Misplaced

By: Rikkoshaye

Disclaimer: I do not own nor claim to own any of the characters in Final Fantasy X, or anything Final Fantasy related. Do not sue me, unless you want a moldy cookie and a few pennies.

Updated August 8th, 2007

- - - - -

- Shop 'till you Drop -

"Hey Sara, what's this?" Sighing for what had to be the umpteenth time, I turned to Rikku slowly. In her hand she held a pickle jar, all of which were cut into little hamburger slices. Her eyes boggled at the sight, and I watched patiently as she poked the glass a little.

"Those are called pickles. They are cucumbers canned with special seasonings. They taste good on hamburgers, actually." I stated mildly, grabbing a some ketchup from a shelf.

Pushing the cart down the isle I sighed, glad my mom and dad had gave me extra money to go shopping with before they left on their trip to Las Vegas. According to their schedule, they wouldn't be back for another ten days. Plenty of time to get my seven guests back into their video game. Right?

"WHOA! POP!" Slowing my cart to a screeching halt, I turned toward the voice that could only be Tidus. After the orange incident, he had managed to keep out of trouble. So far, that is. Passing Rikku, who was still marveling at the pickles, I turned the isle corner and found Tidus looking up at the soda display with wide eyes.

"Hey, get out of there!" I said, grasping his arm quickly and pulling him away. I already knew what squished oranges looked like. I didn't want to find out what squished pop cans looked like, too.

"Gees, gruuuummpy!" Tidus muttered, shoulders hunched. Stomping back to the cart, he looked at me darkly. Then, grumbling, he pouted while joining Rikku, who was now marveling over a jar of baby pickles.

'He acts younger than me...' I thought, shaking my head. Picking up a few more condiments I threw them into the cart, and continued my shopping.

- -

"What kind of move was that, ya?" Wakka asked, hand rubbing his shin absentmindedly.

After Auron had figured out what all the buttons on the remote did, he had found that the TV had some sort of guide on it. Not really knowing what to pick, he decided that 'Football' seemed like a good enough choice. Everyone was soon engrossed.

"Go purple psyches!" Yuna yelled, giggling. After some debate, everyone had decided to call the purple team 'purple psyches' and the green team 'grass goers.' It seemed to fit nicely, for the purple team liked psyche each other, and the green team liked to hit the ground a lot. Listening as the announcer's enthusiasm rose, Auron began to get more and more into the game. And when the purple psyches fumbled the ball, Auron was on his feet.

"What was that! Imbeciles! Do they not know how to play their own game?" Silence fallowed his statement, as even the announcers quit their usual opinions. Wide eyed everyone slowly turned to the usually quiet man, varying degrees of shock on their faces. Clearing his throat Auron sat down, hand groping for the remote. "I believe it is time to change the channel..."

BBBRRIIINNNNG!!

As the guide popped back up onto the screen, something began to make an annoying chiming noise. Wakka's face darkened as he muttered something about machina, but eyed the odd contraption with curiosity. Auron, who knew what it was, ignored the machine. He remembered having some heated arguments with telemarketers before, and it wasn't something he wanted to live through again. But the others weren't so enlightened.

BBBRRIIINNNNG!!

Lulu, who was still standing behind Auron, was closest to the contraption. Everyone turned to look at her, except for Auron, who was continuing his search through the guide.

BBBRRIIINNNNG!!

Walking over to the machine timidly, Lulu picked it up, looking at the odd numbered buttons that she hadn't seen before.

"What is this... thing?" She asked, holding it out as if it was infected with some sort of disease.

"Hello? HELLO?"

Visibly jumping, Lulu dropped the phone. She had never seen a machina talk before, and she didn't like it. Unfortunately, it dropped squarely on the back of Wakka's head.

"AH! Lu, what'd you do that for?" He said, rubbing his head. Grabbing the machine he pushed a button, and then, trying to be funny, put it up to his ear.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

"AHH!" The machine flew into the air, while Wakka scrambled away from it with wide eyes. Hitting the ground the phone sat there, a small voice leaking out of it.

"Hello? Sara? Are you playing games with me again, because it's not funny!"

Grunting Kimahri moved forward, grabbing the contraption with a furry blue claw. Sniffing it he growled, tail swishing back and forth unhappily.

"Kimahri no like this..."

Sighing Auron took his attention away from the TV, frustrated with his team's incompetence. Turning around and holding his hand out, he 'hned,' getting Kimahri's attention.

"Give the phone to me." Kimahri obliged, but gave Auron a slightly confused look all the same. Grunting Auron put the phone up to his ear, just to hear the man on the other side begin to yell.

"Sara! If you don't quit this shit right now, I'm going to take that computer away from you for a week!" Wincing Auron handed the phone to Yuna, eyes becoming once again emotionless.

"Sir Auron?" Yuna asked timidly, taking the phone from his hands.

"Speak into it. Say you are Sara."

Looking a little confused, Yuna brought the phone to her ear. "If you say so..." Putting the phone to her ear slowly she looked at Auron for approval.

"Your holding it upside-down."

"Oh."

"Sara!" Righting the phone Yuna looked at it, everyone watching her intently.

"Hell...o?"

"Sara! What the hell are you doing!? I have been on this damn phone for five minutes!" The man on the other side seemed thoroughly pissed. Taken aback, Yuna put her hand on her chest instinctively, and dropped her head.

"Sorry, sir."

"Sir? Sara, cut the crap. I need you to do some things for me." Yuna nodded, voice quiet.

"Okay."

"Hey, Sara, are you okay? You sound a little different."

"I caught a Sin-cold. My nose is a little... stuffed up..." Yuna gave a huge snort, as if clearing her nose. Lulu pushed her hand to her face, shaking her head slightly.

"Whatever Sara. Now, me and mom won't be back from Las Vegas for ten days yet, but I need you to do a few things around the house. Write these things down, so you don't forget..."

- -

"TIDUS! NO!!!" Scrambling over for what seemed to be the millionth time, I pulled him back, stopping him in mid-bite.

"Tidus! You can't eat the stuff at the store before you pay!" Huffing I pulled the frozen liver from his hands, and he gave me a pouting look.

"Ah, come on! How do you know if it's good or not if you don't try it first?" Growling I handed the unwrapped liver to a nearby Cub Food helper, motioning toward Tidus and rolling my eyes. The lady smiled gently, and put a hand on my shoulder.

"It must be hard, caring for someone who is so disabled. He must be a real hassle, if he doesn't know how horrible liver tastes!" Nodding a little I watched as the lady walked away, liver in her hand.

"Are we almost done?" Rikku poped up next to me, holding a package of butter. Taking the butter from her hands I nodded, sighing.

"Almost. We just need a few more things, and we'll be done." Turning away I muttered under my breath, "Thank God. And I was worried someone I knew would see us..."

"Sara! Sara!" Eyes widening I froze, breath catching in my throat. I spoke too soon, it seemed, because I knew that voice. And that voice knew me. And guess what?

I was screwed.

Turning I looked over my shoulder, risking a small smile.

"Hi grandma..." Smiling the older lady bustled up to me, grabbing a package of cheese on the way.

"Oh, hi Sara! Out shopping for your mom, I see?" I nodded, trying to look nonchalant.

"Oh, yeah. She wanted me to pick up some stuff for her while she was gone, so, you know..." My grandma nodded, 'hmm'ing and looking over my shoulder. I shuffled a little, looking down at my feet. 'Don't see them,' I thought briskly, 'don't see them...'

"Sara, who is that?"

Crap.

"Uh, who?" I tried to sound dumb, so that maybe Rikku would get the hint. She didn't.

"She means me, dummy!" Rikku said, walking up to my grandma. Mentally slapping myself on the forehead I grabbed Rikku's arm, pulling her back. Glancing quickly over my shoulder I saw Tidus coming up to us, food in his hands. This was just going to get worse, I knew it...

"Ooooh, Riiikkkuuu. I thought you were pointing to, uh..." I looked around, spotting no one but Tidus. My grandma looked at me, confused. "Well, not her. Heh." I laughed a little, hoping she'd understand. She didn't.

"Didn't your parents say you couldn't have any friends over while they were gone?" I swallowed, wishing she wouldn't have remembered that.

"Well, yeah, but these guys aren't exactly friends. They are... uh... cousins!" My face lit up, happy with my answer. My grandma, however, was not.

"But Sara, you only have four cousins." My face fell.

"Well, yeah, but they aren't, uh, cousin cousins."

"They aren't?"

"Hey, Sara, I got some more food for you! Maybe we can have a party later!" Wincing I turned to Tidus, who was dumping the food into the cart. Turning back to my grandma I saw she was putting two and two together. This was bad. But then I suddenly had an idea.

"They're second cousins! Yeah, that's it. You know, on my mom's side. And, well, since they were all in town, you know, my mom let me invite them over..." Shrugging I looked back at Tidus, sending him an evil glare. He gave me one back, but I didn't mind. He wouldn't say anything else for a while now. And thankfully, Rikku was smart enough to catch on.

"Yeah, we're her second cousins! Nice to meet you, grandma! I'm Rikku!" My grandma's face relaxed, and she held out her hand.

"Oh, call me Julie." Rikku smiled, jumping with enthusiasm. Laughing nervously myself, I pulled on one of Rikku's long ribbons, jerking her away from my grandma.

"Well, we have to go. Can't be here forever, you know. Call or something, okay? We'll do something later, alright? TTFN!!" Laughing again I began walking off, waving to my poor confused relative. After she was out of sight I turned to my comrades, face grim.

"Okay you guys, we're leaving. Now."

- - - - -

Will I ever get out of that grocery store alive? What state will I find the rest of the crew in when I get home? How will I ever get these guys out of my life? And where in the world did my sister and brother go? We'll find out, soon enough...

Rikkoshaye