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 (as about a year has passed since the events of the first game.)

Kingdom Hearts

 * First Entry

''Islander. Kairi, Sora and Riku were three friends. They built a raft to sail out and see new worlds. The three were separated when a mysterious force struck the Destiny Islands. Thus did Sora's search for Kairi begin.''


 * Second Entry

''Kairi, Sora, and Riku always hung out together. When their island vanished, Kairi lost her heart. It turned out that it was hidden within Sora's. As one of the princesses with the power to unlock the secret Keyhole, Kairi restored Sora's heart when he was turned into a Heartless.''

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
Sora's childhood friend.

Sora's journey began as a search for Kairi, who disapeared when their island home was swallowed by darkness.

Kairi was held captive by the Heartless, but thanks to Sora she and the islands were saved.

She waits there for Sora and Riku's return.


 * Reverse/Rebirth

Riku and Sora's friend growing up.

''Kairi vanished when their home islands were devoured by darkness. Riku and Sora both journeyed to find her.''

Kairi was held captive by the Heartless, but thanks to Sora, she and the islands were saved.

She waits there for Sora and Riku's return.

Kingdom Hearts II

 * First Entry School outfit

''Longtime friend of Riku and Sora, and one of the Seven Princesses with ties to the Keys and Keyholes. Not long ago, when she was lost in the darkness, Riku and Sora both tried to save her, each in his own way.''

Thanks to them, Kairi was able to return to her home islands, but her memories of Sora were gone, and she soon stopped visiting the islet where they once played.


 * Second Entry Pink oufit

Longtime friend of Riku and Sora, and one of the Seven Princesses with ties to the Keys and Keyholes.

She had lost her memories of Sora, and after they returned, she wanted to meet him more and more with every passing day.

Falling through an unexpected hole into the darkness, she arrived in Twilight Town and befriended Hayner, Pence, and Olette before being captured by Axel.

Kairi is fervently hoping to meet up with Sora once more.

Early Life
"Say, Kairi. What was your hometown like?"--Sora to Kairi

Nine years before the start of the game, she appeared out of nowhere after a meteor shower. Only five-year--old Kairi is seen at the shore at daylight, half of her body still touching the water, as the five-year-Sora approaches her carefully and asks her "Who are you? Where did you come from?"

When collecting the Ansem Reports though, it is revealed that "Ansem" sent one particular girl to Destiny Islands in hopes of finding the keyblade master. It is believed that this girl was Kairi as she is a Princess of Heart and is said to have a special connection to Sora, the current keyblade wielder.

When Sora was five and Riku was six, they paid a visit to the Secret Place in Destiny Islands and were talking about visiting "the new girl at the mayor's house", i.e. Kairi. This gives players an insight into her origins: she is not a native of Destiny Islands, and has been adopted by the mayor.

Leaving Destiny Islands
Kairi later became very close friends with Sora and Riku, who, in their teenage years, often playfully competed for her attention; she often supported competitions, although she didn't know it was for her. She bears no memory of her life before the Islands, and Kairi's 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 turns towards him, looking sad and a little ill, then a huge gust of wind sweeps through the cave and Kairi is pushed to Sora as he opens his arms to catch her but as soon they got in touch, she vanished. 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, though Riku is hostile to Sora (having been manipulated by Maleficent into believing that Sora no longer cared for either Kairi or himself).

Kairi's Lost Heart
Eventually, Riku finds Kairi's body in Neverland, but learns that she has lost her heart. This causes Riku to give in to the Darkness in the hopes that once Maleficent's plans come to fruition, he will be able to reclaim her lost heart. 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 it 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 as a result he is turned into a Shadow Heartless, although Donald, Goofy, and Kairi thought he had died at first). Awakened, Kairi attempts to escape from Hollow Bastion with Donald and Goofy, 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. The two escape 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. Though Kairi wants to help rescue Riku and stop the darkness from emanating, Sora convinces her to stay put, saying that no matter where they are, they will never be alone again, because their hearts had been one before. Kairi gives in and gives Sora her Lucky Charm, along with the Oathkeeper keychain.

Departure
In the game's final cutscene, she is seen greeting Sora before being transported back to Destiny Islands without him. Just before she is sent back, Sora promises that he will come back to her when he manages to find Riku and the King, and she tearfully says that she knows he will. 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 deeply touched, shedding a few tears, and adds to it; now the picture depicts herself and Sora exchanging two halves of a paopu fruit.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
Although Kairi did not directly appear in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, she did play a very important role.
 * Sora's Story

In Sora's story Naminé tried to take Kairi's place in Sora's heart. However, she said that she could never really replace Kairi and that she was only Kairi's shadow, meaning she is her Nobody. In Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, Kairi's image showed up on Destiny Islands when Sora remembered that the one he holds dear to is Kairi, and not Naminé. When Sora was about to go to sleep she told him that if he remembered Kairi's name, his memories would restore faster. So he looked deep into his heart and found Kairi.
 * Riku's Story

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.

Recovered Memories
"Do you remember those boys who use to hang out with us?"--Kairi to Selphie

Kairi, now 15 years old, lives her life normally on Destiny Islands. She misses Sora, but most of her memories of him have faded away because of Naminé's interfering with his own memories. One day, while walking home from school with Selphie, her heart is put into contact with a young boy named Roxas, later revealed to be Sora's Nobody. It appeared that Roxas was trying to contact Naminé, Kairi's Nobody, and instead ended up reaching her instead. During this conversation, Roxas brings up Sora, and, when Kairi inquires about his name, Sora himself, despite being in stasis, somehow uses Roxas as a conduit to talk to her, chastises her for forgetting his name, and jokingly gives her a hint, ("Starts with an 'S'!"). Soon afterwards, Kairi sends a letter in a bottle out to sea in hopes that it would reach Sora one day, and immediately remembers his name and everything else about him.

It is worth noting that this was the only conversation Kairi and Roxas had throughout the whole game.

Reunion With Sora and Riku
"Maybe... waiting isn't good enough."--Kairi

One day, Axel comes to the Destiny Islands and tells Kairi to come with him. She refuses until Axel summons a group of Nobodies. She then runs off into a nearby portal with King Mickey's dog, Pluto, into Twilight Town and meets Hayner, Pence and Olette. She is found again by Axel, though Saïx finds Axel with Kairi and takes her to The World That Never Was as a prisoner, but she is eventually freed by her Nobody, Naminé. The two attempt to escape but are stopped by Saïx and two Berserker Nobodies who offer to take Kairi to Sora. Once she refuses, Saïx gets ready to send the Nobodies to attack the two girls only to be saved by Riku, whose appearance has changed to that of Xehanort's Heartless. Kairi takes all this into stride and sees that it is indeed Riku even though his appearance has changed. Riku leads her to Sora and is attacked by a group of Heartless. He hands Kairi a Keyblade, and they successfully fend off the remaining Heartless. She is then reunited with Sora with a touching hug between these two. She stopped Ansem (Riku) from leaving and showed Sora that Ansem was really Riku. After Sora and Riku defeat Xemnas, Naminé appears and creates a portal, where Donald, Goofy and Mickey go through leaving Sora, Kairi and Riku. Kairi walks towards her and Sora follows Kairi. Kairi thanks her as Naminé tries to make Sora remember her, but Sora gets confused. Roxas comes out of him. Namine and Roxas accept their fate together to live inside Sora and Kairi as they fuse with their original selves. Kairi walks into the portal, but when Sora and Riku follow the portal disappears and they fight again Xemnas. After they defeat Xemnas, they arrive to the shore of Dark Meridian. Kairi´s letter appears to them and Sora reads it. The Door To Light appears and the two boys go through it and arrive at Destiny Islands shores as Kairi shouts for them. Sora swims excited towards her but Donald and Goofy jump to Sora and Mickey to Riku. They hug Sora, as Sora shows her the lucky charm and replies to Kairi "We-We´re back!" and Kairi corrects "You´re home" and extends her hand as Sora takes her hand and at the same time returning the lucky charm to her.

Later it is seen Sora and Riku talking about the Door to light as Kairi appears running to them, shouting their names. Sora turns to her and asks "Hey, What's up?" and Kairi hands him a letter from the King. The three teenagers read it together, but its content remains unknown to the player.

Kingdom Hearts coded
A data version of the then-14-year-old Kairi is set to appear in Neverland. Like in the first game of Kingdom Hearts, her body is a mere empty shell.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Kairi may reappear in the upcoming game Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, as it features the reappearance of Destiny Islands. Xion and Naminé have a conversation about her.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
Kairi may make an appearance as a 4 year-old girl living in Radiant Garden in the upcoming game, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, which features 10 years before the events of the first game.

Personality
Kairi is caring and kind-hearted, 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. 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.

Kairi seems to be in love with Sora, which is entirely mutual. Numerous hints of this are as follows:
 * She draws herself giving him a paopu fruit in their Secret Cave after seeing that Sora had made the same drawing of him extending a paopu fruit to her.
 * When they reunite in the World That Never Was, Kairi quickly runs over and hugs Sora to make sure that he is really there.
 * Beforehand, she attempts to attack the Shadow Heartless unarmed in an attempt to help Sora.
 * When Sora sacrifices his own heart to restore hers, Kairi is visibly shaken and refuses to believe that Sora may be dead, shouting "No, he can't be. I won't let him go!"
 * In the ending sequence to the first Kingdom Hearts, she is genuinely moved to tears when she sees the aforementioned paopu fruit picture.

Abilities

 * Because Kairi is a Princess of Heart, her heart possesses no darkness within it, leading to the unique birth of Naminé, and possibly Xion, when she accidentally gives it to Sora and Sora sacrifices himself to restore her heart.


 * Like the other princesses, she has the power to open the Final Keyhole to Kingdom Hearts in Hollow Bastion once she is gathered with the rest of the princesses.


 * Kairi also appears to have some kind of latent magical ability, as seen when she manages to restore Sora's humanity after he becomes a Heartless.


 * Since the other Princesses of Heart possess the abilities to hold back darkness and upgrade other people's powers, it is no doubt that Kairi can do so as well.


 * Kairi's abilities in combat are limited. Kairi isn't able to do much when she is in danger, she is always taken away from action as in Kingdom Hearts she wasnt able to fight due to her coma state, 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. She does, however, have the rare ability to wield a Keyblade, although she only receives it from Riku It is possible that she is the chosen wielder for the Realm of Nothingness, although it is unconfirmed whether she was able to keep the Keyblade. She may also have been able to wield a Keyblade due to her status as a Princess of Heart.

Trivia

 * Part of her name ("Kai") is the Japanese word for "sea" (海).
 * When Sora fell into a trance and visited Kairi's memories, he saw a young version of her and her then-alive grandmother in the library of Castle Hollow Bastion in Radiant Garden. This reveals a slim possibility that Kairi was really a princess upon birth.


 * The reason to why Kairi returned to Destiny Islands instead of Hollow Bastion, where she truly comes from, has not been confirmed.


 * In all games and artwork, Kairi has blue-coloured eyes. However, in the CG Ending of Kingdom Hearts II, Kairi's eyes have turned light purple. This may have just been a lighting effect of the sunset background though. In addition, while Kairi's hair color is dark brown, it appears to have changed to a shade of light red in the ending AMV.

Kairi