Just a Cute Reunion-FFX Style
There was a knock on the door and Yuna jumped up from where she'd been sitting on the floor, dashing to open it.
"Ah! Rikku! It's been so long!" She beamed at her cousin, all braids, beads, and smiles. And as soon as Rikku stepped over the threshold, the reunion party started. It was half a reunion of the Summoner and her Guardians, and a half for the Gullwings. That half being Paine, Brother, Buddy, and Shinra. There were others there, like their partners, and of course, their many children.
"I know, I'm so happy for this reunion," Rikku hugged her cousin tightly, releasing her and turning quickly when there was a sharp cry of pain emitted behind her. She gasped, then smacked Gippal upside the head as she took little boy he'd been dangling upside down from him.
"What do you think your doing?!" she barked, cradling the little boy even as he tried to wiggle out of her grasp.
"All I did was mention that his scar was starting to look better, and he kicked me in the shin!" Gippal protested to the chastising tone to his wife's voice. Lulu, who was passing by with a tray of drinks looked at the 5 year old in Rikku's arms, paying special attention to the small raised scar on his right eyebrow, stopping right before it reached his emerald swirled eye. She chuckled at how similar it was to a certain Legendary Guardian, handing the tray off to Wakka and whispering in his ear what she was laughing about when she got a familiar glare from the little boy. Wakka understood what she meant instantly as he saw the glare directed at his wife, laughing himself.
"You know he doesn't like people saying anything about it!" Rikku yelled back, allowing her child to squirm out of her grip and wander to the other children playing on the living room floor. Shaking her head at the couple, Yuna walked away, knowing that despite all the arguing, Rikku and Gippal really did love each other. And, she suppressed a dark chuckle, I know three people in the immediate vicinity who would break his legs if he ever left her. With this thought she glanced at Tidus and Wakka, who had taken Rikku in as their younger sister ever since she crawled out of the Moonflow, and then at Brother, who was already treated her as a younger sister, because, well, she was. And one other person who would probably outright kill him. Yuna thought with a shudder. As if she could read her thoughts, Paine got up from the couch she was sharing with Baralai and walked to stand beside Rikku, glaring at Gippal until he caught the hint, shut up, and walked in.
Sudden crying from the middle of the room drew everyone's attention to Yuna's own children. Two little darling boys, one of which wasn't being so darling at the moment. "Jecht!" an exasperated Tidus strolled over to the two boys sitting on the floor. The older one had reached over and pulled away the cactuar doll his 2 year old brother had been holding, causing the victimized younger boy to start crying. "Jecht, give Braska back his--" Tidus burst out laughing, unable to even finish his sentence as Rikku's son had walked up to Jecht, who was shorter, despite being at least six months older, latched onto the toy firmly, and proceeded to shove Jecht's face until the other toppled backwards. Then he turned to Braska and handed him the toy, immediately stopping the waterworks and earning a loving smile from the pudgy faced babe.
"Tank you Aury." Braska giggled out in his babyish words, and Auron smiled back, then turned to glare at the spluttering Jecht, still on the floor. Jecht jumped to his feet and ran at Auron, but a swooping hand made sharp contact with his butt before he reached him, causing a yelp to erupt from the ornery boy.
"That spank was for taking Braska's toy, but there'll be more if you fight with Auron." Yuna said sternly to her eldest son. She still remembered the day Tidus had wandered over to a very pregnant her, head down and thoroughly embarrassed, asking if they could name their possible son Jecht. He'd burst out into a reasoning for it before he even noticed Yuna's beaming smile, and she'd had to say yes at least three times before the Blitzer was sure she meant it.
"Not that that scrawny little kid could do any damage to him…" Gippal muttered from where he was leaning on the wall next to the couch. Rikku, sitting beside him, slapped his leg.
"What was that!? My little boy could take Auron on any day!" Tidus said, outraged at what Gippal had said. Rikku started laughing at the hilarity of the words before it occurred to her that they were talking about her 5 year old son, and not the grizzled Legendary Guardian she'd had a small, girlish crush on during Yuna's Pilgrimage. For a second the sadness at losing the man that she'd looked up to, and grown to trust as a close friend, made her look down at her lap, but then she thought of Tidus' statement again and just had to laugh at the mental picture of his son standing up to Sir Auron. She threw her head back and laughed louder, bursting into giggles as Tidus deflated in confusion and some of the others, who were no doubt seeing the same mental image as Rikku, started laughing too.
Tidus looked around at everyone, still not understanding why they'd broken out into laughter when a 10 year old clone of Wakka, red swirly hair and all, tugged at his shirt. "Uncle Tidus? You promised you'd play Blitzball with me!" Vidina said crossly, glancing meaningfully at the backyard where a ball sat, looking sadly unused. Tidus' face softened and he looked to Yuna, asking for permission. She nodded and Vidina saw it as his cue to drag Tidus out the door before anyone could object. Wakka jumped up and ran out in front of them, snatching up the ball before Tidus got to it.
"Mind if I join?" Gippal asked, striding out to the three of them, followed closely by an interested Jecht.
"Yeah, sure, this'll give me a chance to kick you're a-Ahh! " Tidus fell back as he stared at the black burnt patch of grass where he'd just been standing.
"Thank you for not swearing in front of my child, Tidus." Lulu's voice drifted out from the kitchen, followed by titters from Rikku and Yuna.
"Hey Lai! Come out here!" Baralai stood up at Gippal's shout, patting the wide eyed, white haired girl that had been sitting in front of the couch, distancing herself from the others before he headed out to join his friend. Paine watched him go outside and almost immediately get beamed in the face by a way too energetic Gippal. Leaning back into the couch's cushions, she couldn't help but grin when Auron got up from his place by Braska's side and walked over to the girl leaning on Paine's knees. Rikku watched too, giggling when Auron asked little Eeria if she wanted to 'guard Braska?'
"Ok." Paine's little girl said, ignoring the hand Auron offered to help her up and following him back to Braska. They took up position on either side of him, scanning the room for 'possible trouble' the little five year olds had said when asked, and of course leaning in to tickle him every few minutes. The three Gullwing girls found it positively wonderful that they'd all given birth within the same year, though Paine hadn't expressed her feelings about it with anything near those words. Rikku and Yuna had been hoping at least one of them would have a girl, but were surprised that it was the least girly among them to finally have one.
Lulu re-entered the room with some sandwiches, handing them out to Paine, Rikku, Yuna, and Shinra, who were still in the room. Buddy had followed the guys out to play, as did Brother after Rikku had growled at him, having caught him glancing longingly at Yuna after Tidus had left the room. Lulu offered sandwiches to the older kids on the floor, but Auron and Eeria had politely abstained.
"We can't break our vigil, even for sustenance." Auron had said, doing a sweep of the room again in search of any threats. Eeria had just nodded as if to say "Ditto."
"I don't even know where he learns those words." Rikku said conversationally.
"Definitely not from Gippal." Paine said in her usual monotone, but everyone could see the smile curving her lips as she watched her daughter perform a daring attack on the fiend Auron had warned her about only a moment before. It just so happened that this fiend took on the form of another five year old boy with a towel tied around his neck like a cape, two straw-fangs dangling from his mouth and an upturned cup resting on his messy black hair. His mouth hung open and he was making animal noises at the two 'Guardians' while giving them a stiff legged Frankenstein walk.
Braska's eyes started to water when he caught sight of his older brother and Jecht quickly pulled the straws out of his mouth and dashed forward to kneel by him, not noticing as the cup fell off his head. "Don't cry, I was only kiddin around Braska!" the boy pleaded, ignoring the "Halt!" from Auron and Eeria. Braska sniffled a bit, then smiled again, reaching up to grab a hank of Jecht's hair and pulling harshly, giggling all the while like only a two year old with someone's hair in hand can.
Auron smirked, watching the little blonde boy Rikku had named after him do the same back in the world of the living. Next to him, Braska was smiling lovingly down at his grandchildren while Jecht slapped him on the back.
"Look! It's like a miniature version of our Pilgrimage!" Jecht laughed out loud when his little clone yelped in pain, then shoved at Auron Jr. for laughing at him for it. The little Jecht had then gone up to Eeria and said something barely understandable about proving his muscles and flexing his little arms until the blonde Auron had gotten back up and tackled him, easily pinning the slightly smaller boy. Eeria just crossed her arms and watched the scuffle, saying something that couldn't be heard over the shouts of mothers rushing to pull the two boys apart.
The three men grinned at each other, turning away from the edge of the cloud they'd been looking over into the world of the living, watching the reunion as if they'd been a part of it. Rikku suddenly looked up and out the window in their direction, slightly confused because she thought she'd seen the tail ends of a red cloak in the clouds above. She pointed it out to Yuna, and she in turn stared, confused when she saw a bit of a familiar flowered robe in the same cloud, and then a quick tanned hand popping up and waving before another lighter hand grabbed it and pulled it down behind the cloud. Both looked at each other, then back at the cloud, ear to ear smiles mirrored on their faces. And somehow, it felt like right then, the reunion was truly complete.
AN: Okay, so, I just randomly got the idea for this after finishing reading a Rippal fanfic. After reading quite a few FFX-2 based fanfics, I noticed that Auron is very seldom mentioned, despite Tidus' "death" being seriously mourned. As an Aurikku shipper, this kinda peeved meh, so I decided that Rikku would name her child (with Gippal of course, because lets face it, Auron's dead) after Auron. I mentioned briefly that Rikku had a crush on him, but this story was more along the idea that she highly respected him and really looked up to him, being the groups leader on the pilgrimage. Other than those little explanations of mine, hope I didn't OOC too much, didn't have this edited,(cause its 3:00 am ;) and don't hurt me for anything regarding Paine and Baralai or Eeria, cause I really don't know their characters that well. Please review! Oh, btw, this is my first fanfic…smiles sheepishly and hopes now more people will review Good, or bad, I need those reviews people!
Thanks for reading:)