Reason
Japanese Lilac

Chapter One: In the White World... You Forgot.

Don't turn your back on me.
Look in my eyes.

Tension permitted the air as the two most contradictory of the guardians – the youngest female, an Al-Bhed thief named Rikku and the once Yevonite, now unsent known simply as Auron – found it amongst themselves to argue in the lounge of an Inn off of Gagazet. A snowy blizzard was currently taking it's time to come forth in the coldest area of Spira and the pilgrimage had to come to a brief stop. Everything had seemed fine at first.

Then the fight commenced.

"You know, I don't understand you!"

"What is there to not be understood?"

Rikku puffed her cheeks out, her face slightly red from both the cold and her current aggravation. There he goes, dancing around the question – or statement, more or less – and trying to make himself seem far more intelligent than she really believed him to be at that current moment by being stoic. Did he really like to avidly avoid the question this much or was he just dumber than he looked?

"Everything! Everything about you; I don't understand any of it anymore. You are really beginning to piss me off. One minute, you tell me that you can't be anywhere near me, that everything about us is wrong, and than the next moment you are claiming that you need me -"

"Never did I claim to need you, girl."

The conversation came to an abrupt halt. Emerald-swirled eyes, proof of what should have been a proud heritage, widened to an excruciatingly large size. Tears filled those jewels, bringing sight difficulty to the young female who adorned those sorrowful gems. She didn't want to believe him at first. He couldn't really have just said that... could he?

"You're... You're lying," the young Al-Bhed whimpered, shaking her head urgently. It was unsure whom she was trying to convince more – the ex-monk, standing so haughtily with his back turned or herself. "Y-You told me... you told me that you -"

Auron made a scoffing sort of noise as he half turned to look at the young woman, his shades keeping his eyes from being seen. "Whatever sort of fabrications you can come up with will be unheard. Keep your delusions to yourself and don't bother me with your foolish wishes any longer." With that finally being said, the older guardian took his leave towards the room where the group would be sleeping.

No one said a word. The room's obvious silence brought up the question of who would mention 'the awkward elephant that was taking up the space'. The occupants of the area quickly brought it upon themselves to do one of two things: Stay and comfort the teen or meander on to the back of the inn where Auron had gone off to, either to scold him or ignore him completely. Yuna and Lulu, of course, automatically made their way over to the distraught girl in hopes to calm her down. Tidus, however, found what his previous guardian had done reprehensible and, therefore, went after him. The left over guardians, being the only two without something to do, followed after Tidus. Someone had to make sure the boy didn't get himself killed.

"Rikku..." Yuna whispered sympathetically, reaching her hand out to her cousin only to have it shrugged away as soon as she touched the thief's shoulder. The summoner was at a lost on what to do about this situation. She hadn't known the full extent of the youngest guardian's feelings. She had only known of what she thought to be a small 'crush' of sorts. Looking towards the black mage, her face practically screamed in desperation for help. This problem had practically slapped the teen in the face and she had no idea what to do now.

Lulu sighed in frustration, not happy at all with how things were going. Putting the tips of her fingers to the bridge of her nose, she sighed loudly while closing her eyes momentarily. What was she to do? She knew she had to show some compassion for Rikku, but she also found it ridiculous that this was happening in the first place. She had no inclination of anything past a little girlish fling on the youngest girl's part. Apparently she was dead-set wrong.

Lifting up one finger, the darkly-clad woman made it known that Yuna would have to deal with this for a moment. Lulu felt it better that she deal with Auron and make sure the boys weren't up to anything remotely stupid. With that figured out, Lulu withdrew her hand from her face and opened up crimson eyes once more, now ready to try and face the issue that had somehow blown up into something horribly bigger than anyone could have imagined. Dark skirts clanking from belts as she walked towards the back of the inn, she could already hear the argument echoing faintly from the walls in the hallway. It was a wonder they hadn't already been kicked out.

Manicured nails pushed the door to their current place of residing. Lulu couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the scene folding out before her. All in all, everyone appeared unscathed. The thing that really got to the mage was the placement of the men in her life: Wakka, the one she 'oh-so-secretly' pined for, sat on one of the beds whilst clutching his weapon between sweaty palms. He watched with wide eyes as Kimahri held up the youngest boy, Tidus, by the hood of his jacket. Said blitzer was currently trying to take a swing at Auron who strangely just stood there and watched as his charge tried to beat the snot out of him. What Lulu found most awkward was the sudden silence – other than Tidus' struggles – that permitted the area. However, that sudden stillness was only temporary.

"Listen here, Old Man," Tidus growled out, trying to break the immeasurable hold that the Ronso had on his jacket to no avail. "I want to know and I want to know now what the hell is going on!"

"Tidus, I think you need to back off, ya?" Wakka quipped in, trying to add in his ten cents. The Besaidian had retreated to the bed when Kimahri had grabbed onto Tidus mid-jump, figuring he'd only make things worse.

"Wakka!" Tidus tried to turn his head to give the other blitzer a look, but failed and instead opted to turn back to his current frustration. "He made Rikku cry! Rikku doesn't cry unless she's seriously upset! Remember when Home blew up? Yeah, that was serious!" The teen struggled a bit more, reaching back to grab onto the furry paw that held him in the air. "Jeez, Kimahri, would you let me down already?"

"No," was all the Ronso grumbled.

"Damn it!"

"Now, boys," Lulu butted into the conversation, allowing the door to close behind her gently as she walked directly into the stampede – so to speak. "We, and that means everyone, have a situation at hand that needs to be dealt with, and I mean now."

"Psh, yeah. No kidding. What do you think I was trying to do?" Tidus mumbled.

Turning swiftly to the side, the dark-haired mage glared fiercely at the blond-haired, blue-eyed blitzer who in turn 'eep'ed like the little child he was currently portraying. "I understand what you think you were trying to do, Tidus. However, things are going to be done my way, come hail or high water." Shifting her view to the red clad warrior, crimson eyes narrowed slightly as the only female in the room kept a steady glare. "Now, Auron, care to explain just what happened out there? We've obviously all been missing out on something that has been happening between you and Rikku and, as much as I'd like to keep out of your private life, I do believe it is about time you share with the class."

Auron shifted feet momentarily, reaching up to push his glasses farther up his nose to hide his eyes. "There is nothing to tell," he stated simply, his voice slightly muffled by the gray collar that hid half his face.

Lulu crossed her arms across her breasts, staring incredulously at the man before her. "You surely kid. There is a young girl out there – crying horribly from what I've last seen – reacting badly to something you've said." She was officially maddened by the ex-monk, moving closer to the taller guardian in her anger. "Now, I can understand why she, or anyone for that matter, would be upset over that sort of response you gave her, but such heavy pain? It's plain in sight that you two have had something going on, Sir Auron, and I believe it's now time to pay the piper -"

"Well, Ibelieve that you should stay out of business that isn't your own," Auron growled beneath his breath, ignoring the oldest female as she came closer.

"This has officially become my business as well as everyone's in this room!"

"Go Lulu!" Tidus cheered from the side-line, still being held up by Kimahri.

"Shut up, Tidus," Lulu yelled back at the boy. Satisfied to hear his squeak, she turned back to Auron with her death glare back in place. This man didn't seem to understand anything. Was he really so ignorant to believe that it was only between him and Rikku, especially after that display out in the lounge? She had never thought him to be so pig-headed. Trying to calm herself down – she was getting far too emotional over this – Lulu took a few deep, steady breaths before continuing:"This became our business the moment you and Rikku began arguing. Now, I want to know: What did you say to her to start this argument, assuming it was you, and what was happening with you two?"

"I've already told you once, this isn't any of your-"

The door suddenly slammed open, interrupting the current occupants of the room from their developing argument. Four pairs of eyes, plus an extra, turned to see who had disturbed them. Wakka got off the bed as the invader practically tripped over their feet trying to get into the room, starting to head over to them.

"S-she... she... gone..."

"Yuna," Tidus tilted his head to the side, Kimahri finally placing him down to his feet. At seeing his girlfriend's half-frozen, panting state, the boy blitzer rushed over to find out what was wrong, Wakka right behind him. Grabbing onto her arms, he pulled her to him to hopefully try and warm her up. "What's wrong? Why are you so cold!"

"She's... S-she's g-g-gone! Ran!" Yuna stuttered over her words, nearly stumbling as Tidus pulled her a bit farther into the radiating warmth of the room.

"Who's gone? Why are you half frozen? You didn't take a dip in the snow while we were in here, did ya?" Wakka asked, brushing snow off Yuna's head as her teeth chattered viciously.

Sighing at her friend's stupidity, Lulu made haste towards the trio, placing on hand onto the younger girl's arm. "Yuna, breathe and try to speak calmly. What's happened? Who is gon-"

"Rikku!" Yuna finally got her name out, wrapping her arm's tightly around Tidus' waist uncharacteristically. "I-I tried to go after her, but I lost her!"

"Lost her?" Tidus blinked bright blue eyes rapidly. "Lost her where?"

"In the storm! S-She's outside, in the storm, and I'm the one who lost her!"

When the whole world was all white,

"I'm n-not cold, I'm not c-cold, I'm not c-c-cold..." Rikku chanted on, shivering despite herself. It had to be below the freezing level on the mountain – with snow steadily falling - and the thief was dressed as skimpily as she always had; slightly faded orange tank-top and bright green, frilled shorts adorned her thin figure. She now regretted not investing in a warm jacket of some sort. The young Al-Bhed, however, didn't truly regret leaving the Inn. There was no reason to stay there for the moment being. Yuna had tried to be sentimental, but Rikku didn't want sentimentality. She just...

She wanted Auron.

Keeping thin arms wrapped tightly around a frail frame, Rikku could feel the tears that had fallen previous freeze on her cheeks, only to thicken as more fell. It was so cold. Not just the temperature, but his obvious rejection. He had never blatantly rejected her before. He told her they couldn't be together, sure. He told her... told he he was old enough to be her father and that it would be frowned upon. But did she care? No. She never did. If people judged her over something as silly as who she loved, then they weren't worth her time. She knew that most, if not all in the pilgrimage, had a bit of an inkling towards what was going on. But no one had spoken anything of it, so it couldn't wrong. Could it really be so wrong to love?

"H-how is it w-wrong..." Rikku cried, trailing off as she huffed deep breaths of freezing air. Her feet were already numb, her fingers following suit quickly. She had only been out in the blizzard for a mere twenty minutes, but she was already going numb. Shutting down. Failing. Her shivering seemed to be growing and it was getting so much harder to breathe. It was so cold...

Falling to her knees, Rikku clutched at her elbows, almost scraping at them in her desperation. Deep green eyes, filled to the brim with the salty liquid covering pale cheeks, looked up towards the sky. "Please. Please! Someone tell me. Anyone! J-just tell me what I did wrong..." The broken girl sobbed loudly. She bent at the waist slightly, coughing out sobs. She let go of her elbows, placing the palms of her hands into the soft snow. The snow still fell, beating against her back. She was soaked through, but didn't care. Nothing mattered at that moment.

"Why did he lie," she whimpered brokenly before tilting to the side, falling into the snowdrift gathering around her. "Why..."

Did you forget the promise we had then?

I hope you enjoyed this story. It's not my first, as I've had other accounts on fanfiction, but I'm trying to start new. We'll see how much my writing has improved and if others can guess on just who I am. I won't tell, however.

The song used in this story was the English translation of "Reason", a song from the Korean Drama named Autumn Love Story. It's a wonderful, heartbreaking story and I highly recommend it. Listen to that song, the version WITH lyrics obviously, while reading this song.

Thank you for reading. I'll post up the next chapter to this story soon.

Lil