Disclaimer: Again, I don't own FFX or anything like that and I never will so blah, anyway, hope you like this, if you want to use this story, ask me first!
Chapter 2: Campfires and Long Talks
Once the group had crossed the Thunder Plains, Rikku was back to her normal self again. She was glad to be away from that place more than anything in the world. Now they were entering the Macalania Woods, and to tell the honest truth, it was a bit scary here. They stopped in a clearing for a few moments, the usual pairs going off to talk, leaving only herself and Auron behind. This was definitely not her idea of a fun filled trek through the woods. Sure, Auron was nice guy and all, but he could be very mean and hurtful toward her.
With a light sigh she sat down on the ground and leaned back against a tree, looking up into the glistening tops of the forest. It was so beautiful here, she would love to stay here forever, just to gaze at all the beauty. Just as suddenly as she had looked up, Auron's face appeared above her. She let out a startled yelp and sat up quickly, "Hey you big meanie! You scared me!" He let out a light chuckle, "My apologies." Rikku rolled her eyes and then stood up, brushing herself off a bit, "Fine, you are forgiven this time, but next time I'm not going to forgive you." She knew that wasn't true, but she wasn't going to take it back now.
He watched her for a moment, "Are you sure you are feeling well?" The sound of his voice broke her away from her world of thought, "Huh?" Taking a step closer to her, he repeated himself, "I said, are you sure that you are feeling well?" She nodded to him, "Yeah, why wouldn't I be feeling ok?" He shrugged and then turned from her, "The others may not be able to see when you are upset over something, but I am not so blind." She started to say something back to him, but thought better of it seeing as how he had that big sword and she had nothing.
The others came back a little while later and then they waited on Yuna's decision. Rikku watched as her cousin walked over to Auron and told him of their plans to continue on to the temple. She wished that Yuna would stop her pilgrimage before she ended up in Zanarkand. No one, in her mind, should have to die like that, what was the point to it. All of the work that a summoner did to get there, only to have their aeons destroyed and the final aeon kill them in the process. It hurt Rikku deeply to think that her beloved cousin was going to face Sin, knowing what would happen.
Rikku was in deep thought as Yuna's voice broke her out of her trance, "Alright, on to Macalania Temple." She nodded and then they set off through the beautiful, but equally dangerous forest. They hadn't been walking very long when Auron stopped them just before they reached the exit of the forest. Tidus and Yuna looked at him before Yuna spoke, "We should keep going Sir Auron." He shrugged his left arm out of his coat and then grabbed his sword, "I want to show you something, it won't take long." With that said, he chopped away at some tree limbs, causing a path to be revealed.
Now this had Rikku interested, Auron had never been known to stop the group unless it was a must. But here he was taking a break to go look at a sphere pool, what was so special about it. Suddenly a scream from Yuna sent Rikku running to her cousin, a giant fiend had just attacked. This one was not going to be easy since it shifted it's element regularly. She was thrown into the battle alongside Auron and Lulu, Tidus had gotten Yuna away from the thing for the time being. A smile was on her face, as long as Auron was by her side, she knew she didn't have anything to worry about.
With a wince of pain, Rikku was sent flying to her butt by a firaga attack from the fiend. Her health was low, but she refused to be taken down by such a thing. Yuna watched as her cousin rose to her feet only to go right back into the battle head first, attacking the monster with all her strength. Auron saw her and quickly reached into his coat and pulled out a Hi-potion and tossed it to her. Rikku caught it and smiled to him before drinking it, restoring her health a bit. Lulu took her turn and cast blizaga on the fiend, causing it to shift elements.
It was Auron's turn now, he ran up and slashed the fiend with his sword, doing a lot of damage to it. This angered the fiend, and it cast the worst spell Rikku could have been hit with, thundaga. She screamed as she was struck with the bolts of lightning, falling to the ground, her health was deathly low. Tidus leapt up and took her place, Auron grabbed Rikku and ran from the battlefield, letting Yuna take his place. Once he was away from the battle area, he knelt down and placed her on the ground, taking out an X-potion and gently putting it on her wounds since she couldn't have swallowed it at the moment.
Slowly, her health returned enough for her to stand on her own. She looked up at Auron and smiled a bit, "Thank you Auron…" He only nodded and turned back to the battle area, "You should be more careful next time." Her fists clenched, the man was impossible to deal with at any time in the world. First he was valiantly saving her life, and then he says for her to be more careful as if she were only getting in the way. Then it hit her, perhaps she was just getting in the way of everyone else. The more she thought on it, the more it upset her to think that she was a burden to everyone she cared for.
The battle was almost over, and no one was paying any attention to anything else but the battle. Rikku took this as her chance to run since Yuna wouldn't notice her and try to bring her back. She took off quickly into the woods, but she didn't know that Auron had seen her retreat into the woods. Tidus finished the battle and then they all walked to Auron, Yuna immediately noticed Rikku's absence, "Sir Auron, where is Rikku?" The guardian looked down at her and then shook his head, "We rest here tonight. I will go and find her. Tidus, you and Kimahri keep watch here while I am gone." Tidus nodded to him and then the guardian retreated into the woods to find Rikku.
It didn't take him long to find her, she was crying after all. He walked up to the tree she was sitting in and looked up, "Come down from there Rikku." Lifting her head up, she looked at him as a few tears streamed down her face, "No, just go away. I'm not fit to be a guardian! I'm weak, you don't need me, I only get in the way!" The situation was just as he had thought it was, since she was the only one who had been nearly killed, she thought that she was weak and useless. He wanted to take her in his arms and tell her everything would be alright, but that wasn't going to happen at the moment, "Rikku, come down here please."
His soft tone caught her attention, he hadn't been this kind to her in a while, so she decided to just do as he said while his good mood was lasting. She slid down from the tree and stood in front of him, not looking up at him though. He could tell she was still crying, and he did something he thought he'd never do. His hand reached out and lifted her chin up, then he wiped her tears away, "Don't cry. Yuna doesn't like to see people crying. Be happy." His words were brief, but then meant worlds to Rikku, her gaze locked with his and she almost smiled.
Auron released her face from his gentle grasp and then looked down on her, "Do you need to talk?" She sighed, he was the only person she could talk to about this, but she didn't really want to. Even though she knew she didn't have to talk, she nodded anyway, "Alright." He put his sword down and then sat on a large flat rock, looking up at her, "Go ahead then." That was all Rikku needed to hear before she fell into his arms and cried out her sorrows and thoughts to him. After it was all over, and her crying had subsided into small hiccups of sadness, she sat, nestled in the lone guardian's arms.
Never, not once in his life, had Auron comforted anyone in such a way as he did Rikku. But then again, she wasn't your typical teenage girl. Being an Al Bhed made her very different from the Yevonite teens, Rikku had a strong sense of what was right and wrong. She didn't think that everything was bad if Yevon said so, and Auron found that surprisingly admirable. He may have been an ex-monk, but that didn't mean that he still followed the teachings of Yevon. Time had changed him so much since he was a younger man traveling with Lord Braska.
When Rikku spoke, her voice pulled him out of his thoughts and he looked down on her, "What?" She giggled at him and then rested her head back on his chest, "It's nothing…" A smirk found it's way to his face as he tilted her head back up to gaze into her jade spiraled eyes, "Rikku, tell me…please." Her eyes were wide with confusion and an emotion that he couldn't quite name. It took her a moment to reorient herself before she reached up and tucked his collar down to see his face. She leaned in as if to kiss him, but then Wakka wandered up to them. They broke apart quickly and then headed back to camp, Rikku could tell that it was going to be a long journey from there on.
{I can remember thinking that he was going to let me kiss him, but then Wakka showed up. He was so kind to me, and I felt it deep down in my heart. All I wanted to do was to stay in his arms for the rest of all time. If he had let me get close to him once, he would let me get close again. My new mission was to finally be able to tell Auron that I loved him. That was a task that was going to be even harder than letting Yuna continue her pilgrimage to defeat Sin.}