Standard disclaimers apply.
************************
"All right," Key announced in a serious voice. "Today is our first offical game in the International Bitzball League. As all of you are already aware, we're facing off against the Luca Goers, one of the best teams in the sport. Some of you may feel that our chances of winning are slim to none." He looked sternly at Rikku as he spoke. "however, the rest of us feel that our chances are pretty good!" His boyishly handsome face broke into a wide grin. "We're going to take everyone by surprise - now get out there and show them what the Wutai Ninjas are all about!"
A nervous cheer went up throughout the room. In spite of Key's confidence, all of the other player, with the exception of Fred, were following Rikku's skeptical outlook for their first game.
"Well, so long as we do our best," Yuffie finally declared, breaking the stiffling silence that was settling over the locker room. "Then who really cares about the rest?" She was aiming for a bright mood, but it feel short rather abruptly.
Rikku smiled lightly at the dark haired girl. "Com on, Yuffie, let's hit the Steam Room and relax a bit before the buzzer sounds," she suggested.
"Steam Room?" Yuffie questioned. If anything could take her mind off the upcoming game, curiousity could. "What's a Steam Room?" She bounced a couple of steps, catching up with the strolling Al Bhed. "What's a Steam Room, Rikku?" she demanded when she didn't get a reply.
"You'll see," Rikku said, glanceing at the older girl with a smile. "They're great!"
"Have you ever been in one before?" Yuffie wanted to know. "Because you told me that you never played blitzball before. And that this is your first game ever and -"
"I knew a guy who was a star player for the....er... nevermind. Where he played wasn't important anyway. The point i he had a ton of stories to tell about his blitzing career. Once, in Macalania - it's a really cold place in Spira - he was telling Wakka, the captain of the Besaid Aurochs, about them. I was listening."
"Didn't this 'Wakka' guy already know about them?" Yuffie asked. She made quotation marks with her fingers when she said Wakka's name and put on a serious face.
Rikku, catching sight of her out of the corner of her eye began to laugh. "Actually, he had been. They were comparing the differences between Zanarkand's Steam Rooms and the ones that are in Spira." She spun, eyes bright with recalled memories. "Wakka was scandalized about the tale that Tidsu told him. He kept repeating in the stupidest tones, "You're sure that the steam comes from machina, ya?" And Tidus just kept repeating what he said, over and over and over again."
"So what is a Steam Room?" Yuffie asked. She glanced towards the ceiling, obviously trying to remember something. "Oh yeah, and what is 'machina'?"
Machina is 'forbidden' by Yevon - the former offical religion of Spira; it's basically anything mechanical. And a Steam Room is, well, take a look for yourself." She pushed open a blue door marked with their team symbol - a ninja doing a kick against a setting sun.
"The people of Yevon would have had a feild day with Midgar," Yuffie noted brightly as she peeked into the room, a tense excited air vibrating from her slim body. Her dark eyes spotted a low bench sunk into the floor and nothing else. Her excitment started to fade. "Uhhm, Rikku are you sure that this is the right room?" she asked in disappointment. "I was expecting more -"
Rikku dropped onto the bench and started pushing buttons. "Sit down and don't be so impatient," she chided her friend. "Didn't anybody tell you that patience is a virtue?"
"Yeah," Yuffie said darkly, thinking about the hated phrase. "And every single time that they did......"
"I'd try and stop thinking and run off impatiently!" both of them exclaimed at the same time. They exchanged wickedly gleeful grins and leaned back as steamy water began to seep onto the bench they were sitting on.
The water continued to rise until their small waists were covered and most of their bare bellies. At the same time, hot white steam issused from vents in the walls. Beads of sweat began to collect on their skin, merging with droplets of condensing steam.
Rikku flung her head back, bracing herself with her arms. "Just relax your mind for a moment or two," she murmured. "It feels great to be able to relinquish all need to think."
"Hmm?" Yuffie murmured, already in a relaxed pasture. She cracked one dark eye open. "were you talking to me?" she asked languidly, but Rikku didn't answer. Both of them were thinking about the upcoming game and trying to force their bodies to loosen up.
Several minuted later, the steam turned off, and it was time to step into the sadium as players for the first time in their short, but still eventful lives.
*******************************
"And today we have the first offical game of the new league season!" the announcer exclaimed. "Let me tell you, boy am I excited! This year instead of the customary six blitz teams, we have several new teams from the Planet participating in the league. What do you think, Bob?"
"Well, Hank, to tell you the truth, I'm really excited. Today we'll be watching the newly formed Wutai Ninjas take on the vetern team, the Luca Goers!"
Hank started speaking again. "I know that there are a lot of fans for both teams in the stands today."
Riku toned the announcer out. They were probably just Goers fans anyway. She brushed a stray lock of blond hair out of her face and shifted her weight on the small platform she was supposed to dive into the sphere pool from. To her left, she spotted Yuffie excitedly bouncing from foot to foot. Across from her, she spotted Bickerson; his sneer glued to his face. She had heard a lot of bad stuff about him from Wakka, and was feeling slightly apprehensive about playing him.
With a loud whoosh, water started materializing in between the roatating metal beams. An energy field initiated at the same time to keep the water from spilling into the audience and draining away. as the water flowed like serpants trapped in a cage, the audience let out a tremendous cheer. Then, when the pool was fulll, they cheered again - louder this time.
The second cheer sounded slightly muted; rikku supposed that was because she was inside the sphere pool now. The water was acting like a damper for the noise of the outside world. She knifed through the water to her position and knelt down.
A buzzer sounded, and the game started.
********************************
Yuffie watched the blue and white ball begin to spin and dimly heard the announcers shouting, "Blitz off!" from outside of the sphere pool. She launced herself straight up, arm reaching for the ball even as Bickerson reacher for it. Her fingers reached, strechin as far as they could, but still falling short.
The snotty captain of the Goers smirked at her, tucking the blitzball undre one arm with a satisfied grin. Yuffie didn't pause, she hit him with all the force in her narrow, compact form, crashing past him with the ball firmly clasped in her arms. Like a shark, she cut through the water towards the goal post.
Then there were players in front of her, blocking her way. She couldn't swim any further. She shifted her grip on the ball and flung it backwards in a long pass to Key. However, the Ninjas captain fumbled the ball and it veered off aimlessly through the water for a long moment.
Then Doram had grabbed it. She started swimming, making good time towards Wutai's goal post. Yara and Fred managed to swim in front of her, but after two unsuccesful tackles, Doram prepared to take a shot on goal.
Even as Yuffie swam furiously back towards the empty goal, she felt her lungs begin to burn. Mori was probably catching her breath at one of the air bubles floating around the sphere pool. 'Dammit, Rikku was right, we're not ready,' Yuffie thought as Doram preformed a beautiful underwater flip.
Her hardened shin connected solidly with the blitzball and sent it spiralling towards the goal post in a perfect Sphere Shot.
Yuffie, her vision slightly blurred with the need for air, spotted Rikku clutching the ball before it hit the net. She tried to cheer underwater and recieved a mouthful of liquid in return. Instead, she flashed a quick thumbs up sign at the Al Bhed and then turned in search of an air bubble.
****************************
The buzzer sounded again, signalling the end to the first period of play. rikku, weary from the intense playing, swam towards the locker romms in a defected fashion. The Goers were in the lead 2-0, and she was running out of energy to play. She had been giving the game her all, but even though she knew the basics, she was still an ameteur and didn't know how to do much of anything.
She exited the sphere pool, pulling her hair out of it's wet and wild ponytail. Moments later, Yuffie emmerged behing her. the dark haired shinobi looked dead tired, but she was still grinning boradly.
"You're really great, Rikku," she said. "I mean, you -"
"Missed every shot that you shouldn't have taken because you're on defense!" Fred interjected, also exiting the sphere pool. "You played out of position the whole period. They wouldn't have scored that last goal if you had been guarding the goal posts properly. Then we would only be down one goal." He turned haughtily away from her and glared at Yuffie. "As for you-" he began.
"He doesn't know anything," Rikku said loudly from behind him. "Ignore him, Yuffie. You played great for your first game and...." she paused for a moment. "The game is not over yet, you know. We can still win -"
"Or just get slaughtered worse!" Fred pointed out in iritation.
"Fred doesn't know anything," Yuffie agreed. "I think I'm going to see my old man. He was in the audience watching earlier." She took a deep breath to clear her mind, then shot up a flight of steps. At the top, she spun and waved to Rikku. "Do you want to come with me?" she called down to the blond girl.
Rikku started foreword. "Yeah, I'd love -"
"Rikku!" Key called out. "Actually, I need a word with you before the next period starts. Please meet me in the Steam Room." He brushed a damp lock of hair back and glanced over at her, searching for bruises and other injuries. "We need to discuss a new startegy. I think we can win with it..."
Rikku turned away from him and back to Yuffie. "Sorry, Captain needs to talk to me. I'll meet your old man after the game, okay?"
"Sure!" Yuffie exclaimed. she hurried away, sticking her tongue out at a glaring Fred.
*******************************
"i want to put you on offense," Key said seriously. "Well play with you at midfield and put everyone else on defense."
"Wha?" Rikku managed. "But I play defense and Yuffie is our midfielder -"
"We need to win," Key responded. I think that we'll be able to put up a better game with you on offense. Then, after some team practices, we can see where you fit best." He grinned crookidly at her. "Beside that, midfielders are more valuable then the rest of the players put together. You'll be getting a lot more attention and a lot more gil."
"What if I don't want attention? What if I have enough gil?" Rikku demanded, putting one hand on her hip. "I'm just interrested in playing to pass time.... I just want to play."
"Then play in the position that I want you to play in," Key said. "Okay?" He gazed at her intently until she nodded her head in agreement. "Good, now why don't you have a seat and relax a bit with me?" he asked, patting the seat beside him and grinning stupidly up at her.
Rikku offered him a troubled smile. "Sorry, I think I'm going to go get Yuffie and tell her what's going on. If she doesn't want to putt a temporary switch, then it's off.... I won't do it if she doesn't agree, you know."
"Then talk to her, but mark my words, she'll gladly give up the position in return for a win for Wutai. She really cares about this town and won't do anything to tarnish it's reputation." With those words, he leaned back, closing his eyes and relaxing into the steamy water.
Rikku turned and hurried into the hallway. She was worried about jeopardizing her new friendship with Yuffie. Most people didn't like it when their positions on teams were given away without permission. It made them anrgy and resentful. she hoped that Yuffie wouldn't be like most people. "Come on, be unique," she silently urged the dark haired shinobi.
Then she rounded the corner and was in the audience. Almost instantly a cold feeling clutched at her stomach, drawing a startled gasp on pain from her lips. Several people looked over as she lost her footing and fell down the stairs she had just climbed.
*******************************
yuffie heard Rikku's startled cry of pain and spun, dark eyes searching for the injured person. They fell on the blond girl just as she toppled out of sight. "Rikku!" she hollered, racing foreword. "See ya latrer, old man!" she shouted towards her dad.
She shot down the stairs, senses on high alert for the source of the Al Bhed's pain. She reached rikku's side. "Hey, what happened?" she asked, concerned. She slipped an emergency elixar from her pocket and cracked it over the partially unconcious girl.
Rikku sat up abruptly. "Yuffie?" she questioned. "What happened?" She looked around quickly. "I didn't fall down the stairs, did I?"
"Were you attacked? What happened?" Yuffie asked, knowing that she was repeating herself and Rikku at the same time.
She watched Rikku carefully consider the question. "I got a weird pain in my stomach when I got into the audience...." Rikku started quietely. "It was the same as what I got yesterday on the way to Turtle Paradise." She paused, green eyes narrowing. "I wonder if it had anything to do with that guy....."
"What guy?" Yuffie asked. "Is someone attacking you?"
Rikku got to her feet, eyes coming to a rest on the clock. "we have got to get back to the game. It starts in a couple of minutes and.... " she hesitated. "....Key wants me to play midfielder for the second half."
Yuffie nodded. "Sure, that's kinda what I was thinking too, but about that bad feeling, what do you think it could have been?"
"Well, I guess it could hae been....." she dropped her voice to a thread bare whisper. "PMS. I haven't started yet this month, you know."
Yuffie's eyes widened. "That's probably it!" she exclaimed quietly. "But is it usually this bad for you?"
"Might just be the stres of moving to a new continent," Rikku whispered. "That would probably make it worse then usual. I think."
"Sure," Yuffie agreed. "Are you going to be all right to play?"
"Yeah," Rikku nodded. "Let's hurry though, we only got a couple of minutes before we're expected in the sphere pool."
"Right," Yuffie agreed. She pulled her hand into a fist in front of her face, a determinded look flirting across her features. "Let's go and WIN!"
As they raced back towards their locker, Rikku cast one last glance behind her. She couldn't seem to shake the feeling that the sliver haired, green eyed man was the source of her discomfort. Her eyes shifted rapidly through the audience, and she caught a glimpse of black material and glowing green eyes. Her breath caught and her vision swung back to the spot where she had seen him. An empty seat met her stare. And the feeling of growing tention grew stronger. Something was going to happen.
Soon.
*********************************
Author's notes; Heh, heh, poor Sephy, being dissmissed as PMS.
Thanks for reading,
Kissa-chan
************************
"All right," Key announced in a serious voice. "Today is our first offical game in the International Bitzball League. As all of you are already aware, we're facing off against the Luca Goers, one of the best teams in the sport. Some of you may feel that our chances of winning are slim to none." He looked sternly at Rikku as he spoke. "however, the rest of us feel that our chances are pretty good!" His boyishly handsome face broke into a wide grin. "We're going to take everyone by surprise - now get out there and show them what the Wutai Ninjas are all about!"
A nervous cheer went up throughout the room. In spite of Key's confidence, all of the other player, with the exception of Fred, were following Rikku's skeptical outlook for their first game.
"Well, so long as we do our best," Yuffie finally declared, breaking the stiffling silence that was settling over the locker room. "Then who really cares about the rest?" She was aiming for a bright mood, but it feel short rather abruptly.
Rikku smiled lightly at the dark haired girl. "Com on, Yuffie, let's hit the Steam Room and relax a bit before the buzzer sounds," she suggested.
"Steam Room?" Yuffie questioned. If anything could take her mind off the upcoming game, curiousity could. "What's a Steam Room?" She bounced a couple of steps, catching up with the strolling Al Bhed. "What's a Steam Room, Rikku?" she demanded when she didn't get a reply.
"You'll see," Rikku said, glanceing at the older girl with a smile. "They're great!"
"Have you ever been in one before?" Yuffie wanted to know. "Because you told me that you never played blitzball before. And that this is your first game ever and -"
"I knew a guy who was a star player for the....er... nevermind. Where he played wasn't important anyway. The point i he had a ton of stories to tell about his blitzing career. Once, in Macalania - it's a really cold place in Spira - he was telling Wakka, the captain of the Besaid Aurochs, about them. I was listening."
"Didn't this 'Wakka' guy already know about them?" Yuffie asked. She made quotation marks with her fingers when she said Wakka's name and put on a serious face.
Rikku, catching sight of her out of the corner of her eye began to laugh. "Actually, he had been. They were comparing the differences between Zanarkand's Steam Rooms and the ones that are in Spira." She spun, eyes bright with recalled memories. "Wakka was scandalized about the tale that Tidsu told him. He kept repeating in the stupidest tones, "You're sure that the steam comes from machina, ya?" And Tidus just kept repeating what he said, over and over and over again."
"So what is a Steam Room?" Yuffie asked. She glanced towards the ceiling, obviously trying to remember something. "Oh yeah, and what is 'machina'?"
Machina is 'forbidden' by Yevon - the former offical religion of Spira; it's basically anything mechanical. And a Steam Room is, well, take a look for yourself." She pushed open a blue door marked with their team symbol - a ninja doing a kick against a setting sun.
"The people of Yevon would have had a feild day with Midgar," Yuffie noted brightly as she peeked into the room, a tense excited air vibrating from her slim body. Her dark eyes spotted a low bench sunk into the floor and nothing else. Her excitment started to fade. "Uhhm, Rikku are you sure that this is the right room?" she asked in disappointment. "I was expecting more -"
Rikku dropped onto the bench and started pushing buttons. "Sit down and don't be so impatient," she chided her friend. "Didn't anybody tell you that patience is a virtue?"
"Yeah," Yuffie said darkly, thinking about the hated phrase. "And every single time that they did......"
"I'd try and stop thinking and run off impatiently!" both of them exclaimed at the same time. They exchanged wickedly gleeful grins and leaned back as steamy water began to seep onto the bench they were sitting on.
The water continued to rise until their small waists were covered and most of their bare bellies. At the same time, hot white steam issused from vents in the walls. Beads of sweat began to collect on their skin, merging with droplets of condensing steam.
Rikku flung her head back, bracing herself with her arms. "Just relax your mind for a moment or two," she murmured. "It feels great to be able to relinquish all need to think."
"Hmm?" Yuffie murmured, already in a relaxed pasture. She cracked one dark eye open. "were you talking to me?" she asked languidly, but Rikku didn't answer. Both of them were thinking about the upcoming game and trying to force their bodies to loosen up.
Several minuted later, the steam turned off, and it was time to step into the sadium as players for the first time in their short, but still eventful lives.
*******************************
"And today we have the first offical game of the new league season!" the announcer exclaimed. "Let me tell you, boy am I excited! This year instead of the customary six blitz teams, we have several new teams from the Planet participating in the league. What do you think, Bob?"
"Well, Hank, to tell you the truth, I'm really excited. Today we'll be watching the newly formed Wutai Ninjas take on the vetern team, the Luca Goers!"
Hank started speaking again. "I know that there are a lot of fans for both teams in the stands today."
Riku toned the announcer out. They were probably just Goers fans anyway. She brushed a stray lock of blond hair out of her face and shifted her weight on the small platform she was supposed to dive into the sphere pool from. To her left, she spotted Yuffie excitedly bouncing from foot to foot. Across from her, she spotted Bickerson; his sneer glued to his face. She had heard a lot of bad stuff about him from Wakka, and was feeling slightly apprehensive about playing him.
With a loud whoosh, water started materializing in between the roatating metal beams. An energy field initiated at the same time to keep the water from spilling into the audience and draining away. as the water flowed like serpants trapped in a cage, the audience let out a tremendous cheer. Then, when the pool was fulll, they cheered again - louder this time.
The second cheer sounded slightly muted; rikku supposed that was because she was inside the sphere pool now. The water was acting like a damper for the noise of the outside world. She knifed through the water to her position and knelt down.
A buzzer sounded, and the game started.
********************************
Yuffie watched the blue and white ball begin to spin and dimly heard the announcers shouting, "Blitz off!" from outside of the sphere pool. She launced herself straight up, arm reaching for the ball even as Bickerson reacher for it. Her fingers reached, strechin as far as they could, but still falling short.
The snotty captain of the Goers smirked at her, tucking the blitzball undre one arm with a satisfied grin. Yuffie didn't pause, she hit him with all the force in her narrow, compact form, crashing past him with the ball firmly clasped in her arms. Like a shark, she cut through the water towards the goal post.
Then there were players in front of her, blocking her way. She couldn't swim any further. She shifted her grip on the ball and flung it backwards in a long pass to Key. However, the Ninjas captain fumbled the ball and it veered off aimlessly through the water for a long moment.
Then Doram had grabbed it. She started swimming, making good time towards Wutai's goal post. Yara and Fred managed to swim in front of her, but after two unsuccesful tackles, Doram prepared to take a shot on goal.
Even as Yuffie swam furiously back towards the empty goal, she felt her lungs begin to burn. Mori was probably catching her breath at one of the air bubles floating around the sphere pool. 'Dammit, Rikku was right, we're not ready,' Yuffie thought as Doram preformed a beautiful underwater flip.
Her hardened shin connected solidly with the blitzball and sent it spiralling towards the goal post in a perfect Sphere Shot.
Yuffie, her vision slightly blurred with the need for air, spotted Rikku clutching the ball before it hit the net. She tried to cheer underwater and recieved a mouthful of liquid in return. Instead, she flashed a quick thumbs up sign at the Al Bhed and then turned in search of an air bubble.
****************************
The buzzer sounded again, signalling the end to the first period of play. rikku, weary from the intense playing, swam towards the locker romms in a defected fashion. The Goers were in the lead 2-0, and she was running out of energy to play. She had been giving the game her all, but even though she knew the basics, she was still an ameteur and didn't know how to do much of anything.
She exited the sphere pool, pulling her hair out of it's wet and wild ponytail. Moments later, Yuffie emmerged behing her. the dark haired shinobi looked dead tired, but she was still grinning boradly.
"You're really great, Rikku," she said. "I mean, you -"
"Missed every shot that you shouldn't have taken because you're on defense!" Fred interjected, also exiting the sphere pool. "You played out of position the whole period. They wouldn't have scored that last goal if you had been guarding the goal posts properly. Then we would only be down one goal." He turned haughtily away from her and glared at Yuffie. "As for you-" he began.
"He doesn't know anything," Rikku said loudly from behind him. "Ignore him, Yuffie. You played great for your first game and...." she paused for a moment. "The game is not over yet, you know. We can still win -"
"Or just get slaughtered worse!" Fred pointed out in iritation.
"Fred doesn't know anything," Yuffie agreed. "I think I'm going to see my old man. He was in the audience watching earlier." She took a deep breath to clear her mind, then shot up a flight of steps. At the top, she spun and waved to Rikku. "Do you want to come with me?" she called down to the blond girl.
Rikku started foreword. "Yeah, I'd love -"
"Rikku!" Key called out. "Actually, I need a word with you before the next period starts. Please meet me in the Steam Room." He brushed a damp lock of hair back and glanced over at her, searching for bruises and other injuries. "We need to discuss a new startegy. I think we can win with it..."
Rikku turned away from him and back to Yuffie. "Sorry, Captain needs to talk to me. I'll meet your old man after the game, okay?"
"Sure!" Yuffie exclaimed. she hurried away, sticking her tongue out at a glaring Fred.
*******************************
"i want to put you on offense," Key said seriously. "Well play with you at midfield and put everyone else on defense."
"Wha?" Rikku managed. "But I play defense and Yuffie is our midfielder -"
"We need to win," Key responded. I think that we'll be able to put up a better game with you on offense. Then, after some team practices, we can see where you fit best." He grinned crookidly at her. "Beside that, midfielders are more valuable then the rest of the players put together. You'll be getting a lot more attention and a lot more gil."
"What if I don't want attention? What if I have enough gil?" Rikku demanded, putting one hand on her hip. "I'm just interrested in playing to pass time.... I just want to play."
"Then play in the position that I want you to play in," Key said. "Okay?" He gazed at her intently until she nodded her head in agreement. "Good, now why don't you have a seat and relax a bit with me?" he asked, patting the seat beside him and grinning stupidly up at her.
Rikku offered him a troubled smile. "Sorry, I think I'm going to go get Yuffie and tell her what's going on. If she doesn't want to putt a temporary switch, then it's off.... I won't do it if she doesn't agree, you know."
"Then talk to her, but mark my words, she'll gladly give up the position in return for a win for Wutai. She really cares about this town and won't do anything to tarnish it's reputation." With those words, he leaned back, closing his eyes and relaxing into the steamy water.
Rikku turned and hurried into the hallway. She was worried about jeopardizing her new friendship with Yuffie. Most people didn't like it when their positions on teams were given away without permission. It made them anrgy and resentful. she hoped that Yuffie wouldn't be like most people. "Come on, be unique," she silently urged the dark haired shinobi.
Then she rounded the corner and was in the audience. Almost instantly a cold feeling clutched at her stomach, drawing a startled gasp on pain from her lips. Several people looked over as she lost her footing and fell down the stairs she had just climbed.
*******************************
yuffie heard Rikku's startled cry of pain and spun, dark eyes searching for the injured person. They fell on the blond girl just as she toppled out of sight. "Rikku!" she hollered, racing foreword. "See ya latrer, old man!" she shouted towards her dad.
She shot down the stairs, senses on high alert for the source of the Al Bhed's pain. She reached rikku's side. "Hey, what happened?" she asked, concerned. She slipped an emergency elixar from her pocket and cracked it over the partially unconcious girl.
Rikku sat up abruptly. "Yuffie?" she questioned. "What happened?" She looked around quickly. "I didn't fall down the stairs, did I?"
"Were you attacked? What happened?" Yuffie asked, knowing that she was repeating herself and Rikku at the same time.
She watched Rikku carefully consider the question. "I got a weird pain in my stomach when I got into the audience...." Rikku started quietely. "It was the same as what I got yesterday on the way to Turtle Paradise." She paused, green eyes narrowing. "I wonder if it had anything to do with that guy....."
"What guy?" Yuffie asked. "Is someone attacking you?"
Rikku got to her feet, eyes coming to a rest on the clock. "we have got to get back to the game. It starts in a couple of minutes and.... " she hesitated. "....Key wants me to play midfielder for the second half."
Yuffie nodded. "Sure, that's kinda what I was thinking too, but about that bad feeling, what do you think it could have been?"
"Well, I guess it could hae been....." she dropped her voice to a thread bare whisper. "PMS. I haven't started yet this month, you know."
Yuffie's eyes widened. "That's probably it!" she exclaimed quietly. "But is it usually this bad for you?"
"Might just be the stres of moving to a new continent," Rikku whispered. "That would probably make it worse then usual. I think."
"Sure," Yuffie agreed. "Are you going to be all right to play?"
"Yeah," Rikku nodded. "Let's hurry though, we only got a couple of minutes before we're expected in the sphere pool."
"Right," Yuffie agreed. She pulled her hand into a fist in front of her face, a determinded look flirting across her features. "Let's go and WIN!"
As they raced back towards their locker, Rikku cast one last glance behind her. She couldn't seem to shake the feeling that the sliver haired, green eyed man was the source of her discomfort. Her eyes shifted rapidly through the audience, and she caught a glimpse of black material and glowing green eyes. Her breath caught and her vision swung back to the spot where she had seen him. An empty seat met her stare. And the feeling of growing tention grew stronger. Something was going to happen.
Soon.
*********************************
Author's notes; Heh, heh, poor Sephy, being dissmissed as PMS.
Thanks for reading,
Kissa-chan