**Well, this chapter took long enough, ne? Sorry, guys, I had some major writer's block, and still do, to some extent, so I don't know when the next chapter will be up. Should be quicker than this one took, though, ehehe...^_^;;; So! Here ya are, guys and gals! Whee! Please enjoy!**
Arashi waltzed up to the group and took the map from an astonished Cid. She began to look over it thoughtfully. She finally looked up at Yueh.
"Yueh, you know I don't know how to read this thing. Help, please?"
Cid growled a bit under his breath. Yueh simply shook her head and walked over to help the rather scatter-brained summoner. She glanced at the map and pointed out their current position with one hand.
"We're here right now, facing southwest-ish," she said. Cid grumbled again.
"I know where we are now, missy, I need to know where we have to go!" he shouted at the black mage.
Yueh tried to ignore him and her shaking hands. She pointed with her other hand on the southern half of the map. "The…uh, Sukitage—"
"Tsukikage," Arashi corrected lightly.
"Right. The Tsukikage temple is right about here, in the middle of the forest. I think it'd be kind of hard to see from overhead," Yueh guessed. "So I think the best bet would be to drop us off at Besaid, and we can hike from there."
"Since when was she a terrain expert?" Mattian asked. Yueh rolled her eyes and Niet took up her defense.
"She's guided us along on this whole entire trip, you baka!" Niet stated, her hands on her hips.
"I think Hunter could read the map better than her," Mattian said, pointing to the once-again quiet blitzer.
"Hey, don't bring me into 'dis!" Hunter said, waving his arms. "I didn' say I was—"
"Notice how even though we were behind you, we caught up to you?" Mattian asked. He stood proudly. "With Hunter, we never got lost once. We even found some shortcuts that you guys missed along the way!"
Yueh watched Arashi, who was still looking at the map, lifted up an arm and threw it down in a small gesture. White sparks flew from her hand and hit Mattian right on the mouth. He jumped, and opened his mouth to yell at the blond.
Nothing came out. Not even a noise. He simply stood there, flapping his jaw aimlessly, while Niet busted out laughing.
"Never mess with a summoner who knows some black magic!" Niet said triumphantly. "Especially when she's my friend and fellow otaku—"
Yueh had to hold back giggles as Arashi lifted up her arm once more and threw sparks at the chattering Niet. Her mouth did much the same as Mattian's—it opened and shut without a sound. Arashi looked placidly at Yueh.
"You were saying?"
Yueh stopped giggling and her demeanor became serious. "Oh! Right. The temple is in southwest of us, on the northern coast of Cali—er…this area right here." She dragged her finger up and down what used to be the northern coastline of California. "So, I think if you just—"
"Drop you off at Besaid?" Cid said, crossing his arms.
Yueh nodded shakily. "Uh, yeah."
He regarded the rag-tag group quietly, his eyebrows furrowed. Yueh waited anxiously.
"All right. But if you don't find my daughter, I'm comin' after ya personally," Cid promised. Yueh went to thank him, but he was already turned around and barking orders in Al Bhed to the co-pilots of the ship.
"Well," Yueh said slowly, "that was easy…"
Arashi nodded simply. "Quite." She gestured to her two mute companions and white sparks engulfed them.
"And why did you do that—"
"I would have shut up if you would've just—"
Both persons stood, their mouths hanging wide open. The cockpit was silent for a moment in lieu of the sudden shouts. Mattian's face became a dark red, and Niet's brown eyes went wide. Arashi smiled kindly and walked out of the cockpit.
"Come, let's get some rest. We'll need it, I have a feeling."
"But we just got done sleeping!" Niet whined. "Why should we?"
Arashi turned around and looked through the slowly closing cockpit door. "I said rest, not sleep. You can still stay awake, if you want. Pay attention to the details, Niet." The door closed in Arashi's face, and she could be heard walking off.
Yueh shrugged and followed Arashi through the door. Soon, the others did the same. Somehow, Arashi knew precisely where their room was, even though she had only been there once.
Now I feel really stupid, Yueh thought, kicking herself mentally. Hunter was also blushing lightly. Yueh grinned at him—at least they felt the same way.
Once in the room, Arashi plopped down on the bed in the middle, her face to the ceiling. She left her arms at her sides, and quickly fell asleep.
The boys all blinked quite slowly, while Niet and Yueh simply took it as a fact of life and went about trying to find something else to do. Yueh had had enough sleep and felt like jumping off of the walls, so she didn't want to rest at all.
Lucky for her, neither did Hunter. He kicked up a blitzball into his grasp and twirled it on his finger. "Wanna try some blitzball?"
"You don't, trust me," Gage said jokingly. He was getting comfortable in the large chair next to Arashi's bed, holding a book in his hands. "Hunter'll hit you in the head with the ball."
"I will not, ya?" Hunter defended. He stood proudly, sticking out his chest a bit. "If the tournament woulda continued, my team woulda won the tournament, ya? Betcha I woulda gotten MVP, too." He nodded one, as if that would end the argument.
"Would not have," Mattian grumbled. He sat on the far side of the room, as far away from Niet as one could possibly get. Niet had done the same, and sat in the exact opposite spot across the room, reading her book.
"At least I woulda been high up 'dere, ya?" Hunter said. He shrugged and brushed a hand through his brown hair. "Anyway, ya wanna try it? We can go out into a bigger room, ya?"
"Uh, sure," Yueh said, shrugging herself. Even if she didn't really like Blitzball, it was something to do to pass away the time.
"Awright, dat's the spirit, ya?" Hunter said, grinning. He tossed Yueh the ball, and she caught it loosely.
Her brown eyes stared down at the blue and white ball in her hands.
…At least it's something to do…
*-*-*-*-*
Mariana brushed her hair back from her face. She had let it down once she had gotten on the boat, standing on the crow's nest letting the wind blow through her hair. The water spray was gently washing the desert sands out of her long brown hair.
It had been a long walk through the desert, but they had finally reached the next shoreline where a boat full of Al Bhed had been waiting to take people to one of the main islands—Luca. The Blitz tournament there had apparently and finally ended, although it had been a bit earlier than expected due to the deal with sinspawn attacking. No one team had been called the winner; the whole thing had been called a draw. All the teams were coming home, and the Al Bhed team was going to meet up with this particular boat once it reached Luca.
The crew was a tad short, however, so as part of a traveling "fee," Genki was being forced to work. The hot sun was beating down on all the crew, so most of them had taken off their shirts. Most of them were still sweating regardless.
Mariana smiled for the first time in the past few days. Genki looked absolutely gorgeous. He had muscle tone, more so than when they had first met, due to fighting off so many creatures for her. He had also gained a tan as they had trudged through the desert.
She glanced down at the ring on her left-hand ring finger. What she and Genki had done, it was on such short notice…in such a short time…but it felt like it was meant to be.
Mariana shook her head and closed her eyes tight. No, what was meant to be was her defeating and becoming the next Sin. That was meant to be, that was destiny. This was a mere sidetrack on the journey there.
She opened one eye and saw Genki wipe beads of sweat from his forehead. But, it's a wonderful sidetrack…
"Mari!" Genki was waving up to her from the lower deck. She waved back. Mari was a new nickname for her that he had adopted through the stroll through the desert. "Hang on tight, Mari! We're about to—"
The boat took a lurch forward as it was shoved off the docks. Mariana held on to the railing with a death grip, her nails digging into the old lumber. Her eyes went wide as she saw Genki fall against the lower deck's railing and smack his head.
"Genki!" Mariana shouted. Her heart filled up with anger and sadness. Genki was just lying still on the second deck. "Genki!" Her face furrowed and she jumped down to the lower deck, landing as gracefully as a cat. She ran to her husband and gently took him up into her arms.
"Genki, love, are you okay?" she whispered. His eyes remained closed as a crowd drew near. "Genki?" Tears fell from her eyes onto Genki's still face. "Gen…ki…" She closed her eyes and hovered one of her hands over his blank face. "Please…be okay…" White sparks fell from her hands and onto his face.
The whole crowd was still. Mariana opened her eyes slowly.
"Please, Genki. Please wake up."
Genki's eyes fluttered. He looked up at his summoner.
"Mari? Why are you crying?" Genki asked, lifting a hand up to her face.
Mariana smiled, and placed her hand on his. "I have no reason to, now."
This…maybe it was meant to be…maybe… She held Genki close to her. Maybe there is something I can do…something to help everyone…
The boat sailed on to Luca.
*-*-*-*-*
"Now, get it on your head—"
"Like this?" Yueh kneed the blitzball and bounced it on her head lightly.
"No, higher, hit it higher, like 'dis, ya?" Hunter took the ball and began hitting it on his head about five feet in the air. Yueh's eyes widened, and Hunter laughed, letting the ball hit the ground. "A bit too hard, ya?"
Yueh giggled. "Just a little…but I'm still better than I was." A good way to pass the time. Yueh kicked up the ball and it landed in her outstretched arms. "Now that you've taught me something, I think its time for me to teach you something." She tossed the ball back to Hunter, who looked very confused.
"Teach me somethin'? Teach me what?" Hunter scratched his head.
Yueh grinned, and began to grow a flame in her hands. Hunter began backing away, dropping the ball and waving his hands in front of him.
"No way, ya? I'm not learnin' anythin' like that!" Yueh stepped forward like a cat getting ready to pounce its prey. "Oh, no, you can't make me do dat, ya? You can't—!"
"Its simple! C'mon, you can use it to boost the attack power of your blitzball," Yueh added. Hunter stopped.
"Ya mean, I don' have to use a doll?" he asked, his eyes still wide.
Yueh nearly fell over. She made the flame disappear and shook her head. "Of course not! Sheesh…I mean, I usually use my flute, myself." She pulled the instrument from her belt and held it in front of her, showcasing it to Hunter. He looked at it closely, but didn't touch it. "I use it to…I guess you could say, to help channel my magic energy. It makes my attack spells more powerful."
"Really? Dat's true?"
Yueh nodded and put the flute to her lips. "Watch." She played a simple attack melody, the notes lilting and in all octaves. Ice began to ball up around her flute until she held the final note. That sent it flying at Hunter, and it hit his blitzball dead on, making it jump up from the ground in a whirlwind of cold air. Once the attack was done, the ball fell into Hunter's arms, where he promptly dropped it back onto the floor.
"Dat's cold, ya?" he said, rubbing his hands together. Yueh laughed.
"That's not even the highest ice spell I know," she informed him, placing her flute back on her belt. "Now, you try. Channel your energy into a flame—that always seems to be the easiest, I find."
"Right, right," Hunter said. He creased his eyebrows and held out one hand. A small flame, no bigger than one a match would give off, appeared at one of his fingertips. He grinned, and the flame grew to the size of a baseball.
"That's great! You're a quick learner…" Yueh picked the blitzball up from the ground. "Now, can you cast it onto a target?" she asked.
"I think so," Hunter said, his eyes still on the flame in his palm.
"Right." Yueh wound up and threw the blitzball up in the air. "Hit it, Hunter!"
"Ya!" Hunter flung the flame at the flying ball, and it missed it narrowly. The flame hit the ceiling with minor damage, and the ball fell back to the ground unharmed.
Both of them winced before Yueh laughed. "Ah, maybe we should practice this outside…"
"If you're done destroying Cid's ship, I suggest you get your things and get ready to leave," came a half laughing voice from just down the hallway. Yueh turned around to see Arashi, bags on her back, approaching them. "We're almost to Besaid, and Cid is quite ready to shove us all off." She smiled. "So I figure we should go willingly before he makes us jump from a few thousand feet up."
"Right!" Yueh said, flustered. She began to run down the hallway, trying to think of how many bags she had to carry.
Arashi walked up to Hunter, who had to pick up his blitzball before following.
"I think you should keep up the black magic."
"Wha? Oh, dat—dat was Yueh's idea, I don't think—"
"Trust me. It will come in handy." With that, Arashi walked back down the way, following Yueh back to their room.
Hunter blinked. "She's scary…ya?"