Kairi

Kairi is a young girl from Destiny Islands, and one of the Seven Princesses of Light with ties to the Keys and Keyholes. Originally born in Radiant Garden, she mysteriously arrived on the Destiny Islands after a meteor shower, and is best friends with Sora and Riku.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
Kairi was born in Radiant Garden.

About four years later, Kairi, who had been picking flowers, was chased by the Unversed and ran into Aqua. Kairi hid behind Aqua, who sensed a strong light within her. In fear, Kairi touched Aqua’s Keyblade, inadvertently causing the Keyblade to be inherited to her. Just as they're about to be attacked, King Mickey appears and tells Aqua to take Kairi away. She does so and returns to help the King.

After the battle, the King and Aqua discuss the light that they both sense within Kairi, and are about to team up when the King’s Star Shard goes off and takes him elsewhere. Kairi runs up to Aqua then and gives her the flowers she had been picking, which becomes the Destiny's Embrace keychain. Aqua, in turn, puts a protective charm on her necklace, promising Kairi that if she's ever in trouble, he light would lead her to the light of another who would protect her. Kairi thanks Aqua and returns to her grandmother, who begins to tell Kairi the story of the light and darkness, while Aqua contemplates on the chance meeting.

Later, after Xehanort’s defeat, Kairi, while picking flowers, looks up to the sky as if sending something.

Between Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts
A year later, having recovered his memories, the apprentice Xehanort, posing as Ansem the Wise, learns of Kairi’s light. Fearing a potential danger to his plan from the Keyblade wielder, and suspecting a connection between the light in such a wielder and the light in Kairi as a Princess of Light, the now-turned Heartless Ansem sent Kairi off into the worlds. However, it was the protective charm Aqua had put on her the year before that actually brought Kairi to Sora and the Destiny Islands. During the same time, Kairi’s home Radiant Garden, became shrouded in darkness. Kairi arrived on the islands the day after a meteor shower on the Islands.

Kairi was taken in by the mayor, and grows up with both Sora and Riku, becoming close friends with both, who compete playfully for her attention. She grows up not having any memory of where she had come from, sparking interest in both Riku and Sora about the world beyond their own.

Kingdom Hearts
Interest about Kairi’s forgotten past lead the trio of friends to build a raft, hoping to make it across the vast sea surrounding their islands to whatever worlds may be out there. The evening before they are set to sail, however, Kairi spontaneously suggests to Sora that they should take the raft together, implying they should leave Riku behind. After Kairi’s “joke”, which surprised Sora, she tells him to never change. That night, a storm attacks the islands, and Kairi rows over to their play island, presumably to secure the raft. However, Sora finds her in the Secret Place when he arrives later, standing in front of the door in the back of the cave. She turns towards Sora, looking somewhat ill, and says his name, at which point the door bursts open, throwing her towards Sora. Sora attempts to catch her, but she vanishes before he is able to. Likely during the Heartless invasion of Destiny Islands, Kairi loses her heart, causing her to slip into a comatose state, unable to wake up. Finding Kairi becomes a major focus of both Sora and Riku’s journeys, and Sora on multiple occasions seems to see her. She first sees Kairi instead of Yuffie when waking up after fighting Leon. He later sees her when first surveying Merlin’s House, where she remarks that the stone house reminded her of the Secret Place. Later, Sora sees Kairi in Deep Jungle after crash landing there.

Kairi, however, is captured by Maleficent, who is seeking the Seven Princesses of Light in order to open Kingdom Hearts and take over all the worlds. Maleficent then recruits Riku to help, promising that by doing so, he would find Kairi’s heart and awaken her.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy finally catch up to Captain Hook's pirate ship, where Riku and Maleficent are making their way to Hollow Bastion with Kairi. There, Riku chides Sora for caring about Donald and Goofy instead of Kairi before locking Sora in the brig. With the help of Peter Pan, they make their way through the ship to a level below where Kairi and Wendy, another kidnapped girl, are. Sora reaches out towards Kairi, who just barely moves her hand, before Riku takes both Wendy and Kairi from the room. By the time Sora and company make it to the deck, Riku is already gone with Kairi. After defeating Captain Hook, Goofy questions whether Kairi had really lost her heart, while Sora marvels about being able to fly and wonders if Kairi would believe him.

Riku takes Kairi to Hollow Bastion, where the other princesses already are, and takes the Keyblade from Sora once he and the others arrive at the Castle Gate. After retrieving the Keyblade from Riku, Sora finally catches up to him in the Grand Hall, where Riku, now possessed by Ansem, reveals that Kairi’s heart had been inside Sora the entire time. He attempts to take Kairi’s heart from Sora, but Sora defends himself and defeats Riku again. However, when attempting to seal the Keyhole that both Maleficent and Riku had been trying to complete, Sora finds he is unable because the keyhole remains incomplete, a result of Kairi’s heart still being within him. Sora decides then to take Riku’s Keyblade and sacrifices himself in order to release Kairi’s heart. This act also releases Sora’s own heart. As Kairi recovers her heart and awakens, she sees what happened to Sora and runs to him just as he disappears.

Kairi refuses to accept that Sora is gone, but soon thereafter, her life is threatened by Ansem, who has gained greater control of Riku. Riku, however, is able to regain control long enough to tell Kairi to leave, and she follows Donald and Goofy out of Hollow Bastion. In the entrance hall, Sora’s Heartless catches up to the group as they make their way out. There, while Donald attempts to reprimand the Heartless, Kairi recognizes the shadow as Sora. When they're attacked by other shadows, Kairi turns and hugs Sora’s Heartless, which causes his heart to return to him, restoring Sora. Together again, the group escapes Hollow Bastion and return to Traverse Town.

In Traverse Town, Kairi joins Sora, Donald, and Goofy in explaining to Leon what had happened. Later, as Sora prepares to depart to rescue Riku, he finds Kairi in the Secret Waterway, where she first attempts to convince him to take her along. After Sora refuses, noting she'd get in his way, Kairi gives Sora her lucky charm and makes him promise to bring it back. She then tells him that no matter where he went, she would be with him.

After defeating Ansem and closing the Door to Darkness, Sora turns and finds Kairi nearby, and runs to her. And the sand around her begins to expand and pull her away from him, Sora grabs her hand and tells Kairi he will always be with her, too, and promises to return to her.

Sometime after returning to Destiny Islands, Kairi makes he way to the Secret Place, where she contemplates the drawings she and her friends had made before. She then finds the cave drawing of herself and Sora, and the Paopu fruit drawing Sora had recently added, causing her to tear up.

Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories
Though Kairi is on the islands, waiting for Sora and Riku to return, Sora ventures to Castle Oblivion, where he first runs into Organization XIII. Marluxia, in his plot to overthrow the Organization's leader Xemmas, uses Kairi’s Nobody, Naminé, to manipulate Sora’s memories in order to control him. She does this by replacing Sora’s memories of Kairi with fake memories of herself on the islands. However, when, with the help of Axel, Naminé refuses to help Marluxia anymore, she tells Sora to try and remember the girl who means so much to him, referring to Kairi. His memories of Kairi are what ultimately help him begin to recover all his altered memories.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Kairi continues to wait for Sora and Riku’s return.

In their effort to obtain Kingdom Hearts, the Organization recruits Sora’s Nobody Roxas, and create another replica named Xion. Xion begins to absorb Sora’s memories leaking through Roxas, particularly Sora’s memories of Kairi, a result of the events in Castle Oblivion. As a result, Sora’s recovery comes to a complete halt, while Xion begins to acquire a physical resemblance to Kairi. Additionally, this inadvertently causes everyone else who knew Sora to forget him. In order for Sora to wake up, Naminé explains to DiZ that both Xion and Roxas must return to Sora. Riku attempts to convince Xion to leave the Organization, and during one of these attempts, she takes on an exact resemblance to Kairi. Xion later does so willingly, while Roxas must be captured by Riku and brought back to the Old Mansion in Twilight Town.

Kingdom Hearts II
While in a simulated version of Twilight Town, Roxas begins to have dreams of Sora and his previous adventure. In all of these dreams, Kairi tends to be blurred out, and her name is regularly cut off.

During Roxas’s fifth day in the simulated Twilight Town, on Destiny Islands, Selphie runs up to Kairi and asks whether she wants to go to the play island. Kairi refuses, and when asked why, asks Selphie if she remembers the boys they used to play with. Selphie only remembers Riku. Kairi, however, knows there had been another boy with them, but she can no longer remember who he is. In that moment, Kairi faints. At the same time, Roxas, who had been with his friends at the top of the Twilight Town clock tower, slips and seems to fall off. While falling, Roxas calls out to Naminé, whom he had recently met, and instead, his heart contacts Kairi’s. In their semi-unconscious state, Roxas recognizes Kairi’s voice from his dreams as belonging to the girl Sora likes, and Kairi asks for Sora’s name. This exchange affects the sleeping Sora, who's heart also responds and playfully scolds Kairi for forgetting his name before giving her a hint with the first letter of his name.

When Kairi recovers, she looks at Selphie momentarily before heading down to the shore. There, Kairi pulls out a bottle with a letter in it. She explains that the letter is one she had written yesterday to the boy she can't remember, and tells Selphie that after writing it, she remembers having made a promise with him. Selphie marvels and expresses hope that he gets the letter, to which Kairi replies confidently that he will before repeating Sora’s hint and then finally remembering his name.

Sometime later, Kairi stands on the shore looking towards the play island, and begins to wonder if she should do something more than just wait. She then hears a voice telling her that she should instead act on her dreams, at which point Axel appears and introduces himself as an acquaintance of Sora’s. Pluto also then appears and runs up to Kairi, who is then surrounded by several Dusks as Axel offers to take her to see Sora. He then explains that they both have someone they care about, and claims to feel as if they could be friends. After a corridor of Darkness appears and Pluto beckons to it, Kairi firmly refuses to accompany Axel and runs into the Corridor of Darkness. While there, she wonders aloud where they are, before another corridor mysteriously appears. As she begins to disappear in it, she turns around to see someone in a black hood. She awakens on the ground in the Usual Spot, surrounded by Hayner, Pence, and Olette.

Kairi tells her story to the group of friends, at the end of which Olette replies by noting how romantic it was. Hayner and Pence offer Kairi to stay with them, noting Sora had promised to return. However, Axel then appears, and grabs Kairi, noting how brave she was for jumping into the darkness. He then abducts her, Hayner and Pence unable to stop him, as she tries unsuccessfully to pull away. At some point after Axel kidnaps Kairi, she is taken by the Organization, which Axel had long left in search of Roxas. The Organization then puts her in the castle dungeon, and Saïx later uses her capture in an attempt to provoke Sora into fighting the Heartless.

Throughout his journey, Sora on multiple occasions wonders about Kairi. In Halloween Town, while watching Jack Skellington and Sally dance in the Town Square, he visualizes himself dancing with Kairi, albeit a younger Kairi, as he last saw her.

When Sora and company finally reach the Organization's stronghold in The World That Never Was, Saïx visits Kairi in the dungeon. She asks him what they will do to her, to which he replies that her capture feeds Sora’s anger. Kairi, distraught at the thought that Sora might be in danger because of her, falls to the ground as Saïx leaves. In that moment, Naminé appears through a corridor of darkness, and tells Kairi to hurry so they can escape. When Kairi reaches out to Naminé’s stretched-out hand, it creates a light that forms a path for Sora and company to go from the dark city to the Organization’s castle.

While Sora, Donald, Goofy, and King Mickey fight their way up the castle, Naminé and Kairi try to make their way out. On the way, though, they are confronted by Saïx. Saïx offers Kairi to take her to Sora. She hesitates, but when asked if she doesn’t want to see him, she firmly replies that she does, but not with Saïx around. Suddenly, another with a black hood appears and, summoning his Keyblade, attacks Saïx. Saïx is able to escape via a corridor of darkness once the hooded being pins him to the wall. Once Saïx is gone, Naminé turns Kairi over to the hooded man, whom she identifies as Riku. Shocked and confused, Kairi walks up and removes the hood to expose an Ansem-looking being.

Once reunited, the two make their way down to the Hall of Empty Melodies. There, Kairi jumps ahead when seeing Sora, but is attacked by the Heartless. She's rescued by Riku, who gives her a Keyblade to fight. Determined to do her part, she joins Riku in fighting the Heartless while Sora makes his way up to where they are in the upper level. Sora finally arrives on the higher level of the Hall of Empty Melodies, where they find Kairi. Kairi, upon noticing them, walks up to Sora and tells him that when neither he nor Riku had returned, she chose to leave the Islands in search for them. As Sora attempts to apologize, she runs to Sora and hugs him. Afterwards, as a still-disguised Riku attempts to leave them, Kairi runs to him and stops him, calling him by name. Kairi then makes Sora close his eyes when he questions her assertion, and helps him recognize Riku through his disguise as Ansem.

Kairi and Riku both join Sora, Donald, and Goofy throughout the remainder of their journey, though Kairi never actually fights despite her desire to do so. When the group attempts to infiltrate Xemnas’s Kingdom Hearts, Xemnas throws a large building at the party which causes both Kairi and King Mickey as they try to avoid being hit. Through unknown means, they later catch up to Sora and company.

After Naminé secretly opens a corridor of darkness to help the group escape and King Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto go through, Kairi and Sora face apparitions of their Nobodies. During their discussion, Kairi promises that she and Sora would be together everyday, and both Naminé and Roxas return to their original selves. However, while attempting to go through the corridor to return home, only Kairi is able to make it before the corridor closes.

After defeating Xemnas, while sitting on the shore of the Dark Margin, Riku picks up a bottle that washes ashore, containing Kairi’s letter. He hands it to Sora, and while Sora reads her letter, the Door to Light appears, taking them home. Kairi is the first to see Sora and Riku when they finally make it back to the Islands. As Sora pulls out her Wayfinder and tells her they're back, Kairi welcomes him home and reaches out to pull him up from the water.

Sometime after their return to the Islands, Kairi finds a bottle with a letter from King Mickey, and hurriedly takes it to Sora and Riku.

Blank Points
Kairi gives Sora her Wayfinder charm again when Sora makes the determination to leave the Islands again to help those the King mentioned in his letter, telling him she'll see him soon.

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
Riku, at the behest of Master Yen Sid, brings Kairi to the Mysterious Tower. Once there, Master Yen Sid remarks the she, too, can wield the Keyblade, and is grateful she has arrived.

2.9 - The Last Volume
Kairi, after learning about Aqua in the Realm of Darkness, asks Master Yen Sid how she can help. Master Yen Sid and King Mickey tell her about Lea, formerly Axel, who is training with Merlin to wield the Keyblade, and that she will train with him.

Kingdom Hearts Orchestra -World Tour-
During her training under Merlin, Kairi writes a letter to Sora. In her letter, she talks about Merlin’s ability to alter time, and her growing friendship with Lea. She also notes that Lea has a best friend he wants to save, and a memory he needs to remember. Finally, she tells Sora to keep being who he is, and that his smile will help save many hearts.

Development and Origin
Kairi’s name is derived from the Japanese word kai, meaning sea.