Author's Notes: I'm not going to repeat that again. :D

Oh, and I lied…there's some Al Bhed in this chapter.  Whoops.  Just goes to show you that you should never take my words too seriously. *giggle*

And again, thanks for the reviews!  I feel so loved. ^.^

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"Hey…"

            Tidus lazily opened one eye.  He was too tired to question what Kaisa was doing in his room, or even how she got there.  The girl was leaning against the wall, arms crossed.  She looked a bit concerned.  "Are you okay?"

            "Yeah," he responded, rubbing his eyes.  "Besides having most of my gil taken."

            Kaisa shrugged.  "Rin'll do that to you."  She walked over and sat on the bed.  "Anyway, Cid told me that I was supposed to go with you to Mount Gagazet."

            "Great," he muttered under his breath.

            "What'd you say?"

            "Nothing, nothing!"

            She nodded.  "All right then.  We leave immediately."

            "I don't get to sleep a little longer?"

            "No."

            "Dammit," he cursed to himself.  He slowly got to his feet, picking up his sword, and followed her out of the room.

            "Kuut milg, Kaisa!"

            "Dryhgc!" she responded, smiling at the two twin girls.  Tidus noticed that the girls had blue eyes instead of the usual green Al Bhed eyes.

            "Pnehk ic pylg cusa bnacahdc!" the girl with the ponytail piped.

            "Oayr! Mudc!" the short haired girl chimed in.

            Kaisa chuckled and said, "E'mm caa fryd E lyh tu."  She looked over at the counter and waved, "Mydan, Rin! Yht damm Rikku poa vun sa!"

            Rin nodded, not looking up from his magazine.  "Oib. Ryja vih." He did take enough time to look up and glare at Tidus.  "Vaam vnaa du gelg rec ycc ev ra tuac yhodrehk cicbeleuic."

            She sighed and shook her head.  "Frydajan."  She gave one last wave before turning to leave.

            Once they were out of the inn, Tidus turned to her and asked, "Who were those two little girls?"

            "Chaika and Chayaki," Kaisa responded.  "You can tell them apart because Chayaki has short hair."

            "Oh."  Tidus was tempted to tell her about the cherry bomb in the toilet, but thought it'd be wise to conveniently not mention it.

            The two walked in an uncomfortable silence to the entrance of the caves of Gagazet.  When they got there, Kaisa paused to check her inventory.  She glanced sideways at Tidus.  "You properly equipped and everything?"

            "Yes, mother," he teased lightly.

She rolled her eyes at him and equipped the proper armor on herself.  "Let's go then."

"Ma'am," he responded, mocking her slightly.  She appeared not to notice.

They encountered a few fiends on the way, defeating them without too much trouble.  Tidus had to admit that the Al Bhed was a skilled fighter with her katal.  She had also learned a bit of black and white magic, but they were all low level spells.

So, naturally, they were screwed when they ran into a Behemoth.

"Cred," Kaisa exclaimed, looking panicked. "Ur cred, ur cred, urcredurcredurcred..."

"Awwwww, DAMMIT!" Tidus groaned.  "Where's an aeon when you need one?"  He forgot momentarily that the fayth had disappeared after Yevon's defeat.

The Al Bhed took one look at him and said, "Run."

"Don't have to tell me twice!"  He grabbed her wrist and started sprinting off as fast as he could.  She seemed to keep up with him pretty easily, as amazing as it might have seemed.

Unfortunately, so did the Behemoth.

"We're not going to last much longer if we keep running!" Kaisa gasped out.

Tidus gripped the hilt of the Caladbolg.  "Then we'll have to fight as long as we can!"  He stopped running, only to have the Behemoth slam into him from behind.

Kaisa gasped, quickly using an Al Bhed Potion on him before attacking it herself.  The beast howled and whipped itself around, striking her across her trunk and abdomen.  She grunted and doubled over in pain.  Tidus knew that she had rendered unconscious, and was forced to make a decision: fight the Behemoth and risk both of their lives, or try to run from it again in an attempt to save the both of them.

He decided on the latter.  Quickly scooping up her body in his arms, he sprinted faster than he ever had in his life away from the Behemoth.  He saw the entrance of the cave and nearly cried out in joy, knowing that he'd be safer once he got there.  The fiend was still hot on his tracks, though.

Just a little further, he repeated over and over to himself.  You'll be home free in a few yards…

He burst through the entrance of the cave, just barely ahead of the Behemoth.  He took note that a plethora of Ronso was at the opening, and all of them immediately began attacking the fiend.

Being the graceful swordsmen he was, he stumbled and toppled over while that distracted him.  When he had finally stopped rolling, he discovered that he had lost his grip on his companion and was now kneeling over top of her.  His mind went blank, rendering him stupid for a while.

She's awfully pretty, his mind was telling him.  Her lips were parted and, although she was out cold, they seemed to be inviting him to kiss them.

Tidus shook his head.  It doesn't matter.  I love Yuna.  Nothing can change that.  He gazed at Kaisa.  Besides, you KNOW that if you started something with anyone other than Yuna that they'd only be used as a weak substitute.  What's the point?  He rolled away and turned his attention to the Ronso.  They had seemed to defeat the Behemoth without much trouble, and were now in the process of healing each other.

"Girl okay?" a deep voice asked.  Tidus looked up to see Kimahri's familiar face, but the Ronso didn't appear to be surprised that the young man was back.  "Tidus seem fine.  No injuries?"

"Nah, I'm fine.  She," he added, jerking his head in Kaisa's direction, "seems fine, but I don't know.  Might want to check her out…I'm no medical expert, y'know."

Kimahri nodded.  "Kimahri get Bur and Nuy to help girl.  Tidus stay until Zev is done.  Zav escort Tidus to a place to rest."

"I can walk fine, Kimahri," Tidus pointed out.

"Kimahri not want Tidus to hurt self.  Tidus could be hurt but not know.  Tidus stay safer this way."  The Ronso turned and began to walk away.  He stopped just long enough to say to Tidus, "Kimahri will visit Tidus later."

"Ummm…bye!"  He scratched the back of his head.  His tall, cat-like friend was still as aloof as ever.

--

            A few hours later, Kimahri set foot inside the cave that the two humans were in.  Tidus looked up from his spot by the fire and gave him a small grin.  The Ronso didn't respond, instead staring in Kaisa's direction.  "How bad?" he asked Nuy.

            "Cuts, not too deep," Nuy responded.  He looked down at Kaisa's sleeping form.  "May leave scars.  Not serious."

            "Good.  You leave."

            Nuy regarded his superior curiously, but nodded and rose, leaving the cave to the three of them.  Kimahri approached the young woman cautiously before settling down next to her.  He kept a watchful eye on her, much like he did when he was guarding Yuna.

            Kaisa stirred.  Her eyes slowly opened.  As she adjusted to her surroundings, she shivered.  "It's cold," she murmured, clutching the blanket that was around her tightly.

            Kimahri said nothing; he just pulled the girl into a sitting position and pulled her in to his side.  He wrapped one massive arm around her to help her get warm.  He gazed over at Tidus.  "You come too."

            "Errr…okay."  Tidus made his way to them and sat next to Kimahri.  He was a little reluctant to let him wrap his furry arm around his shoulders, in case someone should walk in and get the wrong impression, but decided that it was too cold to worry about that sort of thing.  "So, uh, Kimahri…"

            "Quiet.  Girl sleeping."

            "Oh…"  Tidus lowered his voice.  "Kimahri, where's Yuna?"

            "Yuna in Bevelle," Kimahri responded.  "Working hard to restore order to Spira.  Yuna maintaining new groups."

            "New groups?"

            "No more Yevon.  People not know where to turn.  Many go to New Yevon."

            "Oh…okay."  That was all that Tidus needed to know.  He decided that he'd go to Bevelle, preferably alone.  In the mean time, he figured that he might as well catch up on the times with Kimahri.  "I see that Gagazet has really come back."

            Kimahri nodded.  "Took long time to repopulate."

            Tidus looked over.  "Now that Kelk is gone, who is your leader?"

            "Kimahri is."

            "Oh, cool…is that because of your being a guardian to Yuna and all?"

            The Ronso sat in silence for a while.  "Kimahri has the most mates."

            "WHAT!?"

            He grunted and started to explain, "Ancient way of Ronso.  Ronso with most mates would be alpha male.  Not used for several centuries."

            Tidus made a face.  "So how many mates do you have…?"

            "Fourteen.  Forty-six pups."

            "But Kimahri, isn't that wrong…?  I mean, don't you think that you should only have one mate…?"

            "One mate, Ronso population not grow.  Several, Ronso population skyrocket."  Kimahri grunted again.  "Now that Ronso population is up, Kimahri settled down with permanent mate.  If Ronso population go down, Kimahri have more mates."

            That's just sick, Tidus found himself thinking.  He felt guilty, but it was just so…different than how humans did things.  It was sort of a relief that he had found a "permanent mate".  He just hoped that the Ronso population didn't go down anytime soon.

--

            "Tidus be okay?"

            "Yeah, I'll be fine.  Thanks, Kimahri."

            "Kimahri will go along if Tidus need help," the Ronso pointed out.  "Calm Lands hard to get across alone."

            He waved his hand dismissively.  "Don't worry about it.  I'll get a chocobo and I'll be fine.  Just make sure you get Kaisa back to Rin's place, alright?"

            "Kimahri understand."

            The blonde grinned and waved before turning and walking away, towards the Calm Lands.

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Comments and constructive criticism are welcome.  I'd be grateful if you guys would review…I'd like to know what parts of the story you like or how I can improve my writing style. ^^

Sorry this is a short chapter.  I'm having writer's block. o_x;;

~ Laurzie ~