, is it really just that? I think it's more so about how she doesn't want to lose Sora completely as she did with her home world. She almost lost Sora completely, memories and all, and I think that after you've experienced losing your loved ones and the world that you've grown to love/have always loved almost completely at the ripe old age of a nursery kid. That leaves scars (obviously). So, when she realises she might lose someone she knew she was close with—she does whatever she can to get him back. Kairi wasn't able to do that with her home world, but maybe she could with Sora?

So! She immediately writes Sora a letter, puts it in a bottle and lets it float away. It's also probably why she takes such an active role in KH2, especially compared to KH1 where she was passed out for most of it and when she was awake she wasn't really doing much (like, Nomura, mate, couldn't you have had Kairi at least try to fend off some of the heartless??), but here she might still be getting kidnapped and stuff, but!! She's actually actively searching Sora out, trying to find him, fighting Axel, fighting the heartless with her keyblade, she's even the entire reason Sora even fucking found Riku, in the end. Now, let's fast forward to the end of KH2, Riku and Sora are stranded in the Realm of Darkness while Kairi is in Destiny Islands. She's alone, again. Imagine, finding two of your closest friends in the past, and then, bam! They're gone, again. And, again, you're helpless to do anything about it. That has to do something to your self-esteem, right? You've almost lost your friends twice, lost your world twice (kinda) and you couldn't do anything about it both times. It's like you're destined to be the only one left behind, the only one who can't take part in the Mark of Mastery exam, the only one who isn't in the Realm of Darkness or fighting Xemnas, the only one in the Realm of Light, and, the only one who will never be able to catch up with your friends.

So, the Mark of Mastery happens and Kairi's busy learning how to wield a keyblade with Lea/Axel. Just like how Sora's failures are getting to him, Kairi's incompetence is getting to her—I mean, have you heard her voice lines? She even fucking cuts her hair not because she thinks it's getting too long or something, but because she thinks Sora might like her more with short hair. It isn't about her, it's about how she needs to keep up, how she needs to be someone the others can turn to, how she needs to be on the same level as everyone else—because if she isn't, how will she ever be able to be there for her friends? How will she ever be able to stop being the 'damsel in distress'? She doesn't send her letters to Sora anymore, probably because she thinks she and Sora are no longer the same friends who could connect easily and talk to easily—she thinks Sora and her have gained some distance. Distance that could probably be shortened over time, maybe, but distance that is stopping her from being able to open up to him. Then, there's the whole paopu fruit thing where she gives Sora another good luck charm because, like in KH1, she's scared to lose him, again. So, she intertwines their fates, because what other reassurance does she have?

And, then, the whole thing with the Keyblade Graveyard happens where Sora has a mental breakdown, and Kairi isn't strong enough to be there for Sora—but, Riku is. I don't think she remembers that bit, but during the first timeline, she reaches out to Sora specifically. Maybe it's romance, or maybe it's her trying to be with him so she won't lose him again.

But, anyways, onto the second timeline. Sora loses Kairi again cause Xehanort's being an asshole as he does. This time, Sora has to sacrifice himself for Kairi to return—and so, she loses him, again. Only this time, it's all her fault (not that it really is, just what I think she thinks about the matter). And within seconds, her self-esteem probably crumbles—she's lost someone again, someone precious again, someone she couldn't save, someone who had to save her, just like how it was with her Grandma.

Okay!! Rambling about Kairi over, but, like, I could go on and on about how much losing her home world was like for her and all that jazz.

[trashcantasch]

i heard someone say more

[aitsuheart]

Just because you like Soriku doesn't mean you have to hate Kairi or bring her down just because there is another ship involving one of the characters and her.

It's a normal ship.

Hating on her for that is very stupid and childish.

If you want to say how your ship is valid stop being her into it

[cometrose]

sora is so good at hiding his trauma sometimes i forget he stabbed himself in the very first game at the sweet age of 14

[hyumjim]

just some of my little opinions btw

[bitternace]

we were gods, we were kids

[ID: two digital drawings of Riku, Sora, and Kairi in their kingdom hearts 2 outfits. the background is shades of blue, lighter at the top. they appear as if floating in a body of water.

In the first image, Riku, on the left, stares down with a slightly worried expression, his visible hand on sora's shoulder, and the other on Kairi's. Kairi, on the right, leans into Sora's back, with either hand on his core. Sora, sandwiched between the two, has his hand on Riku's cheek, and the other on top of Kairi's on his stomach. he leans forward to kiss Riku's cheek.

The second image is a close-up. /End ID.]

[chirpingchorus]

The more I learn about the translation/localization changes in KHIII, the more I wonder how much better I would've liked the ending and the game as a whole if I experienced the accurate version first...

[dreamsy990]

some wof au designs i made a while ago i forgot to post

[marigoldwriter]

Lady Kairi, and her pretty blue eyes.

(I think, for now, this is Kairi's final appearance, so, nothing better than finally introducing this character!)

Meet Kairi Blackthorne!

An obstinate and stubborn girl according to reports from servants, she loves stories (especially bedtime stories) about the sea, its many legends and ships their brave crews that tried to explore it. She's a Mariko's copy, with the exception of her blue eyes, her father's courtesy. Baby blue and lilac are her favorite colors (hence her signature colors). She knows english and portuguese (Pt) taught by her father, japanese and latin, taught by her mother, as well as taking classes (after a LOT of insistence) to learn archery and falconry (Toranaga-sama's distant influence).

[tragicclownwrites]

🤡

[ladybugsimblr]

Komorebi Date Days and Nights

[jellyfishvibes]

Welcome back to the vague keyblade theory zone, i have ideas Mainly about the princesses of heart and what their keyblades might look like

Ok so keybaldes, of the types we know of we have Special Keyblades- The Kingdom Key and Kingdom Key D (the keyblades of the realm of light and dark respectively), The χ-blade (the keyblade of kingdom hearts), The Keyblade of Heart (the keyblade made of the princesses of heart's hearts), Ultima Weapon World Keyblades- keyblades that are manifestation of the heart of a world and generally look like that world Connection Keyblades- keyblades that are a representation of a connection between people (Sora's bond of flame or oathkeeper) Heart Keyblades- keyblades that represent the heart of the person summoning it, generally thought to be that persons 'default' keyblade (Ventus' wayward wind)

I think the princesses of heart are in some way very connected to the world they live in (don't get me started on princess of heart theorys i could go on) and as such a heart keyblade manifested from their heart would look like half heart keyblade and half world keyblade, my example is dun dun dun dun Kairi! my favorite little lore exception to theorize about

Destiny's Embrace, a fitting name for how she exists in the story, is her keyblade, and it looks like a mix of Radiant Garden and Destiny Island

the teeth and end looks like it could be a Radiant Garden keyblade, and the handle fades up to a sandy look and the hand itself literally fades into a transparent water effect, with the paopu keychain as well, its both her homes mashed together as a keyblade with a thread of gold tying them together, very much what you would expect from the Princess of Radiant Garden

But also the silhouette is familiar

(While this is it incomplete) it has the same heart cutout teeth section that the Keyblade of Heart has, so me thinks for potential design ideas (that i'm totally not thinking about shush, i would never) that the princesses of heart's keyblades would be a mix of their world, themselves and the silhouette of the Keyblade of Heart From my cursory glances the only keyblades that do have the heart cut out in the teeth are the kh1, 2 and 3 (and kind of dream drop but not really) versions of Ultima Weapon, which are all the versions that Sora wields and kind of Divewing which has half of a heart silhouette as the teeth, there are a few keyblades that have a heart there but not a cutout of it (ven's lost memories mostly, its an incomplete heart but still a heart)

I have no real point to this theorizing beyond thinking too damn hard about keyblades and their designs

[wyvernspirit]

I either need Kairi's hair to go back to its KH2 length OR for it to go back to being as short if not shorter then her KH 1 hair

Because the current bob feels like a backtrack on her character growth HOWEVER if they go back to her KH1 length it's a consistent backgrowth and an actual conscious design decision

And I would hope that design decision would result in a moment of Kairi reassessing herself and everything she's been through

But anyways like usual they'll just style her hair directly after Hikaru Utada's current hairstyle during production because god forbid they put any thought into Kairi's character design and growth

For Kingdom Hearts sake they ignored that her main colour in KH1 was purple to be the middle colour between Riku's blue and Sora's red to instead have her main colour be pink because she's "The girl" of the group

Sigh

It's tough wanting better for Kairi as a fan of these games

[aitsuheart]

As someone who likes Soriku, I also like Kairi. I hate how there are unfortunately some people that give everyone who likes Soriku a bad name by hating Kairi and just making her awful in non canon things.

It's quite sad.

The narrative also doesn't really do her justice either and it's such a shame. She could be really interesting. I have stated in the past, let her still have nice friendships with Sora and Riku along with various other characters. Let her have emotions about being left behind and change. Let her get frustrated that she feels that she cannot get strong enough. Let her find out what happened in her past to end up at the Destiny Islands.

I don't want her overpowered. There are some fans who show her a someone who is overpowered and can do anything and it feels like a weak characterization.

Let Kairi feel frustrated that she constantly becomes something to motivate others such as her kidnapping in kh2 and her heart getting destroyed in kh3. It would be so much more interesting if Kairi expressed that she hates how she became a liability. And I'm not saying she is, but she feels that way since she had to be saved.

Not enough people focus on that.

Let her show her feelings or emotions.

It's only reason I sometimes dislike aspects of the people who ship the opposing ship. It's not because it's opposing, but because they reduce Kairi to just that. People show her as having no character other than being a character's partner. It's the similar reason why I dislike the part in MOM where she has to turn to Sora to fight Xehanort.

Why couldn't she do it herself?

In all honesty, I'm fine with the pairing and Soriku is just really special to me.

Disclaimer: These are my thoughts of how Kairi is portrayed by fans and in canon. And what I would like to see from her in future games.

[ok4ru]

I know. I know... Swap AU aren't original but Lauriam being swapped with Strelitzia and Sora being swapped with Kairi is also a great concept...

Not original but still!

Imagine a young Lauriam being protective over Kairi since in a way she reminds him of Strelitzia and left her all alone when he died...

They both like flowers and would be great besties so why not?

[hqmillioncorn]

Turning and turning Our feelings are tumbling around

Pancake and Linnet watched as Cherrypit continued to climb up the Gridanian aetheryte. It was actually kind of impressive how much the baby leash could stretch. Both girls had decided to take Cherrypit out for an impromptu walk after their complementary breakfast. Courtesy of a promise Lunya had given the three of them the day before. And Cinnamon just decided to tag along. "Do you think he's trying to eat it?" Linnet asked out loud. "No I think he's just having fun biting it." Pancake recalled something Babycorn had told her years ago. "Babycorn said that Cherrypit is still growing his teeth so that's why he bites things still." "Ooh." That made sense. Pancake smiled, it was nice to have things back to normal for a change. Was a thought she had right before seeing Cherrypit take a bite out of the aetheryte. Well, as normal as things could get around here,

with @windupnamazu 's butter and pancake and linnet and cinnamon

when youre recovering from getting kidnapped and used to traverse and heal another world things can get a little boring and also hectic

The day felt like it was going too fast and going too slow at the same time. Somehow it was earlier than Babycorn thought, even though she didn’t feel the least bit tired.

Instead she seemed to feel more tired the darker outside it got. It was kinda annoying. 

Babycorn shuffled around the bed she was currently sitting on. Considering all the times she found herself sitting in such a similar position Babycorn was a little annoyed with herself that she wasn’t at least a little more used to it yet. Or at the very least figured out the perfect pillow ratio to sit comfortably against. 

‘Uncomfy…’ Babycorn thought to herself, chewing on a pencil in her hand. As uncomfortable as the beds in the Twin Adders infirmary were, they were a million times better than her previous accommodations had been. 

Just a little over a week ago she had spent night after night sleeping on the ground. 

Babycorn unconsciously began to crumple the important book she was holding in her other hand. It had only been a couple of days since she woke up from her latest Starsinger induced coma. Though, in her defense, this one wasn’t entirely her fault. 

It couldn’t really have been helped in the case of having been kidnapped and forced to use her power against her will. 

Babycorn still couldn’t remember much of it but from what she could remember, it was that Cremia and Scotch weren’t very nice. Cremia had been the worst of the two, berating her and ranting to her for such a long time. She could understand the desperation of getting something back that you lost but this was just on the verge of being crazy, in Babycorn’s opinion.

Whatever happened to them in the end, Babycorn hoped that they both got the punishment they deser-

Babycorn let out a hiccup, quickly covering her mouth. 

How could she have forgotten that Butter was in the room with her?!

If he heard her thinking such rotten things about his parents what would he think about her?! 

Babycorn kept her mouth covered as she watched Butter walk all around the room. 

He was happily humming a little song to himself while he cleaned up. Picking things up and putting them away, throwing out the trash and making sure that it didn’t get too dusty in here. 

Butter loved doing little tasks like these. For as long as Babycorn knew him he always seemed to be doing something. Babycorn was always a little worried that Butter would somehow complete all the little tasks in the world and he would run out one day…

With all the fun that they all had last night however, it was probably a safe bet that Butter wouldn’t run out of things to clean anytime soon. Pancake and Linnet had brought over several board games and a bunch of snacks courtesy of her allowance from Lunya and Tsuna. 

Babycorn, of course, won none of the games but she did learn just how fiercely competitive Tilika could be.

It was a little harrowing to see the final opponents of every game be Cinnamon, Lunya and Tilika. Though as suspenseful as it was, there was something fun about all of them being together. With nothing to worry about except for the possibility of Cinnamon flipping the game board over. 

At the end of the night Lunya won most of them, except charades. Pancake and Cinnamon won that one, to no one’s surprise. 

Everyone all had so much fun the whole night long that most of them ended up passing out, leaving whole game boards and pieces strewn about the room. Alongside some half-eaten snacks and drinks that were still half full. 

Babycorn had been asleep at the time but Tilika and Lunya had offered to help clean up, only to be waved away by Butter who assured them he had it handled. Both Lunya and Tilika had a hunch that some of Butter’s decision was influenced by the fact that he would be able to stay with Babycorn a little longer. 

Of course, Babycorn didn’t mind. She liked Butter being here! Babycorn liked any of her friends being here, but Butter was a special case. When he was around Babycorn felt like there was nothing that would hurt her because Butter would be there to save her! 

If anyone else tried to take her away he would find her! Just like he had done this time!

Babycorn’s smile and warm feeling in her chest faded a little as she watched Butter’s ears wiggle around. Nervously she reached her hand over to tug on one of her braids, only to find it absent since her hair was down. “Um, hey Butts?” It still felt a little strange to be able to talk with her mouth. Her throat felt oddly dry. 

One of Butter’s ears turned towards Babycorn as he turned around in a split second at the sound of her voice. In his hands there was an empty board game box. “Hmm? Is everything ok?” He looked around the room, taking note of the sun coming in through the window. “Is the light bothering you? Do you want me to close the curtains a little?” 

“Huh?” Babycorn blinked. Now that he mentioned it the sun was sort of bothering her. “Yeah. Could you close them? Pretty please?” 

“Right away!” 

Babycorn kept her eyes on Butter as he happily made his way over to the window and adjusted the curtains. “Actually…Can I ask you a question?” Babycorn nervously chewed on her pencil again. 

“Yeah! Anything!” 

“...Could you hear what I was thinking?” 

Butter shook his head, “I couldn’t hear any of it!” He smiled. Normally such a question would probably have a normal person doing a double take at least three times but at this point neither Babycorn or Butter were normal by any sense of the word. 

“Oh! Okay that’s good!” That was the end of that, Babycorn decided and went right back to whatever she was doing before she started thinking or whatever. That is to say her attention went right back to the book of word searches that Butter had given her earlier. 

Butter had heard Babycorn mumbling to herself something about being bored and decided to let her borrow his book full of word searches.

As Butter picked up another piece of trash he heard Babycorn giggling. “Are you having fuuun?” Butter asked. He was glad she seemed to be having a good time. 

Babycorn nodded, wiggling her legs around. “Yeah! See? See?” She held up the book into the air and pointed at it with her pencil. “I’m circling all the letters! Just like you showed me!” Indeed, Babycorn was circling all the letters in a bunch. The only problem was that none of them formed anything that resembled an actual word. 

“I think I’m winning!” Babycorn kept giggling to herself.

Butter didn’t want to tell her otherwise. “I bet you are! They should give you a big trophy for it!” Something like, the most circles ever circled inside of a word search ever. Chances were that Babycorn probably did circle a real word with all the constant scribbling she was doing. 

“Can I do more pages? Is that okay?” Babycorn figured she should ask since this book was Butter’s. 

“Go for it!” Butter didn’t mind. There were countless word search books out there in the world but there was only one girl of his dreams. And if she wanted to write all over it, then who was he to say no. “I also have picross and word fill books if you wanted to try those!” 

Babycorn’s face lit up. “Wow! I have no idea what those are!!” 

“Don’t worry I’ll teach you!” 

Butter had spent the better half of the dawn teaching Babycorn how word searches work. Of course all she had really understood was circling letters but she was still in the early stages of learning to read still. It would probably make good practice later down the line. 

If Babycorn had her pom up it would have fluffed up in excitement. “Are you gonna hold my hand again and help me write!?” That’s what Butter had done earlier and it was really nice and made her face all warm and her heart beat a little faster than usual and and and and-!

Butter made a funny little noise with his mouth. Something that was a cross between a gasp and someone answering a question with a resounding ‘Yes!’ There was something kinda cute and endearing about it. At least Babycorn thought so. 

Babycorn took Butter’s squeak as a yes (which to be fair it was) and let out a little cheer. “Yay! Thank you Butts!” 

As excited as she was to learn a whole bunch of other things with her very cool friend Butter-first she needed to finish what he taught her first. There were so many more letters for her to circle! 

Babycorn continued to circle letter after letter as time marched forward she and Butter would have small conversations with each other. At one point Babycorn asked Butter what his favorite kind of cake was. Butter’s answer was his sister, Pancake. He felt extra proud of his little joke after Babycorn doubled over in laughter. 

The room was almost all clean now. All that was left was some trash under a small round table everyone had used to hold drinks. “Alright-!” Butter pumped himself up and dove under to pick up the candy wrappers strewn over the floor. 

Soon after Butter disappeared from Babycorn’s view, she took notice. “Butts…?” Babycorn leaned over as far as she could trying to see if Butter was still there, just out of view. Babycorn’s heart began to beat a little faster, she felt a lump in her throat. 

Did something happen? Did he go somewhere? Did someone take him?

It wasn’t long until Babycorn couldn’t take it anymore. “Butts!” She cried out, “Are you there? Butter?!”

Butter reacted a split second right after Babycorn had first yelled his name. His quick reaction time was not without its consequences however. Since his first instinct was to see if something was wrong with Babycorn. Which meant he had to stand back up. 

In doing so his head ended up impacting the bottom of the bottom of the round table with a loud crash. “Ow!!” Butter hissed at the pain and hunched himself over, waiting for the pain to subside. “Ow..Ow..Ouch…”

“...B-Butts?” It sounded like he was hurt. A faint glow appeared in Babycorn’s eyes. “A-Are you o-okay?” To someone who couldn’t see the whole picture it sounded like Butter had gotten really hurt by something. Or by someone Babycorn couldn’t see. 

Babycorn let out a sniffle, “Butter please be o-okay…! Butter…Butter…?” 

By now the ringing in Butter’s ears was starting to fade. “Ah?” Butter rubbed the top of his head, it was still stinging but otherwise he would be fine. Now he could hear Babycorn saying his name, over and over. “Ah!” Butter crawled out from under the desk as quickly as he could and jumped back onto his feet. 

‘Are you okay? Please, Please be okay…!’ If something happened to Babycorn again…There was no force on or off the planet that would be able to stop him from keeping her safe and sound. 

Soon enough, both Babycorn and Butter were face to face again, both of them were breathing heavily with tears dangerously close to the corners of their eyes. It took a few seconds of looking at each other for each of them to realize that neither of them were in any sort of danger. Everything was okay. They were both okay. 

Without a second thought, Babycorn placed her hands on Butter’s. She let out another sniffle, “Are you okay…?” A part of her was having trouble trusting her eyes. Butter nodded, giving her a small smile. “I am! I just hit my head a little when I stood up.” He moved his hand away from Babycorn’s for just a moment to show where he had hit it, “It hurt but I’ll be okay!” 

“You got hurt…?” Babycorn felt a familiar lump in her throat. “Was it cause I was calling you?”

Butter hesitated to answer. “...That was why I stood up but it was just bad luck. It wasn’t your fault.” He decided to ask his own question now. “Are you okay? Babycorn?”

“Huh?” It was a bit of a surprise to hear that. Nothing had happened to her. Babycorn had gotten scared but other than that she had just been sitting here. “I’m fine!” For the most part. 

It was a relief for Butter to hear that. Though they were allegedly safe, there was still this pit of worry in Butter’s gut that something, anything else could happen. A growing anxiety that his parents would walk in and take Babycorn away again. 

That something just like this would happen to any of the other people he loved. 

Babycorn noticed Butter looking away from her. She looked down at her hair, the ends of her tips were still glowing. That was part of the reason she was still in the infirmary. That and she was still too weak to keep herself up without falling over. Which also meant walking was still out of the question.

She frowned, taking in a deep breath. “Butts? Can you promise me something?” 

“Huh…?” That knocked Butter straight out of his spiral of worries. Babycorn was always forward about these things but somehow after all these years he still found himself getting shocked by it. “O-Of course!” He felt Babycorn hold onto his hands a little tighter. 

“Can you promise me you won’t ever never get hurt like me?” 

“...What do you mean?” Butter wasn’t sure what Babycorn meant. 

“Like…this.” Babycorn let go of Butter’s hands and tugged at her hair. “And like what happened at the Ghimlyt dark and when we got back from Sharlayan.”Though they were faint, she could still remember seeing the worried looks from the people around her. “I don’t…” She hiccuped, “I don’t wanna see you be all hurt…” Even seeing Butter being sad was bad enough. Babycorn couldn’t possibly imagine the pain she would feel having to see him halfway dead, and her not being able to do anything about it. 

Maybe it was a little selfish. No, it was. She had been injured and hurt so many times now and Butter had been there every time. And now here she was-asking him to do the impossible. 

That made what happened next even more of a surprise. 

Butter smiled and just nodded his head, “I promise.” 

“...eh?” 

“I said I promise!” Butter remained firm, “I’m not going to get hurt! I won’t ever get hurt! And that’s a double promise!” He winked. 

Babycorn couldn’t hold back her tears at this point. “You…” She wiped her eyes. “Y-You won’t get hurt! Yeah! C-Cause I’ll be there to help you!” Another wail escaped Babycorn’s mouth, but something was different about it. There was a laugh mixed in with it. “C-Cause I’m always gonna be with you! So I’ll protect you and you won’t get hurt Butts!” 

Butter echoed Babycorn’s laugh. “I already promised I would protect you too!” He felt warm tears dripping down the side of his cheeks. “No matter what happens I’ll be there by your side. To keep you safe!” 

“Then we’ll protect each other!” Babycorn leaned forward as much as she could and stretched out her arms toward Butter. “That way we both don’t get hurt!!”

Butter wrapped her arms around her and hugged her tightly. “Yeah! That’s right!” After this, after everything. Nothing like this would ever happen again. Butter was going to protect all the people he loved, for now and forever. “And everything will be okay…” 

But he knew, he wasn’t alone in his promise. It wasn’t all on him. 

“Hey Butts?” 

“Hmm?” Did Babycorn have something else to say?

Babycorn leaned forward and gave him what some people would describe as a peck on the cheek.

“Butts, don’t ever change.”