Disclaimer - I do not own Final Fantasy X-2, any of it's characters or anything to do with Square-Enix. If I did, I don't think I'd need to still be in school.
So I did say that I'm not a very reliable updater and I think I kinda proved it. I will try to get the next chapter up more quickly than I did with this one, but with the amount of homework and coursework my teachers are giving me I can't guarantee it. And thank you to my first reviewer, Yuna of Besaid, your words mean a lot to me. And don't worry about Baralai, he's still in one piece. Just. Jess X
Chapter 2
Oh Brother
"Oh, you two must be sisters."
The only sentences that Lulu hated to hear more than that one were those which contained crude comments about her generously sized chest. She rarely received many remarks about it anymore. People tend to keep their mouths shut after you've attacked them with several firaga spells.
In her mind, she and Paine barely resembled each other. Yes, they both had scarlet eyes, ashen skin tones and a tendency to wear black clothing, but that didn't mean they were automatically related.
The rest of the world disagreed though. From their point of view they were sisters. In actual fact they were cousins.
Lulu exhaled deeply and began plucking the petals off a dandelion that was growing in a clump next to where she was sat. They were a common sight in the quad; LHS didn't really have the greatest outdoor maintenance budget. Some might say it was cruel to damage a plant like she was, but to be honest; Lulu was doing the school a favour. And anyway, it was only a weed.
She wished she was closer to Paine. Most of her relatives were happily wandering the Farplane so it made sense to be close to those still alive. The trouble was that neither she nor her cousin was the happy, open type of person who could feel at ease with anyone. They were the opposite.
Lulu glanced over to where Yuna was carefully helping a dazed Rikku to her feet. In an ideal world, she and Paine would be like them: constantly cheerful; practically inseparable and they'd have the ability to tell one another everything.
But Spira wasn't an ideal world so she'd just have to be content with the way things were.
Lulu plucked another dandelion and proceeded to pull off its petals. As each one fell, the echo of a smile became ever more visible on her face.
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Baralai admired the view of the back of Paine as she strode across the quad on her quest for revenge. His position wasn't the greatest, lying on his front with his body half in and half out of the bushes, but he could still appreciate what he saw.
Yevon he loved that girl, even though the black eye she'd given him stung like a bitch. Still, that was her way of showing love.
Baralai, Gippal and Nooj had come up with a theory: the more Paine hurt you, the more she loved you. It seemed to explain her personality. Paine never gave hugs, preferring to punch people on the arm, pinch their cheeks or slap them on the shoulder.
They seemed to forget that she attacked them after ever situation they screwed up.
And there was one fact in particular that Baralai tried to erase from his head. That Paine seemed to get the most pleasure from beating up Gippal.
He gingerly stood up, wincing slightly as the pain in his side made itself known. His clothes were covered in a soil like dust so he brushed himself down before heading towards the toilets to inspect the damage.
As he crossed the quad a thought suddenly popped up in his mind. He could go and tell their target about why they constantly attacked her with blitz balls every lunchtime. That would teach Gippal not to mess with him.
He didn't do it though; he couldn't betray a friend like that.
'Baralai, just remember. You are not jealous. I repeat, you are not jealous.'
Seriously, who was he trying to kid?
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Despite the fact that she had a pair of freshly grazed knees and a twisted ankle, Rikku plonked herself down onto the grass with a thud and flattened any remaining dandelions that Lulu may have wanted to depluck.
Her cousin shook her head and raised her eyebrows at her friend as she gracefully positioned herself besides Lulu.
Rikku couldn't wait to reveal her amazing news to them but instead she was faced with a pair of intense and fairly anxious stares.
"I know I asked you before Rikku as I helped you up, but are you sure you're OK?
Yuna's face was so full of concern that Rikku couldn't help smiling, not that she didn't smile much anyway. She knew she was lucky to have such a great cousin.
"Yup yup. Just another pair of ripped leggings but I can easily buy some more," she replied, forgetting that she'd already spent all her Gil on a new movie sphere, Zaon and Yunalesca.
"Are you certain? No headaches or concussion or anything?"
"Yuna, calm down. It was only a fall, and I highly doubt many people would be able to differentiate a concussed Rikku from a normal one."
Lulu chose to ignore the glare she received from Rikku and continued.
"You realise that this is the third time this month you've fallen over."
A puzzled expression swept across Rikku's face.
"But it's only the third of the month today."
"Exactly."
A short silence fell between them during which Lulu started picking at blades of grass due to the absence of a nearby patch of weeds, Rikku inspected the new cuts on her knees, and Yuna thought of something to say.
"I think what Lulu is trying to say is that maybe you should wear more suitable
shoes to school."
She looked pointedly at the platform wedge sandals.
"Or maybe she should be more aware of the armed and dangerous boys in the bushes."
The look of complete and utter bewilderment on Rikku's face told Lulu that she needn't bother to explain. She'd find out someday, if the blitzballs hitting her on the head didn't destroy all her brain cells.
"So, why were you rushing over here in such a hurry in the first place?"
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The third floor corridor of the main school building seemed like an ordinary place. It had: the regulation fire extinguishers; a drinking fountain ; the classrooms used for Spiran and Minor Culture studies (Ronso, Guado and Hypello); and a whole wall which lockers were lined up against.
The only thing making it unique this lunchtime was that one of the lockers appeared to be having a conversation with itself.
"I can't believe I agreed to let you in here when there was barely any room to begin with. And stop making so much noise."
"Sorry, but it's rather difficult when half your limbs are made of metal."
"Actually they're not. They're made from polypropylene terephthalate. It's a mixture of plastic and metal fibres that gives the appearance of metal but it's much lighter."
"I stand corrected. Are you sure there are holes in this locker because I'm finding it quite hard to breathe?"
"Abso-positively certain."
The locker ceased to talk when it heard the tell tale clip-clop of Paine's killer Goth boots.
She tutted loudly as she stalked down the hallway, taking every step slowly to create more suspense. After three years the boys still believed she didn't know about their secret hiding place, Gippal's locker.
Paine reached out for the dial and gradually began turning it to the right numbers.
16 - the age Gippal was.
21 - the age he wanted to be.
And 7 - the number of times Gippal had won Spira's machina invention award for under 18s.
Just as she was about to turn the dial to 7 the bell rang, signalling the end of lunch. Paine sighed.
"Well boys, looks like you've been saved by the bell. You might not be so lucky next time."
And with that she walked away, leaving Nooj and Gippal stuck in the locker.
"You do realise that we can't get out unless someone from outside opens the door. If Paine doesn't, then who will?"
The corridor was filled with a deafening cry of, "Oh Cred!"
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"So, you know how when I moaned to Pops about how bad a sibling Brother is and how it would be super-awesome if I got a new one and he went to social services and asked about fostering…"
Rikku was finally sharing her news with the girls and she was so excited that she appeared to forget about the existence of sentences.
"Yes."
Lulu was trying her best to sound apathetic when really she was quite eager to see hear about why Rikku was so hyped up.
"Well yesterday we got a call saying that they've got someone who said they'd like to stay with us. He's arriving on Sunday night."
"He?" exclaimed Yuna.
"Yup, I'm getting another brother, but this one's gonna be awesome. I can't
remember his name but I know I begins with Tide, but the I is pronounced as E for some reason. Ohh, and he's from Zanarkand, and he's your age Yunie."
The piercing sound of the bell echoed through the quad, so the girls stood up before heading to afternoon registration.
"He sounds wonderful already Rikku. I'm sure he'll fit right in."
"Awww, thanks Yunie."
All three of them began thinking about this mysterious tide-boy during the afternoon.
In Machina Engineering, Rikku began planning all the totally cool things she would have to show him when he arrived in Luca. She was so distracted by it than when she was using the welding torch, she didn't notice that sparks were landing on her design book, causing it to catch fire.
Yuna was thinking about all the helpful things she could do to help him fit in and whether or not she should draw him a map of the school to ensure that he didn't get lost. Her Yevonite Studies teacher wasn't impressed when she answered that Yevon's only child was called Rikku's new brother.
And Lulu? During Theory of Black Magic, a dull class at best, she was wondering why on Spira social services would let Cid look after his own children, let alone someone else's. The poor boy had no idea what he'd signed up for.
She felt sorry for him. Almost.
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AN - So if you didn't know already, Tidus' name is pronounced Tee-dus, not Tie-dus. That's beacause in Japanese, i is most of the time pronounced as an e, and e is pronounced like an a. Tidus' voice actor said in an interview that the pronounciation of his character's name was the first thing they told him. Remember, all reviews are welcome, even if it's just ' I like it' or 'good'.
