Kairi

Kairi is one of three original characters appearing in Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II. Kairi lives on Destiny Islands along with her two best friends, Sora and Riku. She is 14 at the start of Kingdom Hearts, and 15 during Kingdom Hearts II. Nine years before the events of the first Kingdom Hearts, Kairi appeared off the coast of the Destiny Islands during a meteor shower. Sora, then five years old, carefully approaches her and asks, "Who are you? Where did you come from?" Sometime later, Sora and Riku were in the Secret Cave and talking about "the new girl at the mayor's house". This provides the player a kind of insight into her origins: Kairi is not a native of the Destiny Islands, and was adopted by their mayor. Kairi later became very close friends with Sora and Riku who playfully competed for her attention. She often supported these competitions, although she didn't know they were contests for her affection and not just innocent rivalry. She bears no memory of her life before the Islands, and her mysterious past sparks curiosity in Sora and Riku, who are anxious to leave Destiny Islands and see other worlds. This leads the trio to build a raft in the hopes of traveling to other worlds. However, before they can leave, their Islands are attacked by the Heartless, and Sora finds Kairi in their Secret Cave. She turned towards him, looking sad and a little ill, then a huge gust of wind swept through a door in the back of the cave and Kairi flew towards him. Sora opened his arms to catch her, but she vanished right as she was about to be swept into his embrace. During this time, it is speculated that Kairi's heart chose Sora as a vessel and when she passed through him, her heart was left behind in him while her body vanished to some distance world. She then becomes the game's driving force, as much of the game's story centers around Sora's and Riku's attempts at finding Kairi. However, Riku is hostile to Sora (having been manipulated by Maleficent into believing that Sora no longer cared for either Kairi or himself). Riku finds her first, but she is in a comatose state, with a vacant, lifeless expression and a limp body. She'd lost her heart and because of her Princess status, her body remained untouched by the darkness that usually produced a Heartless. With empty promises by Maleficent, Riku was convinced that he alone could locate Kairi's heart and restore her to health. In Neverland, Sora finally encounters her, along with a painful reunion with Riku; who is very defensive about her and ends up locking her in a room with Wendy so that Sora can't get to her. When Sora reaches the room below her cell, he extends his hand towards her, desperately hoping for a reaction as he is just now discovering the full lengths of Kairi's condition. Unconsciously, her hand twitches before going still again, much to Sora's relief. Riku then takes her away yet again, having new knowledge of where Kairi's heart is. After the defeat of Captain Hook, Goofy ponders aloud whether or not Kairi had indeed lost her heart, but Donald, not wanting to upset Sora, promptly shushes him. Sora, however, appears to be in denial, pondering over his disbelief that he could fly and whether or not Kairi would believe him. Their friendship severed for the time being, Sora continues his journey, destined to clash with Riku in the near future once again over Kairi. Eventually, Sora follows Riku and Maleficent to the world of Hollow Bastion where he too learns of Kairi's fate. However, Ansem, while possessing Riku, reveals that Kairi's heart has been resting within Sora all along, which explains all the visions he has had of her during his journey. Furthermore, Kairi is one of the Princesses of Heart, a maiden whose heart holds no darkness, and is needed to open the final Keyhole. He then attempts to take the keyblade from Sora. After winning a fight and driving Ansem from Hollow Bastion, Sora sacrifices himself using the Dark Keyblade to free Kairi's heart, and is turned into a Shadow Heartless. Awakened, Kairi runs towards him, but as soon as her fingers touch him, he vanishes. Devastated, she, along with Donald and Goofy, attempt to escape from Hollow Bastion as Xehanhort's Heartless, disguised as Ansem, arrives. But just as they are cornered by the Heartless, she recognizes Sora's Heartless from the crowd and manages to bring Sora back from the Darkness by embracing him and promising to protect him. The group escapes Hollow Bastion, revealed to be Kairi's home world, and find shelter in Traverse Town where she could be protected by Leon and the others. Sora finds Kairi in the underground water tunnel after talking with Leon. She states absentmindedly how much this place reminds her of their Secret Place. While lost in darkness, Sora witnessed one of Kairi's memories of her as a little girl wondering around the Hollow Bastion library with her Grandmother. Sora mentions this and it is revealed that after her heart was restored, Kairi can remember certain things from her past. Though Kairi wants to help rescue Riku and stop the darkness from emanating, Sora convinces her to stay put, not wanting her to get hurt and also joking that she would be in his way; he also acknowledges that, since their hearts were one, they will always be together. During this conversation, it was revealed that Kairi's voice brought him back from the darkness. Kairi gives in and gives Sora her Lucky Charm, which doubles as the Oathkeeper keychain. In the game's final cutscene, she appears on a section of Destiny Islands after the final battle, likely confused. Sora runs up to her, a little too late as the world is breaking apart, restoring all the old, destroyed worlds. Just before she is sent back, Sora promises that he will come back to her as soon as he finds Riku and King Mickey. She is then transported back to Destiny Islands without him, wistfully watching the island regenerate around her with Sora's goodbye still fresh in her mind. During the credits, Kairi is seen in the Secret Cave, looking at the pictures that she and Sora have drawn over the years. Once she sees the picture that Sora had drawn of him giving her a Paopu Fruit, she is moved to tears and adds to it; now the picture depicts herself and Sora exchanging two halves of a paopu fruit. This is a definite sign that Kairi is in love with Sora (as Sora finds it later in the credits of Kingdom Hearts II and smiles). In Riku's story, Naminé took Kairi's form to help Riku control the light and darkness in his heart. In the credits for Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, Kairi is shown to still be waiting for Sora and Riku's return. Kairi is caring, kind-hearted and not afraid to speak out her mind. However, she is determined and courageous when someone she cares about is in danger, often risking her own safety to help that person. She also makes friends easily, quickly befriending Hayner, Pence, and Olette in Twilight Town. She's usually always very cheerful and upbeat and seems to be bit of a tomboy as well. In contrast to Sora and Riku, who were both bothered by not knowing about Kairi's hometown, she took it in stride and was able to look at the positives about living in the Destiny Islands. She is loyal and headstrong, as well as stubborn to a point though. Kairi's abilities in combat are limited. Kairi isn't able to do much when she is in danger, is always taken away from the action, and often depends on Sora or Riku to come to her aid; this also results in her sometimes being captured, which is seen when Axel merely grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her along without any problems. During the events that take place in The World That Never Was, Riku hands her a Keyblade crafted from his memories of Destiny Islands, and allows her to wield it so that she may combat the Heartless.