Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Final Fantasy. If I did, half of the male Final Fantasy characters would be my personal love slaves. Just think of all the yaoi moments you could have if you owned them...

Chapter 10:Crashes and Crushes

She was sitting on a high cliff top, looking down at the turbulent water below. Rikku had been thinking about her decision to join her cousin on her journey. She just wanted to save her, and when her kidnapping attempt had been foiled, all she could think to do was to join her. If she was on the road with Yuna, then maybe she could stop her along the way. At least, that's what she'd been thinking before she found her way to this cliff overlooking the sea. It was so tall, it reminded her of the high tower at Home. And after her grueling day fighting fiends had left her with a limp and a million or so cuts up her arm, anything looking like Home was what she wanted.

She'd refused the treatment of her arm despite its bleeding in favor of wrapping it up. Not only was she in need of some new scars to prove to Brother and Vydran that she wasn't just sitting on her rump the entire pilgrimage, but Yunie had been panting by the time she'd gotten done healing Wakka's many puncture wounds. So she'd told her cousin it was nothing, poorly bandaged herself, and walked away quickly, without a limp. Or at least she hoped no one saw that step or two she half tripped over her tingling foot as she neared the cliff edge where she plopped down. She reasoned she had been far enough away by that time that no one was watching anymore, and thus didn't have to worry about anyone worrying over her.

It had been a good long time of her staring at the roiling waters splashing against the rock wall before there were quiet footsteps approaching her. Rikku turned her head to see the Legendary Guardian himself walk up to her and sit down. He carefully placed his blade at his side, crossing his legs instead of dangling them off the side like Rikku was. She smiled like she always did when making eye contact with someone and wasn't at all surprised to see him ignore her and keep staring out at the sun slowly falling into the sea. Eyes below her the whole time, she hadn't even noticed the lateness of the hour, but now that her senses were back on, she could smell a smoke from a fire, and the hearty smell of cooking meat. He must have come to tell her dinner was ready. How sweet.

…Or maybe not. He just sat there along with her, never turning his face from the horizon, even as the sun disappeared beneath the last wave crest. Rikku could kind of understand. I mean, I've been sitting here all this time staring at the waves, why can't he sit here for a few minutes and look at the sunset? They were nearing Guadosalam, and the increasing fiend attacks left little time to think. Not that, after five days of being in his silent company, Rikku thought Auron was being unusually quiet. If you thought Rikku was a talkative, loud, bubbly girl with a lot to say, then you could say Auron was her complete opposite in that regard. And they did say that. They being Tidus and Wakka, who liked to comment as much as she did, though what they said made even Rikku wince sometimes. It was usually some terrible comparison to Blitzball. If Rikku never heard the sentence "That's just like in Blitzball!" ever again, it would be too soon. It had been particularly annoying when she'd been trying to explain the process with which she modified weapons. Telling them through gritted teeth that, no, it wasn't just like Blitzball, hadn't seemed to help at all.

But really now… How long could he sit there saying nothing? He'd definitely proven himself to be solitary and didn't seem to need conversation to survive like she did, but this was too much. Silence was all fine and good while she was alone. Now that he was there, the need for some sort of noise other than nature was clawing at her. Despite the nice feeling she'd gotten with him just sitting there beside her, and the sureness that when she started talking he would leave, Rikku just couldn't help herself.

"Its really pretty, isn't it?" She said quietly, trying not to break the silence too harshly. There was no response. Had he heard? Does it matter? He could probably care less what I say. "It reminds me of home. There's this really high tower where I live, its even called 'The High Tower". For some reason this reminds me of it a whole lot. Its about this tall, only there isn't any water below, its all sand." Rikku knew telling outsiders about the Al Bhed's secret home was a big no-no, but she thought talking about it would be fine. As long as she didn't give away anything about the location, then no one could find it anyway. Not that Yevonites visited Bikanel all that often. "I decided to climb it one day, because I was sure if I got all the way to the top, I'd be able to find-" she stopped herself a little too quickly, and Auron, who had until now been staunchly ignoring the talkative girl, turned to look at her. "To find something important, that I lost…" she ended lamely, but bravely continued on. "So I got all the way to the top of it, where it was rounded. I had to crawl out a window on one of the terraces along the outside of the High Tower and climb the rest of the way on the pipes. I can't remember exactly, but I must have been at least 4 or 5… Well, I guess I knocked off a pipe or two on my way up, and my brother noticed, so he followed me up to the terrace and started shouting for me to come down. Later he told me he was scared out of his mind." Rikku giggled a little, remembering how Keyakku would hug her tightly and whisper to her never to do anything like that again each time he told the story.

"By the time he got up there, I already realized I couldn't find who I was looking for and was ready to go back down. Of course, those pipes Keyakku had seen falling weren't there for my descent, so I slipped and rolled off the tower, fell a good 10 or 12 feet, and got my pants leg caught on an edge. My favorite pair of pants were ruined, but it saved my life. Keyakku was able to get me down from there and took me to a doctor. He told me it was downright miraculous I hadn't been injured, but my Vydran made sure to remedy that as soon as he got me into my room. Ha ha. I can still remember how mad he was when he was beating my little rump red." Rikku laughed and looked back down at the ocean. Auron said nothing, looking back out at the horizon, sunless as it was now.

Rikku hadn't wanted to tell the older man that the stupid stunt had been a childish attempt to find her mother. The High Tower hadn't been high enough to give her a glimpse of her dead mother, though she'd seen around Home for miles upon miles. A single tear slipped past her defenses and ran down her cheek. It had been then that she had realized her mother couldn't be gotten to. She'd understood what her father had meant by "-not here anymore." Quickly rubbing at her face with her arm, she forgot it was injured and yelped as it scraped against her sand paper dry skin.

"Give me your arm." Rikku's head shot up at the gruff voice. It was the first thing he'd said to her all day. "It's bleeding again." She looked down at it, then back at him, and nodded. It was. The bandage must have unraveled when she'd been sitting there. Now that she noticed it, she saw a puddle of blood around where her hand had been positioned behind her, holding up her leaned back weight. It must have been bleeding for a while. Had that been his reason for coming over? By now it was obvious that it wasn't for food, since the meat could still be smelled cooking, and the others had yet to call for them. She held her arm out to him, wiggling herself closer so he could reach it.

Holding it up in one large hand, Auron swiftly undid what was left of her bad wrap job, then slowly and delicately re-wrapped her arm, cutting off the bleeding as soon as he was done. The way he held her arm so gently made Rikku rethink most of what she thought of him up till now. Sure, she knew he was nice enough to help random girls being attacked by fiends in blitzball stadiums, but as for anything else? Nuh-uh, nope, he was a jerk. A big old meanie who didn't care about anything except to push everyone on faster and faster to Yunie's flashy suicide. It hadn't really helped Rikku's happy feelings towards him that she was woken up bright and early every morning. And for the cousin of aforementioned 'suicider', Rikku couldn't help but feel a twisted kind of hate for the Legendary Guardian, who didn't seem to care about anything past Yuna sacrificing herself. He had been pushy, mean, uncaring, didn't talk much, didn't seem to enjoy the flowers she collected for everyone one morning, seemed to think she was an idiot, and oh, did she mention, didn't talk much? Because to Rikku, that was a great offense. Speech was what made the world go 'round.

But now he was throwing off her five days worth of preconceptions. And he hadn't dropped her arm yet! Was he going to say something to her? He looked like it. She hoped she wasn't blushing, but she knew she was. Sure, he seemed like a jerk, but a very hot and muscley jerk. "Thanks." Rikku said with a smile, getting a grunt in return. Did she expect anymore? She snorted lightly. No! This is Auron we're talking about! What, is he supposed to propose his undying love for me, smooch smooch smooch? As if to add to her thoughts, Auron stood in a jerky movement, reached down for his sword, then was headed back off to camp. He stopped before too far and spoke, obviously to her.

"It wasn't as serious as I thought this time, but next time," He turned and let his glasses slide a little down his nose, looking her right in the eye. "Tell Yuna. You never know when fiends will attack." She nodded, and he continued on. Rikku, watching, saw him take a seat near Kihmari and begin polishing his sword. It was like his retreat. Anytime Rikku heard him talking, he could soon after be found polishing that infamous sword. A few minutes later and Tidus was yelling for her to come eat. Rikku stood up and stretched, careful to keep weight off of her injured leg, though the dull throb it had before was gone.

He was worried about me… How nice… Rikku thought, remembering the feeling of that rough glove on her skin. It had felt a lot better than a worn leather glove on tender skin should feel. A light blush later, and Rikku was yelling something incoherent into the wind over the cliff. She'd said it so fast and loud, she couldn't understand it either. The whole party looked up suddenly at her, visibly relaxing when they saw she wasn't being mauled by an angry chimera. The looks she got gave Rikku reason to believe she would be chastised about it later, but for the moment she felt a lot better. Stretching once more, this time with relieved smile, she limped back to the camp, immediately asking Yuna if she felt up to healing yet. She couldn't help a quick glance at Auron, and- was he smiling?

Meanwhile, the little Al Bhed's voice reverberated off the cliff and water, and echoed unheard by any nearby humans over the crash of waves and wind. "I do not have a crush on a Yevonite!!"

AN: Ahh, another late chapter. So much for updating every week. That doesn't seem to be working so well for me, so I apologize to anyone who might have been waiting for a new chapter. Don't know where I was coming from, or going with this chapter. I just wanted to explain some of Rikku's life before the Pilgrimage. And what better way to do that then to tell Auron about it? Looking at the word count, seems I've broken another personal record, though I've gotta say most of this was just gibberish. Other than that, I'm having serious doubts about my ability to write romance, so please bear with me through this phase of trial and error on my part. Thanks everyone for reading! Please review if you have time!