Warning: Mentions of femslash! (Wow, never thought I'd have to write that in an author's note…)
Location: Besaid Island
Time: After the concert, before things become dark.
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Nocturnal Obsessions
Slowly, slowly – ever slowly and quietly, with the meticulous care of the thief she claimed to be – she pulled back the thin covers and set a foot lightly on the floor, only just now reminding herself of their location. With no floorboards to creak or metal to clang, she got to her feet, the blanket making a soft whisper as it slid from her form to rest on the cot beneath. She didn't – couldn't – allow herself to breathe as gently, slowly, she padded across the room, bare feet crunching ever so slightly against dirt and stone.
A soft murmur from the object of her mission made Rikku freeze. She held herself fixed, motionless for several minutes, squinting her eyes to watch intently in the dark of the small hut for any movement, until the racing of her heart calmed and she was sure that no one had awoken. Her muscles relaxing one by one, she went forward with practiced ease to kneel beside the sleeping form of her obsession.
She didn't need the moonlight that streamed in through the small window to see the face of the slumbering woman; they were imprinted in her mind's eye, forever an image that she could draw up. Mentally she traced over the lines of the carved face almost lovingly. She opened her eyes – unaware that they'd been closed – to see the reality, and lifted a hesitant hand with much less confidence than before. Her fingers reached out to touch lightly on soft red lips, and Rikku found herself longing desperately to touch those lips with her own.
She knew that this was wrong. Her conscience tugged at her forcefully, demanding that she simply get up and go back to sleep; this had gone on long enough! Day after day she fought with herself, knowing in her mind that she shouldn't be doing this; but a small part of her heart said that it was fine, that it was merely an observation, and if anything were to come of it then so be it. If her brother could lust over their cousin, why couldn't she be fascinated by another woman? Her curiosity was that of a child coming of age, a girl who was just only now attempting to understand and familiarize herself with these changes in her body and mind. Here, now in the calm, she could finally slow down and allow herself to experience life.
Every night – she no longer knew how many weeks it had been, or even if it had been more than one or two – she got up from her bed to kneel and observe the woman she'd become so enamored with.
"Paine…" she whispered, awe in her voice. She gathered up the confidence to rise from her kneeling position and sit down on the low cot, barely daring to rest her weight. Her fingers traveled along a perfectly sculpted jaw line, then across the woman's cool temple. There was so much that she didn't know about her! Yuna had told her – in complete confidentiality – that the warrior had been a recorder for a group called the Crimson Squad; it was her connection to the leaders of the current political parties. Idly Rikku wondered if there really had been something between Paine and Nooj, something more than just friendship.
Somehow it hurt to think that.
She couldn't help herself. A sharp stab of pain – or was it anger? – pierced her heart, and Rikku leaned forward eagerly to place a tender kiss on those irresistible lips…
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