Author's Notes: A brief scene written for the 50episodes comm over at livejournal, with the theme of strangers. I feel kind of rusty writing Auron. Perhaps because I usually write Auron from Auron's point of view, not Tidus' view. Ah well.
Stranger
by: butterflie
"Are you... Tidus?"
Tidus blinked, and abandoned his blitzball to look up at the man standing hesitantly near him. He was a very strange looking man, wearing funny red clothes that Tidus was pretty sure no one else in Zanarkand wore. His right eye was also completely closed shut and scarred over, and he was carrying his left arm in his sleeve. He looked almost dangerous.
Tidus frowned. "Are you a stranger?"
"I..." The man seemed at a loss for words.
"We learned about strangers," Tidus said. "In school. Stranger Danger. Everyone we don't know is a stranger." He looked up at the man solemnly. "I'm sorry but I'm not supposed to talk to you."
He stood up and grabbed his blitzball, cradling it protectively to his chest. He knew he was supposed to leave and get away from the stranger, but for some reason he didn't want to make himself go. The man was very different from the every day people he saw in Zanarkand, and he was curious.
The man, for the most part, didn't seem too sure about what to say. He stared at Tidus for a bit warily, until he apparently realized that Tidus was waiting for him to do something.
"I'm not a stranger," he said slowly. He paused, and Tidus wondered if the man expected him to believe that. "I knew Jecht--your dad," he added.
Tidus scowled, immediately developing an intense dislike for the man. "See! You're a stranger," he said. "I can't talk to you. It's not allowed." He turned around and started walking, prepared to leave this time, but the man's next words stopped him cold.
"He asked me to look after you."
Tidus whirled around angrily, dropping his blitzball. It bounced off his foot and rolled away, but Tidus didn't notice. He raised a small fist in the air and glared at the man. "Shut up! He did not! You're really a stranger, because he would never say that! Now get away and stop talking to me!"
The man merely looked bewildered. "Where is your mother at?"
Tidus yelled without thinking. "She's sick!" He hesitated for a moment. "She's not allowed to talk to strangers either. Leave her alone."
"I'm not a stranger to her."
Tidus gave him a suspicious look. "I've never seen you before," he said.
"You were not at home then," the man said, looking solemnly at Tidus with his one eye.
"When?"
"When I met her."
"Where was I at?"
"I don't know."
Tidus thought about this for a moment. "What's your name?"
"Auron."
Another moment of thinking. "And you really met my mom?" he asked.
"Yes," Auron said. "I met your mother. Two days ago."
"Alright," Tidus said. "You're not a stranger."