SoKai

SoKai is the het ship between Sora and Kairi from the Kingdom Hearts fandom.

Canon
Kingdom Hearts I

Sora and Kairi knew each other from living in the Destiny Islands. Kairi ended up in that world from Radiant Garden and Sora decided to go meet her when she was living with the mayor. They eventually became good friends and always spent time together along with Riku. Being a princess of heart, Kairi was pure and acted as Sora's light.

Eventually, Sora and Kairi decided to try and travel to other worlds along with Riku on a raft. During the early stages of the game Sora is seen walking inside a cave on Destiny Islands, where he and the other kids usually meet up to draw on the walls. He stops in front of a drawing representing his face and Kairi's, that they made as little kids (Sora drew Kairi's face and she drew his), in order to add a hand handling her a paopu fruit (in this universe, doing so means intertwining your destiny with the other person's). However, one night, the Heartless attacked the world. Kairi lost her heart which sought refuge inside of Sora's heart. As soon as Sora was taken from the world and ended up in Traverse Town, he was determined to find her. He hallucinated seeing her at multiple points in time: he saw Yuffie as her and thought that he saw her in Deep Jungle and Merlin's hideout.

Sora eventually saw Kairi's body in a comatose state. At Hollow Bastion, Riku, who was possessed by Ansem, revealed that Kairi's heart was inside of Sora and attempted to steal it. Sora eventually stabbed himself with Riku's Keyblade to return Kairi's heart to her and was turned into a heartless. Later on Kairi embraced Sora and that allowed him to return to his normal self. Afterward, she gave Sora her lucky charm and they decided that they would always be in each other's hearts. After Sora defeated Ansem, Kairi was returned to Destiny Islands while Sora went to look for Riku. Kairi would wait patiently for Sora every day.

Right before the game ends, Kairi is seen walking inside the cave shown at the beginning of the story. She stops in front of Sora's newest addition to the old drawing (the hand giving her a paopu fruit) and sheds a tear of happiness, right before adding her own hand giving him a paopu fruit.

Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories 

Sora and Kairi never directly interact throughout the game, yet their feelings for each other (and especially on Sora's part) are brought up more than once and are basically the main focus of the plot. Naminé (Kairi's Nobody) is sad about the fact that she's just a mere shadow of the person Sora actually loves (Kairi) and she's being exploited by the evil Organization XIII for it, to the point where she is forced to manipulate his memories and ends up replacing Kairi with herself. Because of this, Sora is determined to find her.

Eventually, at the end of the game Sora is able to free Naminé from her imprisonment and they make up for good. Despite her sadness Naminé accepts to fix Sora's memories and even shows him who his light truly is: Kairi.

Kingdom Hearts II

Because of what happened during Chain of Memories, Sora had to go into a coma in order to have his memories fixed. During this period of time, most of those who were connected to Sora forgot about him. However, while Kairi forgot about his name and face, she still remembered Sora's existence. Roxas eventually connected to Kairi telepathically which in turn connected her to Sora (Roxas even told her that she's the girl that Sora likes). This allowed her to remember his name. She wrote him a letter in a bottle and placed it into the ocean.

Sora eventually woke up and traveled the worlds to search for Riku. While waiting for him to return, Kairi was captured by Organization XIII. Sora eventually learned about this and was devastated, so much that he even got onto his knees and begged Saïx to take him to her. Kairi was eventually rescued and the two were reunited in the World that Never Was. They immediately embraced, albeit Sora was feeling sorry for not having been able to keep his promise and go back to Destiny Islands (to Kairi, specifically) sooner.

At one point, Kairi was returned to Destiny Islands while Sora and Riku were left behind to fight Xemnas. They ended up being stuck in the Realm of Darkness. However, Sora received Kairi's letter and this allowed him to open the Door to Light. He and Riku were returned to Destiny Islands and Sora was finally able to return Kairi's lucky charm to her, as promised. However, Sora was eventually called to do more work so Kairi gave him her lucky charm again and told him to hurry back.

During the credits of the game, Sora is seen walking inside the cave on Destiny Islands in a way that perfectly mirrors what Kairi did at the end of Kingdom Hearts I. He stops in front of the drawing of him and Kairi sharing a paopu fruit and smiles happily, understanding that his feelings for her are mutual.

Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance

Even though Sora and Kairi don't physically interact throughout the whole game, Sora once again hallucinates about her. While a young version of Master Xehanort is talking to him in what seems to be a dreamy-like sequence, Sora is brought to the Destiny Islands, specifically during the night in which Riku was taken away and Kairi's heart merged with his. There, Kairi is seen flying out of the cave in which the two always meet up to draw on the walls. Sora immediately exclaims "Kairi!" before trying to catch her, but she disappears once again in his embrace, just like in Kingdom Hearts I.

Kingdom Hearts III

During Kairi‘s training sessions with Lea, she wrote a letter to Sora. Even though she states she won’t send it, she laid out her feelings on paper and admitted to Lea she likes talking to Sora. Even if it’s just on paper.

The day before their battle with Xehanort at the Keyblade Graveyard, Kairi and Sora are sitting together. Kairi gives Sora a paopu fruit so they can share one. Kairi tells Sora she wants to remain a part of his life no matter what and Sora feels the same. They promise to keep each other safe and share the fruit, completing what they started with their drawing inside the cave.

The next day, at the Keyblade Graveyard, when Terra-Xehanort tries to attack Kairi, Sora immediately runs over to her and hugs her to keep her safe. When Sora is near death from Xehanort, he reaches a place called the “Final World”: it is where a heart goes when it has something in life to cling onto. Sora finds out something in life is clinging onto him: Kairi. She believed he wouldn’t fade. Sora happily reunites with her and states he feels strong with her. Kairi in response turns her head to blush and then holds his hand.

During their battle with Xehanort's darknesses, Kairi gets kidnapped by Xemnas and Sora gives chase. As soon as he catches up he demands to know where she is. After Ansem, Xemnas and Young Xehanort disappear, Xehanort summons Kairi and murders her infront of Sora for “motivation“. Sora in response questions why he would target her while attacking Xehanort and crying. Following the defeat of Xehanort, Sora states his journey is far from over, as he must now find Kairi. He goes off alone to find her, stating his journey began the day he lost her and thought they could finally be together, and doesn’t want her to be alone for one more second. Soon after on Destiny Islands, all of Sora's friends notice Sora and Kairi holding hands and sitting on the paopu fruit tree. They look at each other, and Kairi soon sheds a tear and smiles. Sora then fades away, making it clear that he gave his own life in order to bring her back.

Fanon
SoKai is rather popular Kingdom Hearts ship. It is sometimes overshadowed by slash pairings such as Soriku but is one of the most (if not THE most) popular het pairings. This pairing is often regarded as being canon due to the romantic references and the fact that the two were deeply connected through their hearts. Many fans found the ending of the first game to be sad since the two were separated and were happy when they finally got a sequel in which they were reunited. Their sharing of paopu fruit made their relationship official.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Sora/Kairi tag on FanFiction.net
 * Sora/Kairi tag on FanFiction.net

TUMBLR

WIKIS
 * on

Trivia

 * In Kingdom Hearts II, it was implied that Sora has feelings for Kairi. He blushed when he saw Will and Elizabeth together and Donald and Goofy mentioned that he was thinking about her. When he saw Jack and Sally dancing, he imagined himself dancing with her in their place. Roxas also mentioned that Kairi is the girl that Sora likes.
 * Kairi is always referred to as Sora's light that guides him through the darkness.
 * At the end of the official World of Tres concert, a montage of all SoKai scenes from Kingdom Hearts I to Kingdom Hearts III is shown and accompanied by an instrumental version of Don't Think Twice/Chikai.
 * In the official manga, Sora is referred to as Kairi's boyfriend. Olette also mentions how romantic their story is, just like in the game. Moreover, in Kingdom Hearts I, Selphie admits that sharing a Paopu with someone is something very romantic to do.
 * During Valentine's Day, the official mobile game (Kingdom Hearts X) released a bunch of pictures, including some SoKai ones.
 * Riku teases Sora about Kairi more than once during Kingdom Hearts I, just like how Donald and Goofy do in Kingdom Hearts II.
 * During the credits of Kingdom Hearts 2.8, a series of official Disney pairings is shown. Among them, however, RokuNami (Roxas x Naminé) and SoKai are also displayed.
 * One of Kairi's quotes was cut out in the english version of the Kingdom Hearts I ending: in the original (aka the japanese) version of the ending, when she's looking at the horizon and closes her eyes, she can be heard saying something along the lines of "Don't worry Sora, your feelings have reached me".

Variations

 * SoRiKai refers to the ship between Riku, Sora and Kairi