Rikku offered a sigh of boredom, running her fingers through her own
tresses of sandy blonde hair. Tidus emerged from Yuna's chambers, hair
ruffled and lips drawn into a wide smile. Rikku rolled her eyes. They
should at least TRY to make it less obvious, she thought, looking
loathingly at he other blonde guardian. He shifted his gaze towards
her. She sighed and looked the other way.
Auron grabbed Tidus by the collar and pulled him aside.
"What's the big idea?!?", Tidus exclaimed loudly, wriggling under the
stony glare of the ghostly, older man.
"I should be asking you the same question," Auron retorted, his one
good eye just visible over the top rim of his sunglasses, "Mr. 'I-
don't-care-what-the-lot-of-you-tell-me-I'm-romancing-Yuna-if-I-want-
to'." Tidus groaned, wallowing in self-pity. "Why do you always pick on
me, Auron?", he whined, prying the taller one's fingers from his shirt.
Auron snorted and paced about the room. "Because, I owe it to Jecht,"
he grumbled to anyone who was listening.
Wakka and Kimahri, followed soon after by Lulu, burst through the door
of Rin's Travel Agency. Wakka shivered and buried his face in Lulu's
cleavage.
"It's cold out there, ya?"
Lulu smacked him. Kimahri said nothing, but shot him a warning look as
if to say, "Don't you even THINK about trying to snuggle up with me,
kid."
Wakka rubbed his cheek. "I can't believe I'm staying in a place
like this. It's run by Al Bhed! They're sinners!"
Rikku leapt to her feet. "Why don't you just sleep outside in the snow,
then?!"
Wakka opened his mouth to respond, but wound up shrugging his shoulders
and dragging his feet across the lobby to stand beside Tidus.
The fair-skinned thief casually strode to her summoner's chambers. The
hallway walls were adorned with artist's interpretations of the Al Bhed
Home; the majestic skyscrapers towering over the Al Bhed making
conversation and trading goods on the sidewalks below. Rikku stopped to
admire the numerous views of a day in the life of the Al Bhed people.
"I bet Wakka thinks these are meant for the trash can," she said to
herself, her voice cold and full of disliking for the tall-haired
blitzball retiree.
Rikku tapped lightly on the doors of Yuna's room. "Come in," a voice
like the whisper of the wind over summer wheat fields replied.
Rikku shyly stepped into the doorframe. Yuna was sitting on her
bed, fists firmly grasping the handle of her summoning staff.
"H-hey, Yunie," Rikku's said, her light, airy voice trembling. Yuna
looked up and smiled at her. "Hello, dear cousin. Are we leaving?" Rikku
sighed and went knock-kneed. "NOt yet, I just...I want to tell you
something, Yunie. Well, actually, first I want to ask you something. I
mean, um..." Her cheeks were becoming increasingly rosy. Yuna giggled.
"What is it, Rikku?"
Rikku, eyebrows slightly upturned, tried to put words to her feelings.
She plopped down on the summoner's bed. She slowly closed and opened
her eyes, and began.
"Ok. Um. First of all, are you and Tidus, um...partners?"
Yuna looked a bit startled, but grinned. "Yes. Yes, we are." Rikku
looked at her sadly. "Oh," she said, if merely for the sake of
generating a response.
Yuna broke the silence. "Why do you ask, cousin?"
Rikku's heart rate speed up. She felt her whole face blush. "I uh...I
was um...just wondering. Yeah. Um, because I um. I wanted to know."
Yuna smiled at her, a hint of pity in her two-toned eyes.
"You..like Tidus, don't you?"
Rikku struggled for an answer. Should she tell the truth, or go along
with a lie? For now, the lie seemed more appealing. "Yes. That's it. I
like Tidus."
Yuna squeezed Rikku's hand. "I'm sorry, Rikku. You'll find someone,
don't you worry."
"Yeah," Rikku said, rising to stand, "I'll find somebody."
The Al Bhed leaned her head against the hallway wall, tears forming in
her green, distinctive eyes. "I can't lose Yunie. Not to him!", she
lamented, burying her face into her gloved hands. Her eyes fell upon
one of the paintings, which depicted two Al Bheds standing hand in hand
...one male and one female, she thought miserably, why do people always
support the conventional couplings. She looked closely at the details
of the work, observing it with a raised eyebrow. Her green eyes pierced
the canvas, depising every bit of it, until she stumbled on a small but
significant
detail...
"Dad", Rikku called from the doorframe of Cid's chambers. He sauntered
over, his gruff expression lightening upon laying eyes on his dear
child.
"What is it?" his low voice said.
"Who did that painting in the hallway? The one of the two Al-Bhed..."
Cid fell silent. Rikku waited, shifting uncomfortably from one foot to
the other.
The veteran pilot cut through the silence with another more aggressive-
sounding words than before. "Go ask Yuna, or something. I don't know
who did it."
Rikku's lips turned down at the corners. "Dad, you own this place! You
must know who you bought the painting from!" Cid stared at her with a
stony, stern look. The frustrated young theif took this as her cue to
leave.
Cid placed his scarred, calloused hand on his forehead. "Oh, Rikku,"
he thought, "How could I tell you that painting was meant for you..?"
Kimahri's tail swished rapidly back and forth as he watched Tidus
and Auron having "just a man-to-man talk, Kimahri, uh...no offense
intended." And, of course, Kimahri had taken none. He was above any
feeling of inferiority caused by anything that silly blonde bishounen
would or could ever say. He snorted, thinking back to a rather
unpleasant memory of the first time he'd seen that boy...
It was a typical Besaid day...humid and warm, even as the sun was
retreating in the low sky beyond on the palm trees. He'd been guarding
Yuna very carefully on this day, the day she would become a summoner.
His intense Ronso eyes darted from one person to the next person, then
to Yuna, making sure, several times per minute, that all was well.
But, no matter how fast his eyes moved, he couldn't protect her from a
first love.
The blonde boy, obviously a foreigner, had watched Yuna's first
summoning of Valefor. Never having seen such a thing, he was impressed,
as anyone should have been; Yuna was a remarkably good mage for someone
of such youth as she. He made brazing overtures to the summoner after
the ceremony, introducing himself and discussing with a young friend as
to whether she was "cute" or not. Kimahri's fur stood upright on the
ridge of his back. He already hated this kid. And now, he stills does.
After all, Tidus stole the only thing that had ever relied on Kimahri.
With Tidus, would Yuna not need him anymore? Would he just die out in
her life?
These thoughts were broken like the flow of a river by a large boulder
when Rikku entered the room, sniffling and rubbing fresh tears from the
ends of her eyes. Kimahri slowly approached her, placing a comforting
paw on her shoulder.
"Kimahri!" Rikku cried, "Yuna...I'm in love with her!"
Everyone in the room froze, except for Tidus, who kept right on making
ludicrous hand gestures at Auron, who, frankly, didn't give a damn.
"I knew it!", Wakka bellowed, puffing his chest out, which made him
look like something of an ape, "Al-bhed lesbians, you're all trash!"
"I am not trash, Wakka!" a normally soft voice interrupted from the
corner of the room.
"Yuna!", Lulu gasped. She made a mental note to hit Wakka later,
hopefully over the head with a very heavy book.
"I wasn't talkin' bout you, ya?", Wakka said, blushing, "I meant that
trashy girl."
Rikku also made a mental note to hit the undeniable baka.
"Lesbians are NOT trash!", Yuna shouted, nearly popping a vein. "Rikku
is one, and....so am I!!!!!"
Everyone took a slight step back in astonishment, with the exception
of a certain blonde thief, who hid a smile under her hand.
"Y-you, Yuna?", Wakka asked, clearly befuddled.
"Yes, you damn idiot," she said, "me. I am a lesbian. As much as Rikku
or even Hillary Duff (LOL)."
"WAIT A SECOND!!!!!", Tidus exclaimed in his patented 'everyone-pay-
attention-to-me' voice, "I thought you were in love with me!"
Yuna stared. "No....you were just a cover-up until I decided to come
out...." Silence diffused through the air, leaving all speechless.
"You admitted it," Rikku whispered in Yuna's ear, later that night when
the two of them shared a bed. "I didn't think you would."
"I wanted to," Yuna said, "after all, Rikku, if you look closely
enough, you'll notice it's two GIRLS holding hands in that painting in
the hallway..."
And later, they would look at that painting together, every morning,
right after Rikku would wake Yuna up with a smile and a kiss. Then they
would drink tea and remember that first night they had together, as
more than cousins, as partners; that night when while they were inside
banging each other, Tidus was left banging on the door, yelling for the
girl that didn't love him.
Pleeeeeeeeeeease email me and tell me what you think. It makes the sun
a better place.
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