"Stupid." Rikku wrinkled her nose and scuffed her foot on the floor as she walked along each wall of the room, her hands in the pockets of a long skirt. It made a soft airy sound as it brushed along the wall with each step, soft material swaying with every subtle motion of her body. Who knew Paine, Warrior Goddess Extraordinaire, knew how to sew this well? But that hidden talent was not the reason Rikku was stalking the perimeter of her lab with a constant scowl on her face.
"Rikku," Yuna laughed, "you'll get wrinkles that way, you know!" Oh, was that woman pregnant. Her small frame hardly seemed able to support the weight of the kicking child within her. Luckily, she'd gained a bit of weight over the past months and her daily walks helped to build up enough muscle that she wasn't suffering too much, save her lower back and her feet. Tidus, of course, was more than thrilled to give his wife any earthly whim she had, including full-body massages (minus the infant, of course). Today, she'd contacted Brother by commsphere and begged to be picked up, just to get away from his constant ministrations. Wakka, who knew the anxiety of fatherhood, was trying to keep him busy with blitz practice. Yuna hoped it was working somewhat by now.
Rikku shook her head in response to her cousin's joke, loose golden hair falling over her shoulders in soft waves, out of the usual braids and blue bandanna for once. She blew out all the air in her lungs with a huffy sound and walked over to the lab table next to her brunette counterpart, fiddling idly with a few healing potions she'd been experimenting with. "I just can't get over it, I guess. The Gullwings are almost completely gone. Gone, Yunie! First you, when you went off to get married to Tidus. I mean, I think it's great, and since you're so good at white magic, you're gonna help a lot of people even without having to, you know, save the world and all that stuff. And what you've told me about that hospital idea, hey, it sounds great." She picked up a very weak healing potion and poured half its contents into an empty vials in a stand, then added two drops of an X-potion with an eyedropper. After the contents bubbled and became still, she sniffed the contents, shook her head, and stirred the mixture with a chocobo feather. The reaction reeked and became an ugly shade of pale green, but when Rikku moved the stand in front of the chemical analyzer that she'd been working on for the past few years, she grinned and tapped a few buttons to make the computer memorize the pattern.
"What's that?" Yuna asked, shifting in the chair. The pillow she'd put under her was starting to flatten out, so she had to lift herself a little to move it.
Rikku blew a bang out of her face, then grabbed a pin from the satchel at her hip and swept the annoying strands out of her face, speaking while she moved. "What I was hoping it would be. It's kind of like an ultra-potion, but way weaker, and according to the read-out, its atoms are moving really fast. I'm betting it'd speed the recovery of really sick patients without being too-too strong, you know? Like we've been talking about that old priest you take care of at the Besaid temple? Cure doesn't do anything that helps him, and Curaga's so strong it knocks him out and doesn't heal a thing, right?"
Yuna nodded, leaning towards Rikku's shoulder to try and understand the strange numbers and symbols on the screen her cousin had been staring at. It was all white text on a blue background, like Shinra's old computer on the bridge, but Yuna had never been able to make out any of it, even though it was written in perfect Spiran. Maybe that was why, the perfection of the script. She was so used to her own sloppy handwriting, after all. And Tidus wrote in old Zanarkind script... maybe that's what this was, since the Al Bhed mostly used salvaged computers. "His daughter's getting really worried. He's near the farplane, but she doesn't want his passing to be painful, and it's going to be if we can't get rid of the pain inside him."
"Well," Rikku continued, hair finally out of her way, "I bet this'll do just the trick. Have him drink this potion... thingie. It's not as high in healing power as an actual ultra-potion would be, but it'll go right through to where it's needed. Shouldn't put as much stress on him as other potions or spells would. Though it might be good combined with a weak Regen cast at least three times a day."
Yuna grinned and rubbed her belly through the soft material of her robe, a habit she'd picked up since the beginning of her second trimester. "Rikku, why don't you become a white mage? You know how to cast, and you're so much better with potions than most of us are. You could run a hospice to recover people that seem past hope."
The woman wrinkled her nose and grabbed two small capsules, one red to denote that it was a fire elemental and one yellow for lightening, then threw them into a bucket of what she liked to call "casting juice," really a collection of enzymes that set off any reactions she needed to be contained, as if she were using an item on a fiend. As soon as the capsules hit the clear liquid together, a small explosion sent orange-yellow sparks glimmering out from the bucket, like a golden fire weeping-willow. Rikku turned to her cousin with a cocky grin. "Sorry, Yunie. I prefer to keep a little excitement in my life."
Yuna laughed, pressing her pale hands to her face. "Just don't get your eyebrows burned off again, Rikku. Uncle Cid had such a fit last time!"
Rikku only gave a faint "heh," and started picking up corks to put in the various vials, closing up shop for the day. She placed a large, circular block of wood over the casting juice bucket to keep out anything that could affect the enzymes too much. With a grin, she handed the closed vial of green, foul-smelling medicine to Yuna and stood, straightening her skirt, which had twisted back around her waist. As Rikku stood, she admired the cut of the material, how it gave a nice feminine form to her rather thin body. She almost envied Yuna. Not only did the woman have the largest rack of all YRP members, but she'd become incredibly soft-skinned and curvy after her pregnancy, while Rikku had never been able to gain a pound in her life, save the natural gains of puberty. Ahh, the curses of being a hyperactive Al Bhed girl.
"I really do like that skirt, Rikku," Yuna murmured, leaning against the doorway. She smiled in the quiet, starry-eyed manner of a contented mother. "Paine's a good seamstress. I'm sorry you're still upset over her leaving, though. I mean, her living with Gippal and all, I know you're still sore."
"Ugh." Rikku slapped a hand to her forehead, internally cursing her cousin for bringing the delicate subject back up after they'd both been so nicely distracted. "It's not just that, Yunie. I mean, you're gone, Paine's gone, and even Brother's gone! Who'd have thunk he'd get the chance to court an older chick like Nhadala, huh? I mean, he's been so hopeless up till now, and... rgh!" she shouted, an indistinct sound of frustration, and kicked the wall. "The ship's almost empty, Yunie! Buddy's just flying around and taking people places they want to go, Shinra's hanging out at Djose inventing stuff with Gippal, I'm in here half the time playing with my chemistry set, and Lazarus is helping you with stuff all the time, when he's not eating snowballs or offering to go fiend hunt. Everything's falling apart. The adventure... all of it. It's over, Yuna." Rikku sighed and put a hand to the hard metal wall, staring at the line her golden-skinned fingers cut across the gray surface. The image was so... solitary. "Everyone's gone off to have babies and... take new jobs... sphere hunting isn't even necessary, since Baralai started up the spherebraries and opened up all New Yevon's historical info to the public. Spira's changing. We're changing. I don't like it. It doesn't feel right. Life doesn't feel like living anymore." She turned her face to look at her cousin, to search for some sympathy, some answer. But Yuna's face was still, her bi-colored eyes pinned on the floor.
"We all have to grow up sometime, Rikku. Our entire planet's growing up. We're all becoming adults together, even those who already are older. You can't stay a kid forever." Yuna winced then, as if she'd already realized that her words were wrong.
"Yuna, that's not what I mean and you know it," the younger woman hissed, her green eyes narrowing in uncustomary anger. "I'm not a kid. You know I'm not, and it's offensive that you'd even suggest I am. I saw my entire world blown up. Not just attacked by Sin, Yunie. Killed off by people, and people should know better. I'm not talking about being a kid. That ended when I was fifteen. That's when I quit being a kid, just like you quit being a kid the minute you put on summoner's robes." Rikku paused in her tirade, breathing a little bit harder than she should have been. Instead, she stared at her cousin, whose face was contorting with barely-restrained emotion. The Al Bhed woman dashed forward then, wrapping her arms around Yuna's blue-clad shoulders, pulling her cousin into as tight a hug as she could risk. "Yunie, I didn't mean to sound mad. But you know. You know how I feel. It's not that we're growing up, it's that we're growing... apart. It isn't right, you know?"
Yuna nodded, leaning her damp cheek on Rikku's bare shoulder. "I know. Sorry, I didn't mean to cry. It just happens so quickly, lately... but yeah. I know what you mean, Rikku. It does feel kind of... weird. But maybe that's what growing up is. That's what I meant."
Rikku shook her head, running her fingers through her cousin's short hair as she turned them both toward the door. Walking up from the lab into the front control room, they headed towards the elevator. "No. If it feels wrong, it's wrong. And if something's wrong, you have to make it right. Just like we did two years ago, and two years before that. We'll figure things out."
She smiled, and patted her cousin on the back as they went through the engine room to the exit. They were docked right on the beach, though, so as they left the ship, they could see the Aurochs practicing in the ocean. Buddy was playing along, and he'd finally mastered a spin shot, though he still wasn't as adept at the Jecht Shot as Tidus. And Lazarus... Rikku snickered to herself. Lazarus was being a sore thumb, as always. Sitting in the sand, refusing to look like he was enjoying himself, and probably grumbling to his mask about the terrors of the Besaid sun. He'd gained a healthy tan, though. For an obvious Yevonite, he had some tone to him. His hair was as black as Lu's, but at least he wasn't as colorless as a sheet of parchment. He was closer in skin tone to Tidus... hm. Maybe people born in Bevelle and Zanarkind came from a close gene pool? It'd make sense.
A sudden thought made Rikku laugh aloud. When Yuna gave her a confused look, she whispered into her cousin's ear, green eyes glimmering. Yuna too let out a little giggle, that erupted into a full-throated laugh. It made her husband pause in mid-dive, so he ended up sputtering and coughing, so completely distracted from the game that he ignored Jassu's catcalls and ran over to his wife.
"Something the matter?" he asked, looking from one woman to the other, his blue eyes wide with concern. But when he saw that they were just giggling over something, he folded his arms and shook his head, smiling. "Girls. Can't live with 'em..."
"Can't concentrate around 'em!" called Wakka, sending a well-aimed blitzball hurtling towards Tidus' head. "Now get back to da game, brudda. You know we play da Goers for da finals dis week, ya? Or you forgot dat quick?" The rest of the team laughed, and only laughed harder when Tidus turned around and gave a vigorous display of offensive Spiran hand gestures. Though Yuna blushed, Rikku just snickered, and the two girls scurried off in the direction of a very uncomfortable-looking warrior.
"Laaaaaaz," Rikku crooned, plopping down in the sand before the man, her knees pulled up to her chest with the skirt falling in front of her feet like a blanket. "Can I ask you something? Pleeeease?"
He looked over from his position sitting on a small crate, his right hand resting on a white, rough-surfaced ceramic jug of sake that was warming in the sand. As Rikku batted her lashes at him, he raised the jug and tilted his head forward, as if ready to attack. Yuna only stood and laughed, smoothing out a wrinkle in her royal blue pregnancy robes. After a few moments of the two friends facing off, though, Lazarus sighed and put the sake jug back where it had been. "What is it?" he asked.
"Well... we were wondering. Do you have a big tan line right where your mask is?" She grinned. "Like, is the lower half of your face all white?" When he didn't move, didn't even blink, Rikku knew he was surprised at the request. I bet he's thinking, so that's what they were giggling about, she thought, rocking back and forth on her heels. His surprise didn't matter, of course. She'd find out one way or another. "It won't break your vow or whatever if you show us just one little corner, huh? Not your actual face. Just the little string that holds it on your collar. C'mon!"
Lazarus stared at her for a few moments longer, drawing out the suspense. Then, with a roll of his eyes, he covered his mouth with one hand and unhooked the mask with the other, showing a tiny corner of his jawline. Which was, indeed, glaring white.
Yuna collapsed on her knees in the sand, breaking out into a fit of giggles that took minutes to calm down. But for some reason, Rikku didn't join in. It had been funny when she'd thought of it, sure. And it'd probably still be funny, if she let it, but something was distracting her. It was… odd. Staring at the skin, pale though it was, a feeling seemed to bubble up inside her. Something unnameable and different.
It wasn't lust, she decided. Not attraction of any kind, though she'd realized he was attractive very soon after she'd met him. It wasn't love, because she knew she'd felt that for Gippal, and she hadn't known this person long enough to understand him the way she'd understood her childhood companion. It was kind of like recognition. No. Fainter. A tickle at the back of her mind.
Softly, words left her mouth, traced by the language of her childhood. "E fyhd du caa. Lyh E caa?" Ahh. That made sense. So, that's what it was. Curiosity. Desire to understand. She wanted to peel the barrier away and really know this person. The way she'd begged to know Paine so long ago, on their adventures, but had been rejected. And Paine… two years of knowing her, and Rikku had only just learned that the other woman could sew. Would this be the same thing?
But the man only stared at her, silent guardian of Yuna's child, silent friend who lent a shoulder to cry on and nothing of himself.
"Cusatyo, vneaht." It was barely audible, but Rikku heard every syllable distinctly, and her face bloomed into a smile. As Yuna came out of her giggling fit, Rikku was chuckling as well. It covered up the fact that she'd been staring at Lazarus so hard.
And then… "Oh, my."
Rikku looked over her shoulder at Yuna, who was laying in the sand, staring up at the sky, with a worried expression on her face. "Yunie?" she began carefully. "Something wrong?"
"I felt, um. Something. I think, um…" The woman sat up and looked down at herself, trying to see around the great lump of her belly. "I need Lulu. Lazarus, please get Lulu. Don't rush. Don't worry Tidus." Her eyes were big and glassy as she looked up at her cousin, whispering: "Water."
Rikku nodded vigorously and moved forward to help Yuna up while Lazarus stalked off in the direction of Lulu's tent. As the two girls stood, there was a patch of wet sand where Yuna had been lying. The white mage cringed. "This is so embarrassing. I mean, I thought I felt a few contractions when we were talking on the ship, and once when I was laughing, but I wasn't… sure. It's so new." She smiled, a light blush creeping over the balls of her cheeks. "I feel like a bad dog."
The Al Bhed laughed, curving her arm around Yuna's waist to help her walk discreetly away from the practicing blitzers. They'd already spread the word to everyone, Lazarus and Wakka especially, that if Yuna started going into labor, even if it was a false alarm, not to tell Tidus until Yuna was already behind closed doors. He'd been acting up so much, they were all afraid he'd get so nervous and clumsy he'd fall and break his head open.
"Does it hurt?" Rikku asked, her eyes big green swirls of compassion and worry. Yuna paused as if to think, her hands resting on the sides of her belly, as if she could hold it up. All the while she smiled, nervous but… happy.
"Not at all. It's just strange. It's more pressure than pain. And I can feel the muscles doing it, but just a little. It was really faint, I didn't notice it really at first." Tears slipped down her cheeks for the second time in just minutes. "Don't ask me why I'm crying this time. I don't know."
"I think I do," Rikku whispered. In the distance, she caught a glimpse of Lulu and the full-bodied priestess that served as Besaid midwife. Lazarus was striding behind them, but as soon as he turned his face toward the two girls, he quickened his step, and had dashed over to them in moments, blocking their path.
"Lady Yuna, if I may," he said, giving a quick bow before curving an arm around her waist and bending down. Rikku moved out of the way just in time to watch him lift Yuna from the ground in a gentle cradle, as if she were no more weighty than the babe inside of her. The smoothness of his walk afterwards showed that he wasn't struggling at all, which was more than Tidus could do lately.
"Impressive," Rikku murmured, following behind them to Lulu's tent.
Auron brought his charge back into Lu and Wakka's bedroom, where a long white cot was standing untouched next to the couple's thick pallet. He laid the birthing woman down and smoothed her hair back from her face, staring calmly into her eyes, which were becoming less human and more animal by the moment. But as they looked at one another, she calmed, smiling as he ran his gloved hand once more over her forehead. After a moment's pause, though, he unhooked the glove of his left hand and held Yuna's own, planting a small kiss on her forehead, though of course he never took off the mask. Rikku watched, and smiled. She was right about this person. He was more a father than a friend to most of them.
As he exited the tent, leaving Lulu and the midwife to attend to Yuna, Rikku grabbed a handful of his shirt and made him stop. "Thank you. For doing that. You know Yuna's father is gone, and I'm sure he's very grateful. Especially since you did it just 'cause you love her, and no other reason." She smiled, letting go of the tunic. When Rikku looked up at his face, she had to stifle a laugh. Lazarus looked like he was about to blush. She was dead serious about what she'd said, but seeing the great silent warrior look like a bashful schoolboy was downright funny. "Aww, you're so cute sometimes."
Lazarus gave a forced cough and looked away. But then, peeking back out of the corner of a twinkling brown eye, he growled, "Am not."
His counterpart laughed and grabbed his bare elbow, pulling him into a sitting position in front of the tent's front flap so that they could guard it from panicking blitzers. After a few moments of silence, he remembered his glove and dropped it on the hard-packed ground, followed by its fellow. His forearms and hands were marked by pale skin, as well, but it wasn't nearly as pronounced as the facial tan line. The hair that ran along them was darker, less sun-bleached than the rest of him, and his fingers were thick with muscle, with an almost pudgy look to them because of that. There was a tiny scar on his left hand near his thumb, no more than a centimeter long, and very thin. "What's this?" she asked, tracing her index finger over it.
"Ah. I'd almost forgot about this. It's from when I was a boy." Laz flexed the hand, moving his arm forward so that the sun would shine on it. "I was in my parents' bed, talking to them. Just talking. And I think I was gesturing, or something... not sure. But the nail of my... what was it, my right pinky finger. Scraped over my left hand." He made the motion of nail over skin. For good measure, he even opened one corner of his mouth and made kind of a gutteral noise for the scratching sound effect. "It didn't even bleed, just stung for a minute until my mother offered to get me a glass of juice. Kids make a big deal about pain, but it never lasts. I was surprised to find that this scar lasted so long."
Rikku smiled and nodded. Rarely had he been so open about himself, even though they'd been friends for half a year now. He'd always change the subject to back to her, especially in dealing with their pasts and experiences. All he'd ever said about himself was preferences, and the fact that he'd learned to fight as a warrior monk. Nothing more. "That's a cute story. But hey, how come you don't mind telling me that, but you won't tell me what you did for a living last year?"
"Because my childhood is not within the confines of what the Fayth commanded me to keep secret." He sighed and shook his head, staring down at the ground. The sake jug was still on the beach. Damn. "The only reason I'm wearing a mask or keeping my identity secret is his command. I'm allowed to tell one person what my true name is. No more. I am called Lazarus because... well. Because I like it." He leaned forward and glanced to the beach. No sake jug. Sake good. Want sake now. His eyes squinted in annoyance.
"Ahh, I get it. So it is a vow. How come you didn't tell me earlier?"
"You did not ask."
Rikku snorted. It was so like him to give a smart-aleck response like that. "Fine, then. If that's the way you're going to play it, I'm going to ask you lots more questions from now on. I like understanding my friends better." She smirked, and punched him lightly in the shoulder. "Unless you feel like coming up with details on your own."
He watched her for a few moments, fiddling idly with his glove, then gave a nod. "Ask what you like, and I'll tell you what I can, with or without prompting."
Rikku grinned as if she'd won something and settled back so that she was halfway lying down, using her elbows for support. "Okay, then, let's start. You're old enough to have kids yourself by now, and I can tell you'd take good care of them if you had 'em. So. Were you ever married?"
"No. I've never been in a relationship. It was not something I felt pertinent to my life."
She blinked and lurched forward again, surpise evident in her wide eyes and mouth. "Really? So, like, you've never had a girlfriend? Or a date? Or even a really really long one-sided crush?" Of course, her last statement immediately reminded her of Gippal, and a thought occurred to her. The idea of her love for him being one-sided didn't seem to hurt as much anymore, somehow. Even thinking about it didn't upset her at all. She didn't even really want him back. What she wanted back... were her friends.
Lazarus shrugged, his eyes twitching to catch a sudden movement to their left. Tidus and Wakka, the latter of which was holding his sake jug. Thank the aeons. "I've noticed women, and I've kissed one or two. Nothing more. As I said, it's never been something I needed or cared for much. Some of my friends, the married ones, considered me asexual. I'm not, however."
He paused as the chattering husband neared them. Tidus wasn't saying anything verbal, of course. Just a string of mismatched syllables, interspersed with an identifyable "Yuna." Wakka only shook his head in understanding and handed Lazarus the sake jug before stepping between them into the tent. After all, he'd been calm enough to help with Lulu's previous birthing, so he could do some of the necessary tasks without being fussed at by the women. When Tidus tried to follow his friend, Lazarus planted a firm hand on the other man's chest and pushed, sending the blonde sprawling onto his back.
Rikku jumped to her feet and helped Tidus up, without letting him go afterward. "Don't worry, cousin-in-law, Wakka knows what to do inside the house. So, they need you to fetch water from the well and heat it to kinda near-boiling at the fire in the village square. Understood, soldier?" She saluted, giving her best Crusader pose and trying to sound serious.
Luckily, Tidus was messed up enough to buy the act. "Um... yeah! I'll get right on that! Just... somebody come get me if anything happens, okay? I'm totally freaking out here!" Then he just ran off, without even asking why Lazarus and Rikku were sitting there, rather than busy fetching hot water as well.
Rikku snickered as she sat back down, watching the blitzer as he jogged away from the village toward the freshwater well, bouncing with every step, his useless white hood jumping with his movement. "He's so silly," she commented, perfectly aware that she was stating the obvious.
Lazarus, however, was oblivious. The sake jug was open, and at his lips, and he was drinking it down with eyes closed. His adam's apple bobbed with each pulse of his throat, and she suddenly realized that with his mask inched up so far, she could make out almost his entire face, save the end of his nose and upper lip. But he wasn't bad-looking despite it. Strong chin with a tiny bit of a cleft. Five o'clock shadow. Thin lower lip, what she could see of it. A hard and angluar jawline. He wasn't anything like what she was used to around Tidus and Wakka and Gippal. They were prettier, softer of feature and voice. He was just himself. A rice-wine-chugging, snowball-sipping, silent fighter who grumbled about having to shave every morning and kissed birthing women on the forehead.
And I'm his friend, she thought to herself. It seemed so cool. Just the idea of being this amazing person's friend, even able to extract the occasional smile from him. It really was a rush, like winning a prize or passing a test, or finding a new chemical compound from easy-to-find items that could kill off an Ultima Weapon clone in one shot. She pulled her knees to her chest and grabbed at her toes, smiling. It felt so good to be liked by this person. To have so much fun being near this person, and to find out he sought out her company. Her, of all people.
"I like shoulders," he suddenly mumbled, slipping his mask back down and putting the jug to the side.
Rikku perked up, blinking. "Wha...?" What the Sin was he talking about?
"Shoulders," he repeated, looking over at her. "I like womens' shoulders. Don't ask me why. But I can't be attracted to a woman unless she has nice shoulders. They can't be too bony." He chuckled, folding his arms over his chest. "Once, a good friend of mine... let's call him Jareth. Once he said that that was the only thing that made him know I wasn't gay. He claimed that he had the most gorgeous shoulders in the world and started wiggling them at me to try and prove it. I hit him. My other friend, let's call him Bob. Bob couldn't stop laughing."
Rikku grinned. "Bet you thought Lu was hot, then, when you first saw her. Her shoulders are all out there for everyone to see, and hers are pretty nice. Though I don't know what you're looking for in shoulders." She shrugged, self-consciously fiddling with the strap of her lavendar tank top.
Lazarus' eyes followed her hand, then he quickly glanced away, as if he was afraid to look over his friend in that manner. But when he spoke next, his voice was a low rumble. "Don't mention this to anyone, but... Lulu's breasts frighten me. I don't know how Wakka manages not to drown."
Rikku laughed, nicely distracted away from her tank strap, but the laugh turned into a yawn. "I guess I'm a little more shallow," she responded. "I like eyes. Or, well, I guess whatever the guy has left, considering Gippal's only got one that's nice to look at. I've seen the other one, and it's gross and I don't think he can even really see out of it anymore. But yeah. The color doesn't matter, but they have to be the kind of eyes you can sink into. Watchful. Passionate. That kind of thing. I love looking at people's eyes, though. It really upsets me when glasses and stuff get in the way. I want to understand more people better, and I figure that's the only way." She paused, considering. "Well, maybe not glasses, but sunglasses. Those really get on my nerves. I think because the only people that wear them often, and not just to get out of the sun, are the kind of people that either have no personality or want to be unapproachable. I think you really have to look at someone a lot to be able to dig into them. Like, take Yuna. You know about her pilgrimage, right? Well, her eyes before and after the pilgrimage are totally different. Before, they were wide so she could take in everything around her for the last time, and they were kind of... fogged over, kind of indistinguishable and sad because she had all this weight on her. And afterwards, her eyes always looked smaller because she was always smiling really big if she smiled at all. And they were so bright you could freakin' see yourself in them."
Lazarus paused, staring at Rikku while she talked. But shen she was finished, he smiled. Genuine and big, so that his whole face lifted a little. "A little more shallow, Rikku?" he asked, before reaching a hand out to tousel her loose blonde hair. "You don't give yourself enough credit. I hope you know that."
She grinned in response and combed her hair through with her fingers, arranging the long bangs so they fell easily on either side of her face. "Well, I am shallow. I'm also gorgeous, and intelligent, and happy bubbly fun to be with! And modest. Did I mention that?" Rikku winked at him, then suddenly yawned again. Sleepily, she setting her cheek down on her knees. "Ugh. I might take a nap. Waking up before dawn just to play with chemicals isn't a good idea. I think I'll just lie down right here in the sun, where it's comfy. Wake me if I start to burn, or if Yuna needs anything. Kay?"
"Certainly." Lazarus nodded and watched her lie down on her side next to him, one arm under her head and the other curled up near her chest. Her knees were bent, and for lack of room on non-rocky ground, her feet finally stretched out to touch his leg. He smiled. She fell asleep so easily, in any position, at any time. The girl was lucky.
After a few moments, he rested his hand on her foot and leaned back against the tent's exterior, watching Tidus run back and forth in the glimmering sun of the island afternoon.
"I want to see. Can I see?"
"Someday, friend."