Blatherings: Bwahaha! I are bad aren't I? *humina, humina*

Oh, and Year Nine will be expanded a wee bit from the usual four chapters to accommodate all the stuff in my head *winces at groans from the audience* come on... put up with me for a while longer... you can do it!






Otherworld Year Nine: Chapter 2




A wash of pre-dawn light crawled through the windows, painting the walls and ceiling in shadowed color, the ghostly shapes of a dresser and chair across from the bed standing like silent sentinels. Somewhere nearby was the faint ticking of a clock and beyond that, the muted sounds of the city outside and the hypnotic thrum of the ocean as it made its relentless journey toward the shore.

Auron lay on his back, his right arm folded behind his head, his left wrapped around Isabo's sleeping form... her warmth cradled against his side, one pale hand resting on the slow rise and fall of his chest.

He had not thought it possible, that he could feel this peaceful and contented. He did not know how long these feelings would last, but he intended to stay right here and drink them in. His spirit felt like a thirsty sponge as it absorbed the night just passed, and these first wakeful moments with Isabo beside him.

They had first shared themselves with one another in a frenzied, desperate act. But then had begun anew... slower and with more tenderness until finally they had drifted into sleep, entangled in the bed sheets and each other's arms.

Before last night, he believed all the doors had been thrown open in the house of his soul. But his feelings for Isabo had discovered this well-guarded, unexplored room that still wanted to share something with someone... and oh, it was so bright and welcoming inside that small space... so beautiful.

"So beautiful." He whispered out loud, looking down at the woman clutched to him in a protective embrace.

Then Isabo began to stir, her breathing indicating she was coming awake and Auron felt a twinge of disappointment. He wanted more of this comforting feeling of her sleeping softly against him.

"Hello there." Isabo said in a throaty whisper, a warm, sleepy smile on her lips as she snuggled in closer against Auron's solid body with a deep sigh.

"Good morning." Auron replied in a first-words-of-the-day roughness, his hand dropping to her hip then running up her side, hugging her toward him for a moment.

Isabo raised her head from Auron's shoulder to look at him, his dark hair a wild halo around his care-worn face that moved to meet her gaze, and she thought she could spend eternity like this... losing herself in the world beyond his eye. "This kind of negates our little agreement, doesn't it?" She said quietly.

"Yes, it does." Auron replied in the same tone, wondering how this new scenario would play itself out. They were no longer merely friends, that much was certain.

Isabo sighed and brushed a hand across her face then said... "I refuse to ruin a perfectly wonderful moment by talking about it right now, if that's okay, but... we do need to talk about this."

"Whatever makes you comfortable." Auron reassured, bringing his hand up to stroke her hair.

You make me comfortable she wanted to say, but didn't. Never willing to take anything too seriously, even a moment as filled with feeling as this was, Isabo decided it was time to lighten the mood. "Speaking of comfortable, my whole body feels like gelatin and it's all your fault, Auron. Well... what do you have to say for yourself?" She asked with a crooked smile as she reached up and brushed his dark hair back from his forehead.

"That's how it's done." He answered with a confident smirk, his eye sparkling with wry humor.

Vibrant laughter echoed off the wall above the bed as Isabo rolled onto her back, holding a hand against her stomach to ease the spasms. "Oh, you really are something." She said still laughing, then propped herself up on one elbow as she absently ran her hand across the hard musculature of Auron's chest. "Hungry?"

"For what?" Came his husky reply.

"Food." She smiled.

"Oh... that. I suppose."

"Come on then, let's take a shower and I'll make you some breakfast. I have an appointment in a few hours." Isabo said with a heavy sigh, brushing a kiss against Auron's mouth then rising from the bed and extending her hand.

"As do I." Auron replied, releasing a sigh of his own and taking her hand to haul himself up from the bed.

"Showers can be nice too." She whispered, stepping close to him and reaching up to cross her wrists behind his neck, curling his unbound hair around one slender finger.

"Can they." He replied, his strong hands coming to the small of her back to bring her against him.

************

Batting the ball overhand, Tidus brought his leg up as the ball came back at him off the side of the houseboat and kicked it high with the side of his foot, putting just the right amount of spin on the ball as he gracefully leapt into the air in a high-flying manoeuver... spinning like a dervish for a moment then suddenly losing his momentum and sight of the ball, hitting the deck hard as he came back down.

"Damnit." Tidus swore under his breath, getting to his feet as he rubbed his sore backside.

"Keep trying, you'll get it one of these days." Came a familiar gravely voice from behind him, Tidus turning to train his intense blue eyes on the man-in-red.

Auron had made a daily habit of these early meetings for a long time now... the old guy constantly checking up on him, then sharing a cup of morning tea with Breese, to ask more questions and he was getting pretty sick of it.

"I can take care of myself, Auron. You don't need to come here every day." Tidus exclaimed harshly, knowing he was taking his frustrations out on Auron but unable to stop himself.

"Believe me, there's somewhere else I'd rather be right now, but you're not nearly as grown-up as you think you are and sixteen-year-olds require... vigilance." Auron replied, unmoved by the rebuff.

"Yeah, maybe. But that doesn't mean I have to like it." Tidus retorted with a deep frown.

"No, you don't. But you are in my care and you will remain so, for as long as I draw breath. Your feelings on the matter mean little to me one way or the other." Auron said in a cold monotone.

"Why? Why have you always been so stubborn about this... I just don't get it." Tidus said, his voice rising in emotion as he swiped at the air in front of him.

"It's quite simple. I made a promise and I intend to keep it." Auron replied calmly, turning to one side to fix his unwavering eye on the Blitzer.

Though he didn't say it, Tidus somehow knew Auron was talking about his old-man. He had never much questioned Auron's presence in his life, but lately, he had really started to wonder about what their real connection had been, cause friendship just didn't cut it. There was a lot more to it than that. Not that it mattered. Auron never told him anything.

Groaning in impatience, Tidus decided to give up for now. "Nevermind, do whatever you want... I don't care. I'm going to be late for practice." He said, then abruptly turned and walked away, tucking the blitzball under one arm as he left.

Auron silently watched him go then turned to the door, a regretful sigh escaping him. It seemed most of their conversations these days were nothing more than combative tirades and he supposed that was as much his doing as the boy's. He never had believed he was going to be any good at this, and he was more right than wrong, he thought bitterly.

************

Arriving precisely on time as usual, Auron was surprised at the lack of activity in the shop... Gabe leaning lazily against the counter with the morning paper spread out before him, a mug of coffee in one hand the other absently stroking Ron's fur... the cat inconveniently lolled across his reading surface.

"This is an unexpectedly peaceful scene." Auron said, joining Gabe at the counter.

Gabe looked up and smiled a greeting. "Yeah, I'm staying closed today, so you've got the day off."

"To what do I owe this respite?" Auron enquired, looking down at Ron for a moment as the feline meowed a greeting of his own.

"Sahna. She wants to go shopping." Gabe explained with a sour face. "An activity that requires her husband to act as a damned pack-animal."

Auron chuckled. "A fate truly worse than death."

"Tell me about it." Gabe groaned.

At the sound of a door sliding open from above, the threesome of males turned their heads to look above them, as Remie walked to the railing and slung his arms over the side. "Hey Auron, wanna go to the beach?"

"Sure, why not." Auron replied in an uncharacteristically carefree manner.

Gabe raised an eyebrow at Auron's response. He's certainly in a good mood this morning, he thought. Will wonders never cease.

************

Auron and Remie moved along the road at a leisurely pace, their bared torso's glistening with sweat.

Damn these Zanarkand summers anyway, Auron thought. The heat that collected in all the metal and tarmac made for serious discomfort... the swelter making it difficult to breathe.

"That was a good workout." Remie commented, rotating one shoulder and wincing slightly as his muscles cried out in protest.

"It was indeed." Auron replied, adjusting his sword across his bare back, thinking how good a long, cool shower was going to feel then smiling to himself... personal hygiene having taken on a whole new meaning in the last twenty-four hours.

"I'm so hungry, I could eat a blitzball." Remie said with a grin.

"I've heard there's quite a bit of protein in one of those." Auron responded in amusement, as they passed a group of men loitering along the far side of the roadway, leaning against the low wall that guarded the road's soaring height from the water below.

"Borda, look... isn't that the guy who sent you up?" One of the men asked, inclining his head. What he was really thinking, was that it was the guy who had turned Borda into frog-man, but he wasn't about to say that out loud.

Borda whipped his head in the direction the man was indicating, his eyes narrowing, as he studied the two figures on the roadway just up ahead. "Well, well, well, if it isn't my old pal from the bar." Borda croaked through his ruined larynx, as he drew a switchblade from his pocket and smiled, thumbing the release... the blade locking upright with a metallic click.