The Hush Sound - Chapter 1
The Hush Sound

Hot sun beat down upon the girl's eyelids as she trudged through the sand, little beads of sweat rolling down the side of her face, glistening on her golden tanned skin upon perfect toned muscles. She wiped her forehead with her forearm and stared out into the horizon. She had no shadow and couldn't see the sun; it had to be right overhead, which could only mean it was midday. Great, she was late, hot, and still at least three kilometres away from Home. Oh well, the exercise could do her good.

She wiped her forehead again before proceeding to persevere her way over the vast sand dunes, two slick, crimson, crescent-shaped daggers in her hand, brightly coloured scarf trailing at her ankles, blonde hair trailing down her back and sticking to sticky, sweat covered skin. Her blue and white boots sank into the sand a little each step she took, and she licked her dry lips. Not far now.

The blond man with the eye patch spoke to the silver haired woman standing in front of him, leaning back against the table. The woman looked at him through her crimson-red eyes, a flat and bored expression on her face.

"What?" She asked.

The man shook his head, peering down at her. He was at least fifteen centimetres taller than his companion.

"How many teams have applied?"

The woman studied her hands, covered in black leather gloves. She adjusted a belt on her top.

"We've got at least six teams now, and we're expecting more still. The sixth so far applied this morning," She said. "It seemed popular,"

The man nodded. Right… right… that was good. Lots of applicants meant lots of publicity, and that had to be good news.

"When d'you think we could start?" He asked.

"Oh, I should say in a couple of days. After the last of the applicants arrive," The woman in black replied dryly.

"Rikku! Where have you been?" A stocky man with a blond Mohawk demanded to the girl as soon as she trudged her way into the room, covered in sweat and sand.

The girl called Rikku scowled at her older brother, who was very appropriately named; Brother.

"I've been playing with the sand worms," She replied sarcastically. She twirled her two daggers in her hands before plunging them back into the sheaths strapped on either side of her thighs with the sound of the sleek metal brushing down against the leather pouches.

Brother's cheeks turned a blotchy red.

"Do you not remember what happened the last time you said you went playing with the sand worms?" He shot at her, voice thick with his native Al Bhed accent.

Rikku rolled her eyes, a bright, earnest emerald green, sparkling with life, pupils black swirls orbing into the centre.

"If you cannot remember, I will remind you," Brother continued calmly. "You broke the hover down and got lost. Then I had to pick you up."

"For you information, Brother," Rikku said tetchily, poking him in the chest. She had a sulky pout on her face. "I did not break the hover down, it ran out of fuel. And I was only ten minutes away from Home, not like you lost anything by picking me up," She snapped.

Brother rolled his eyes.

"Vydran knows how hopeless you are," He says.

Rikku opened her mouth to retaliate, but was cut off by a new person.

"Hey, hey, keep it cool," Someone said. They had a low, calming voice. Rikku whipped around to see Buddy, blonde fuzz, goggles, blue gloves, charming smile and all.

Rikku gasped and grinned, forgetting her annoyance at her brother.

"Buddy!" She giggled. "But I haven't seen you for weeks! Where've you been?! Someone said you went to Luca! What were you doing there?!"

Buddy chuckled. Rikku was being excited and nosy again.

"Whoa, whoa, hold your Chocobos," He said. "I been at Luca, I had that job at the Stadium, remember?"

Rikku nodded.

"But that wouldn't have taken you so long,"

"I stopped by D'jose a while, big Faction there. Head's name is Gippal, and he's got an apprenticeship program goin'," Buddy shrugged.

"D'jose!" Rikku squealed with delight. "But Yunie's there! Ooh… what program is it?"

He shrugged again. "We go, stay for a month. Best team'll be given a huge position at the Faction. Deal too great to miss," Buddy said, his green eyes sparkling with excitement and prospect.

"Sounds woozy," Rikku frowned.

"Oh, but this is big, Rikku. If you win, you'll have a whole sector of workers under you. You're in charge of half the whole Faction. We're going to take a shot at it, as the Gullwings," Buddy grinned.

"I don't know this Gippal, and I've never heard of the Faction, either,"

"Machine Faction," Buddy corrected. "Gippal's an Al Bhed. I saw him a couple of times yesterday… looked right enough,

Rikku considered the chance of scoring it big on the mainland. Hmm…

"I wanna go!" She said.

Buddy shook his head in response. "Nope, sorry, he's only lookin' for men,"

Gippal studied the sheet of paper he was holding. The woman with silvery brown hair was talking to another; she was wearing a white apron and had a pale heart-shaped face, brown hair falling delicately around the side of her cheeks. The most unusual feature about this young woman were her eyes; one a bright blue, the other a clear evergreen. The two were conversing in a casual manner; it was clear they were friends.

Gippal looked up and cleared his throat. The women stopped talking to look at their boss.

"Yuna," He asked. The woman with the bi-coloured eyes nodded. "D'you know where Tidus is,"

The woman named Yuna shook her head.

"I haven't seen him all day," She said. "He wasn't at breakfast, either,"

Gippal's eyebrows furrowed, blond bangs falling into his forehead.

"Alright, then,"

Yuna nodded again and turned to her friend. They two started their conversation.

Gippal tried to keep reading through the paper; it was an important one; the rooms at D'jose would have to be sorted out soon… He looked up at the women again.

"Who're the Gullwings, Paine?"

Paine stopped and turned to Gippal. She looked at him before raising a hand to brush her hair out of her face, red eyes surveying him.

"They're a team of sphere hunter mechanics based in Bikanel," She said. "Why?"

Gippal shrugged and fiddled with the studs in embedded in the black leather strap of his eye patch. "I dunno. Some of their names seem familiar," He said. "Do you know when they're coming?"

Paine shook her head. "In a few days, I'd expect,"

Gippal shrugged again. "Alright, if you say so,"

"Whaaat?! What kind of a jerk won't let girls do it?" Rikku wailed in loss. "Well, wait till he sees what I can do, I'm the best darn engineer there is on the whole of Bikanel," Rikku said loftily. She looked at Buddy. "You'll let me come with you, take me, will ya? In case you haven't noticed, I'm a part of the Gullwings as well!"

Her friend shook his head in response. "He doesn't want girls, how do ya think you're gonna get in?"

The corner of Rikku's mouth twitched. "Yeah, well…" She bit her lip. For a moment, Buddy watched Rikku as she bit her lip and looked down onto the ground. Brother, feeling lost and dejected, cut in angrily.

"Rikku cannot go to D'jose!"

Rikku's head shot up to glare at her brother.

"Why not?"

"Because you are a girl,"

"And?"

"You have… you have boobs," Brother's eyes appeared to pop out of his sockets.

"And?"

"Gippal does not want girls, or boobs," Brother fumed.

Rikku stuck her tongue out at him, brushed sweaty strands of hair out of her face and crossed her arms. A determined look appeared on her face. She wanted, no, she needed, that job.

"See if I care, I'm gonna get in, and I'm gonna get that job," She said.

"How?" Buddy asked.

"By going as a boy."

And so... we have chapter 1 :) Please read and review. Oh and yes this was posted at QTC first.. but I decided to put it up here from now on instead.
Thankyaa :D