A.N. Ok, since I needed a break from Through My Eyes, I'm doing this little one shot thing.
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 10. Or do I? Looks mysterious
Tidus blushed as he and Yuna walked back to camp. Auron was giving him, "The Look." That look had wilted flowers. He hated that look.
He jerked his attention back to Yuna. She was telling everyone about her renewed faith. Tidus didn't want to disagree, but he couldn't help but think about why.
Why was Yuna helping people who only wanted to make a villain of her? They were blaming her for Seymour's deception. That wasn't fair.
He resolved to ask someone about it later. He was very tired, and he needed energy for tomorrow. 'Swimming really takes it out of a guy,' he thought with a grin.
He woke up the next morning, to cold air, wet clothing, and a sight that made him want to burn out his own eyes with a red-hot poker.
Auron was sleeping next to him, drool dripping from his chin onto his pillow, tongue lolling out of his mouth, and Tidus quickly learned that male legs were not beautiful whether hairy, or smooth...then his attention turned to the human quail on the other side of him. He wondered briefly how Wakka got his hair to do that, then he was distracted by the fact that the leaves were shaking due to what Tidus had thought to be a tractor upon waking up. It was not. It was someone snoring.
Only problem was, Tidus wasn't sure if it was Auron, Wakka, or Rikku in the tent next door. He settled for all three, as all, as he had seen, had highly impressive nasal passages that allowed them to make a noise that was about the same amount of sound decibels as a jumbo airship taking off.
He got up quietly, wondering why he was bothering. He could make as much noise as he wanted, and still never wake up the tent-mates who were snoring. And as for the rest, if they could sleep through this, he could march through the camp, playing a trombone as loud as he could, and still not stir his companions even slightly.
He dressed and got out of the tent, Lulu, Yuna and Kimahri were all up already, eating breakfast. None of them looked half as frazzled as he felt. They all looked well-rested, and at least fairly cheerful. He envied them.
He sat down next to Yuna, and took the plate she gave him, despite the fact that he was not the slightest bit hungry.
He started to eat, then, after a few moments, heard rustling behind him.
Wakka, Rikku, and Auron had all apparently come out of their comatose state. Tidus grinned at Auron, and was rewarded with the Stare. That was worse than the Look. He turned back to his food, picking at it, as his appetite had completely abandoned him.
Later, Yuna stood up. "I'm ready when you all are," she announced. Everyone stood and grabbed their things, and they started out for the Calm Lands.
"Can we stop?" Rikku asked. Auron glared at her. "It's almost night, and I'm tired!" she whined.
"We keep going. We're almost on the path to Gagazet," he said.
Yuna's gentle voice cut in. "Auron, we've been traveling all day. I think we can take a night. It will be hard to rest on Gagazet. We need our sleep," she said.
Auron made a noise deep in his throat that no one could mistake for approval. "Alright. If we must, we must," he said finally.
Almost everyone breathed a sigh of relief, with a few exceptions of the more stoic members of the group.
The conversation as they ate was animated. Tidus decided then was a good time to ask Auron about Yuna, since as usual, the older man was standing quietly off to the side, drinking his sake.
Tidus ambled up to Auron, being careful to stay out of Auron's line of view, just in case the older man was in a foul mood.
"Hi Auron."
"What is it Tidus?" asked Auron in his usual stoic tone.
'Oh good. No bad moods here. Just really Auron ones,' thought the blond with relief.
"What do you want?" Auron said grumpily. Tidus rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. Maybe he had been wrong about the bad mood.
"Um...I wanted...to ask you about Yuna," he said sheepishly.
Auron raised a scarred eyebrow. "Go ahead," he said.
Tidus shifted from foot to foot nervously. Why was this so hard?! The question wasn't that embarrassing. But it was rather personal...
"Why does Yuna do it?" he finally spat out. Auron looked at him sharply.
"What?" he asked calmly.
"The pilgrimage. After all those people are making a criminal of her!" he said.
Auron didn't say anything for a long while. Finally he looked up and then at Tidus again.
"She feels a dedication to them, despite their short-comings. Braska was the same way. Where often-times I and Jecht would feel vexed at having to help those people that judged us, simply because I had refused marriage to a woman I did not love, Jecht was a former crook, and Braska had married an Al Bhed, Braska was forgiving, always telling us to be tolerant. It was a lesson well-learned. You will learn to forgive in time," Auron said.
Tidus nodded and walked off. Everything Auron had said rang true. He made a face. Still, how was it possible that sagely, stoic man was the same man who drooled in his sleep, and whose snore frightened Chimera out of the vicinity? He shook his head. Nothing ever made since.
Tidus stayed up, contemplating Auron's words, when a noise behind him startled him. He turned, hand on sword-hilt. "Oh hi Lu," he said. Lulu said nothing, which wasn't terribly unusual, but still. "Lu?" he said again, a little more loudly.
Then he realized why the woman was not answering. She was dead asleep. Tidus watched as she walked a little closer to where he was, and then past him.
"EEP! Lu! Watch the fire!" he yelped. When it became clear that the woman was too dead to the world to hear him, he jumped up, and tried to steer her away from the fire. Tidus' eyes watered as his own foot landed in the fire in his effort to keep the Black Mage from it.
Tidus fell to the ground, ripped off his shoe, and started trying to put out the fire that had spread to his pant leg by rolling on the ground. He watched Lu as she wandered aimlessly around the camp-site, never leaving the boundaries of the tents.
Tidus decided to help her back to her tent to spare himself another hideously burned foot and conscious.
He got up and assisted her into her resting place, making sure she was in bed and would stay that way.
As he left the tent, he heard someone say something. He turned and saw nobody in there sitting up. They were all sleeping peacefully.
He disregarded it, and started off again. Once more, he heard the mumbling.
Tidus went back into the tent, he walked by Rikku, whose snoring was slightly lighter than usual, Lulu, who had not risen again, then by Yuna, who, as always, was just as serene as always.
He smiled, then turned to leave, when he heard Yuna distinctly say, "No. No. No fishes please. The hamsters won't like it. NO!"
He turned, one eyebrow quirked quizzically. "Yuna?" he said quietly.
"No, dammit! Don't you see? The hamsters! They're breeding! They are breeding!" Yuna snapped, her eyes still closed.
Tidus stared. Hamsters? What did they have to do with diddly? He reached forward to hold Yuna's hand, hoping to calm her a bit.
As soon as his hand touched hers, Yuna shrieked and grabbed a rock off the ground next to her, chucking neatly at Tidus' head!
The boy ducked the rock, running out of the tent to Yuna's angered shrieks.
On his way out, he tripped over something on the ground. He looked down and saw Kimahri lying on the ground, sucking his furry, clawed, thumb and cuddling one of Lulu's Moogles close to his chest.
Tidus' eyes bugged at this disturbing spectacle. His brain would just not process the sight.
To top it off, he heard Yuna's frantic muttering from her tent, Lulu came out again, sleep walking, Rikku's snores got so loud Tidus thought that the warriors of Yevon would hear them for sure from Bevelle.
"I'm going to bed," Tidus said sullenly.
He walked into his tent and stared in horror. Wakka was snoring louder than Rikku, and the drool coming from Auron was getting to the point that Tidus feared he would drown himself.
As he laid down, he vowed silently to never, never, tell his friends what they did when they slept. The shock would kill them.
A.N. Wow. That came out of nowhere. Anyway, don't flame. I love all the characters that I made light of. Especially Auron. So I hope I amused you. Fare thee well!