A/N: This story is the far-in-the-past prequel to my current fic Carried On A Farplane Winde. Short and sweet, but a good bit of background.
A Warm Summer Breeze
I watched her sitting against one of the high cliff walls surrounding the Monster Arena. The breeze stirred her honey golden hair in the growing dusk, brushing a soft lock across her face in a sweet caress. Would that I could be that gentle breeze, floating across her skin like the most gentle of lovers as night crept upon us, but however I may have wished it such a hope or dream was beyond me as our journey drew to a close, not that it could have been realized had the thought occurred to me at the beginning. After all, before the beginning began I knew I was going to fade away.
We were camping just outside of the arena that night, having just returned from the far side of the Calm Lands with an enormous cache of ogres and malboros. That night was our one night of rest before we were going to make our way back to Macalania Woods to collect the creatures there. To be honest, I was letting them stall for time by hunting down fiends and the various legendary weapons for our team. I wasn't even sure the weapons existed, but I did know that everyone needed this time to prepare themselves for the possibility that some or all of them might die in the battle yet to come.
I realized too late that my gaze was reciprocated. Her swirling green irises, which had previously been hidden by tired eyelids and long lashes, were fixed upon me, studying me as I had far too often studied her. I had caught her at it before, just watching, at different points along the Pilgrimage. I wasn't sure how I could discourage such a habit when I couldn't keep myself from watching her whenever the moment allowed. Eventually I had come to decide that it couldn't be helped and would continue regardless of what I might do to forbid her gazes.
After all, how could I discourage the not-so-innocent glances that would lead to nothing when I made no attempts to quell each night's rendezvous at watch. Even much later as I stood alone just outside the camp while the party slept I knew she would come to me. I couldn't have been sure exactly when it had started as my memories of the days were starting to blur together at a vast pace, but I did know that my evenings almost always ended with her small body leaning against some part of mine while she slept. I should have discouraged such meetings from the start, but some traitorous part of me craved those unguarded moments between us. She knew it, too. What else could explain her devotion to our silent encounters as she stomped, pouting, through my barriers and plonked down in a previously desolate corner of my soul?
I was musing over this ten minutes into the second watch that night when I heard the rustle of her tent flap opening. I didn't turn, staring out across the vast darkness that was the Calm Lands, but my ears strained to catch the sound of every footfall as she approached. She liked to believe that she always snuck up on me, tip-toeing through the grass and edging toward me slowly. Under most circumstances I would have dismissed it as silly and sent her back to her own bed the instant I heard the rustle of her blankets, but as circumstances liked to prove I was not in control of my actions when it came to her.
"Hello, Rikku." My voice rumbled deep in my chest as I spoke, and behind me she came to a startled stop. I gazed at her over my shoulder until the shock in her face changed to an irate disappointment. She stomped up next to me and sank down on the boulder to my left with a huff. After several long moments of scuffing her shoes through the dirt and heaving long sighs at most available opportunities, she raised her face up to mine, a small pout defining her lips.
"Why do you always hafta hear me when I'm so close, huh?" Of course, I knew it was going to be my fault. It's a lesson you learn early about women—even the young ones. It is always your fault until they say otherwise. Even if I hadn't learned that I would have agreed to everything she said as long as she kept looking at me with that light behind her eyes.
Instead of admitting my inevitable defeat, I simply turned my gaze back to the stars above.