Riku
Please note that since Serenity is divided into two sections, this page will only look at the relationship between Riku and Kairi in Kingdom Hearts.
Generally, the relationship between Riku and Kairi is less looked at past “oh, they are best friends”. I believe their relationship is a lot deeper than that, however, and has had different stages as time progressed. At first, I think Riku probably had intense feelings of jealousy when Kairi arrived. He was more than likely used to having Sora’s attention to himself, and therefore when the new girl showed up and Sora started paying attention to her, he probably got jealous. It would be almost like when a child is the only child and a sibling is born, so their parents’ attention is directed towards the new sibling. As a young boy, I have little doubt that Riku did not have at least some feelings of jealousy because Sora was his friend first. As time went on, Riku probably got used to having Kairi around, and the three of them managed to build a strong trinity of friendship. Either way, Kairi would always be a wedge between the two best friends from the moment she arrived on, because now she would always have to be with them when they did things. Sora and Riku may have done some things on their own, but Sora strikes me as the type of boy that would not want to leave Kairi out. Not only that, but Sora and Kairi are shown drawing in the secret hideout behind the waterfall, so they did some things without Riku. Children have a hard time understanding and adjusting to new “competition” with the people they care about, so I would assume Riku was in the same position.
Aside from that, when the game starts, I think it is pretty obvious that Riku has a crush on Kairi. But hey, she is the only girl that hangs out with him and Sora, so I guess it is somewhat natural. Unfortunately for Riku, he knows that Sora also has the same feelings for Kairi, and does not really act on his own. He “jokes” around about whoever wins their race gets to share the paopu fruit with Kairi, but there is usually some truth in jest. Though I do not think that Riku would actually hold up to that bet, he probably would want to if his best friend did not share the same feelings for Kairi. Instead, Riku chooses to tease Sora about his feelings for Kairi by making a few cracks about the paopu fruit and how he knows Sora wants to try it. Again, Kairi comes between Sora and Riku in another way. I am pretty sure that Sora is oblivious to Riku’s feelings for Kairi, though, because he does not seem to consider the possibility that his friends likes her as well. Which, I suppose does not really matter because Riku is too considerate for Sora’s feelings to act on his own anyway.
Riku’s feelings for Kairi begin to manifest even further when the three of them are separated. He wanted to find Kairi to begin with, but seeing that Sora was “goofing around” with new friends rather than trying to find his old ones hurt Riku, and therefore he made it his top goal to find Kairi before Sora. He probably thought Sora did not deserve to find Kairi at that point thanks to some encouragement from Maleficent. This is evident when Sora reaches Neverland and Riku gives orders to make sure Sora does not reach her. Even though he wanted to find Kairi badly to do so before Sora, I am almost positive that he wanted to find her on his own accord as well because of his feelings for her. Once he does find her, his desire to find her heart completely overwhelms his original wishes to find her because he is worried about her unconscious state. Riku wants to find her heart so badly, that he is willing to sacrifice himself to the darkness in order to do so. He repeats numerous times that he will do anything to find her heart, and he keeps her close to him at all times. Maleficent is able to manipulate Riku pretty easily because he becomes blinded by his feelings for her and desire to be better than Sora. He opens his own heart to the darkness and eventually Ansem, all for Kairi.
Once he is completely possessed by Ansem, Riku is able to regain control of his subconscious in order to prevent him from hurting Kairi. Ansem is incredulous as he believes it to be impossible, but Riku’s feelings for her were able to overcome Ansem’s firm grasp on him. He manages to hold Ansem off and demands Kairi to run away because the Heartless were approaching. Kairi looks concerned, but agrees to run, as she knows she would not be able to fight Ansem, and therefore would waste Riku’s sacrifice. At the end, before Riku gets shut behind the door with King Mickey, he tells Sora to take care of Kairi for him. I believe this is some acceptance on Riku’s part that Kairi has chosen Sora. Of course, Riku had been watching out for her almost the whole time previous to that moment, and he would not be able to once the door closed, so he wanted to make sure she would be taken care of. I would argue that Riku loved Kairi, but he respected her enough to go along with whom her heart chose, and therefore was finally okay with leaving her in Sora’s care.
As for Kairi’s feelings for Riku, he is probably like an older brother to her if anything more than a best friend. She cares about him a ton, as she wants to go with Sora to get him back. However, Sora is the one that her heart fell for, and therefore she cannot return Riku’s feelings. I am not sure if Kairi even knows about Riku’s feelings for her either, as she seems to be as oblivious as Sora is. Kairi also never knew the extent to which Riku sacrificed himself for her either, since she was unconscious the whole time and could not speak with Riku about it before the first game’s end. Riku and Kairi have a deep bond, but it is not on the same level that Sora and Kairi’s bond is. The two of them will forever remain close friends.
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