Auron sat crouched, tending the fire as the Guardians slept around him. Occasionally he glanced up, checking on everyone. He saw them, but did not think of them. He thought of no one but her.

"Hi! I'm Rikku!"

"You're a big meanie!"

"I'm afraid of the lightning!"

"AAAAAAAAHH!!!"

...

"Rikku, why don't you take off your goggles? Don't you
like to feel the air now and then?"

She lowered the glasses, turned and smiled, her eyes slits. One could not penetrate their depths.

She was smiling... at him.

...

He could see her lying on her side, breathing softly. Was she crying? He strained to hear.

No. Her shallow breaths shuddered lightly, though, and he went to her side. Her small hands wrapped aroun her shoulders, and her skin was like gooseflesh. Chuckling softly, he took his long cloak and laid it over her shiivering body, and she let out a gentle sigh. She was so like a child, yet so adult...

He sighed, returning to the fireside. He saw Rikku's goggles flung carelessly beside her, and resisted the urge to hide them.

He wanted to know.

Rikku had been a guardian for two weeks now, and he was drawn to her, but there was some mysterious aura, something... not quite right about her demeanor. It was similar to the way Yuna acted, but somewhat stronger, more like it needed to be subdued.

He had noticed the way she fought- she did not use magic, like most women, who found it was stronger than their physical attacks, but attacked with her fists and devastating clawed gauntlets. She wore her goggles when the conditions were bad, and sometimes when they were not.

He realized: he had never seen her eyes.

He tried to imagine their color. Blue? Brown? Green? Shining? Of course they would shine. She was too happy a person to have dulled eyes, sad eyes.

Her face was always smiling when she looked at him, which made her even more adorable, more beautiful. She was never serious around him, acting like a flirty high school girl than an adult.

But he had seen her fight. She had a ferocity beyond the seventeen years she seemed to have. Her mouth was always set with grim determination, and her goggles- goggles again!- covered her eyes to avoid their being damaged. Sometimes, if she was knocked out, someone would rush over to administer a potion, but they would never touch the goggles. He wondered if there was something he didn't know.

There was a rustle, of leaves. Startled, he looked around, his hand on the hilt of his sword. He was still for ten minutes; there was not another sound. Sighing, her returned to the fire, and looked over at Rikku.

**********

Rikku had not, as Auron believed, been asleep. She had not been crying, either, but she shivered as she tried to drift away. She heard a gentle rustle, and her heart stopped. She wanted deperately to look, to find out what had made the noise, but she was frozen. She closed her eyes...

And sighed in relief as she felt something familiar- Auron's trademark leather cloak, she found out later- rest on top of her.

It was not the first time Auron had lent his jacket to her. Rikku snuggled into it, smelling Auron's familiar, comforting scent. She sighed again, this time almost sadly. He would never look her way twice. He was so handsome and powerful... and so much more mature. She wanted to let him know her secret, that she was an Al Bhed, but bit her lip in frustration every time she began to say anything.

How would he react? He was so frightening sometimes, so calm. She almost feared how he would react when he found out her secret. She was hiding it fromevery one else- well, except for Tidus and Yunie. Of course, they had captured Tidus on the boat, and Yunie was her cousin... and they'd both kept quiet.

Thankfully.

She rolled over slowly, hoping to catcha glimpse of him as he sat tending the fire and watching the night. Her goggles lay a few feet away, and she wondered if she should... accidently... lose them.

There he was, sitting not ten feet away, and looking away from her, straight ahead of him. He seemed alert, as if he'd seen something. Her heart hastened- what if it was a monster?

She stayed still for ten long minutes, until Auron's tense muscles loosened, and she breathed easily again. He stared at the fire for a moment, then looked at her. Her heart seized up, and she wondered if maybe, just maybe he really was looking at her. Shyly, she hid her eyes.

**********

Auron was startled in the first moment when he looked over at Rikku. He saw her, and then he saw two eyes staring back at him, wide and shining. As suddenly as he'd noticed them, they disappeared again, and he was left staring at his own jacket with a tuft of blonde hair sticking out of it.

With a jerk of realization, the back of his mind noted that he had seen her eyes- her true eyes. Not only that, but there was something amiss, something he couldn't quite place...

It was in those few seconds, when he had seen her eyes, that he had seen something very different, but, at the same time, very familiar. He bowed his head in frustration. What was it? How could he know her eyes if he had never seen them before? He looked at the others - his comrades - and his eyes rested on the other two women, sleeping side by side: Lulu and... Yuna.

Of course...

**********

Rikku peeked out from under the jacket again, looking around for Auron. Her brow knitted quizzically. Where did he go?

A rustle- behind her! She emmited a small "eep!" of surprise and fear and closed her eyes fearfully.

With her heart beating wildly, she waited.

She hated waiting. She hated being sleepy even more, and even more than that, she hated being unable to fall asleep.

Five minutes yet?

She thought she heard breathing.

Has it been five minutes yet?

It was breathing! She shrank smaller beneath the comfort of Auron's cloak, breathing in its gentle scent as a safeguard.

Footsteps... came closer...

And Auron spoke, "Are you awake?"

Rikku nearly fainted with relief. She rolled over and smiled at him- the carefully crafted smile that hid her tell tale eyes, but still allowed her to see the world around her.

"Yes." she saw him smile. It wasn't a big smile, like the one Tidus wore, or a reassuring smile, like Yunie's. It was just... a smile.

"Want some company?" She giggled lightly, thinking childishly of the implications. "I'd love to talk, if you want." She nodded and looked away.

**********

He sat next to her, toying with something in his hands. She sat up and let the heavy leather slide off of her. The two sat together quietly for a time, warming near the fire and thinking about each other, unbeknownst to each other.

After a while, Rikku spoke. "What've you got there?" Auron held up a hand, and Rikku looked sideways at the object dangling limply from him fingers.

Her goggles.

"Rikku, look at me." he said to her. She glanced over at him, and he sighed. "No. Look at me. Here." he reached for her chin to turn her head, but she fought his motions.

Anything but that, she thought. I don't want him to know...

"I think I'll keep these until you can look at me," he said, twirling the goggles on his fingers. "I'm not that scary. You can look at me." She shook her head.

I'm beginning to get frustrated.

"Listen, Rikku, I know already."

"Know what?" she asked curiously, staring at the flames. They had begun to die. She nervously twisted a piece of dangling hair around her finger.

"I know. I don't care."

"You don't-" she looked at him wide eyed, and realized her mistake.

But he'd seen.

"I knew it." He whispered. She cringed, waiting for the armageddon.

It never came. Instead, she felt his hand come under her chin to force it to face his own. This time she didn't resist, but kept her eyes shut tightly.

"Why didn't you tell me? Or anyone?" He asked her. "The only one who would care in the least would be Wakka. All that matters is that you are Yuna's guardian."

She opened her eyes slowly, carefully, still averting his gaze. "Are you sure?"

"Yes." His face may not have shown it, but his voice held reassurance. "Let me see." She shook her head. "Please."

Hesitating, but complying, she looked at him, fully and truthfully for the first time. He gasped, taking in her spinning green eyes. It brought new meaning to the expression, "hypnotyzing gaze." And he liked it.

"Wow." was all he could manage. "You're beautiful." She blushed, the red spreading across her cheeks. She had never been this close to Auron before in her life, and she saw him in a new light. His face, though battle worn and old, held wisdom and love. His cold shoulder often pushed her away, but now she saw him as the gentle man that had led Tidus himself through life with love.

She tried to look away, but couldn't. Auron did not wear his glasses, and she did not wear her goggles. Instead, they sat beside the dying fire staring into each others eyes as night broke and the sun began to rise.

**********

Yuna smiled gently, almost sadly, wishing she could feel; the same sort of love as Auron and Rikku obviously had for each other. She yawned quietly, and turned over to rest a while longer.

But not before whispering, just loud enough for those concious to hear, "Get a room, you two."

**********

Fin