First off, I want to send out a big 'thank you' to Flaming Soul for reviewing my Rikku/Yunie fics and being my friend. And, If you like this fic, or like the Rikku/Yunie pairing, then you might wanna go and read Flaming Soul's 'The Troubles of Love'. Well, On with chapter 4...
-----Rikku's Origin-----
-Besaid Village/Yuna's Hut-
Yuna is still holding Rikku and stroking the Al Bhed girl's hair, as she hums a soothing tune to her friend. Rikku is contented with where she is and is somewhat surprised when Yuna stops humming. Rikku pushes herself back slightly to look at Yuna, who is looking away and appears to be thinking deeply.
"Yunie?" Rikku asks, moving her face closer to Yuna's, "What's wrong?"
"Huh?" Yuna snaps back to the present and she turns to Rikku, "Oh, I was just thinking... maybe we should ask Cid about your true lineage?" Rikku pushes herself away from Yuna and sits up, looking away from the former Summoner.
"What's the matter, Rikku?" asks Yuna, leaning toward the blonde and placing her hand on her shoulder.
Rikku's silent for a few moments, "I don't know, Yunie..." she responds, still looking away, "I guess, I'm just worried. But, I'm not sure if I'm worried about talking to Pops, I mean Cid, or if it's that I'm worried about what I may find out..."
"I understand, Rikku." Yuna says, "But, It's alright." Rikku turns to Yuna and Yuna continues, "It's alright, because I will be with you." Yuna moves her hand from Rikku's shoulder to Rikku's hand and smiles, "We can find out, together." she finishes.
After a moment, Rikku smiles back and turns her hand over, then intwines her fingers with Yuna's. The blonde Al Bhed then leans over to Yuna and kisses her friend's left cheek, "Thanks, Yunie." she says, still smiling, "I know it'll be easier if you're with me."
"So, When do you want to go?" asks Yuna.
"..." Rikku's sort of silent momentarily, then responds, "I guess, the sooner the better, huh?" she then sighs.
Yuna nods to affirm and then says, "As soon as you're ready."
-Cid's Airship-
"Fa'ja vuiht ran, maytan!" the current pilot of the airship says. In case you all are wondering, Brother's not the current pilot cause he's gone.
"Frana!?" demands Cid, from where he's standing behind the pilot, "Damm sa!"
"Cra'c uh Besaid ecmyht!" the pilot responds over his shoulder.
Cid's eyes widen slightly, 'She's gone to talk to Yuna! I'd stake my life on it!' he states to himself, then orders, "Vesa! Dyga ic du Besaid, drah! Vimm cbaat yrayt!"
"Yd uhla, maytan!" the pilot responds, then hits a few keys and the view switches to outside the airship. The ship's boosters kick-on and flames shoot out, causing the gigantic airship to blast-off at a high rate of speed.
Within a few minutes, The island of Besaid comes into view and the pilot says, "Fa'na lusehk ib uh Besaid huf, maytan!"
"Pakeh tulgehk-bnulatinac!" Cid orders, "Bnabyna du tulg!"
"Oac, maytan!" responds the pilot.
-Yuna's Hut-
Yuna and Rikku are still sitting on Yuna's bed, Rikku has her head on Yuna's shoulder and Yuna's humming a tune to her Al Bhed friend.
Yuna stops humming, then asks, "So, Have you decided when to talk to Cid?"
Rikku raises her head up and shakes her head, then starts to reply... only to be cut off by the roar of the airship's engines. "Looks like I'll talk to him, soon enough." she says, instead.
The two girls then use a nearby savesphere to transport themselves up to the airship, where they're greeted by Cid.
-Airship-
Yuna takes Rikku's hand in her's and Cid looks at their hands for a moment, then asks Rikku, "I take it, you heard me and that boy of mine talkin'?"
Rikku nods, "Yep, I heard." she responds.
"And, I suppose yer wonderin' about yer real parents, eh?" asks Cid.
"... yes."
"Well..." Cid says, as he turns away from the two and places his arms behind him, gripping his left wrist in his right hand, "The truth is, No one really knows." Rikku and Yuna both gasp before Cid continues, "Actually, I found you around fifteen years ago, as an infant, in Bikanel Desert." he turns back toward the two girls, "There wasn't a trace of anyone who might've left ya there. So, I decided to take ya back to our original Home, before it was destroyed, and I raised ya as my own daughter." he continues, "Yer brother, though, realized how you felt about Yuna and wanted to tell ya the truth. That's when ya overheard us."
"Where is Brother, anyways?" asks Rikku.
"He got angry when I didn't agree to tell ya." Cid replies, "Then he up and left, Buddy went with him."
"So... No one knows who I am..." Rikku says, releasing Yuna's hand as she backs up to the wall behind her, then slids down into a sitting position and wraps her arms around her knees. The blonde then buries her face her knees.
"Rikku..." Yuna says, as she starts to step closer to Rikku.
"Rikku!" a male voice says from the doorway to the bridge, "C'mon, This ain't like you!"
Yuna looks toward the doorway and Rikku raises her head to look toward it too. Rikku's eyes widen somewhat, "It's you!" she says. The view switches around to the guy they're looking at: he has long blonde hair that's combed straight back(except for a stubborn lock of hair that is hanging down infront of his face), brown eyes, blue pants that run down under shin-high metal-plated silver boots, a black leather vest fastened in the front, chain-mesh armor under the vest which reaches his elbows, black leather fingerless gloves, metal bracers on both forearms, a spiked metal covering on his left shoulder, and a chain around his right leg. His left arm is across his chest, his hand gripped on his right bicep, and he's holding a very long somewhat curved sword(a Nodachi) in his right hand, which he has the dull side of resting on his shoulder.
"Huh?" Yuna looks back to Rikku, "Who is he, Rikku?"
"An old friend of the Al Bhed, a former Crusader..." Rikku says, as she stands up, "Leonn."
"That's me!" Leonn states, with a cocky smile, "Master Swordsman, Leonn!" he releases his right bicep and, as he uses his fingers to flick the stubborn lock of hair from his face, there's a quick glint of light causing his brown eyes to appear a dark amber . Afterwhich, The lock of hair falls right back infront of his face. "Now, Rikku." he says, "What's with all this downheartedness? It just ain't you, y'know!"
"But--"
"No buts, Rikku!" Leonn interrupts, wagging his left index finger back-and-forth, "Ask Yuna." he points to Yuna, "She'll tell you who you are."
"Wh-what d'you mean?" asks Rikku.
"You're in love with her, ain't you?" Leonn questions, "Then, Does it really matter who your parents were? Does anyone else's opinion matter, besides hers?"
"Yeah, but--"
"Fine!" Leonn states, interrupting Rikku. He takes his nodachi off his shoulder and holds it out with the tip pointed toward Rikku and adds, "Then, I challenge you, Rikku!"
"Huh?" Rikku's eyes widen somewhat as she sorta jerks her head back, obviously surprised.
"Fight me, one-on-one, Rikku." Leonn says, not taking his eyes away from Rikku(not even to blink), "If I win then, you hafta give up this 'self-discovery' trip of yours." "If you win, however," he continues, "I will tell you something that may give you some clue to your origin."
"... alright." Rikku says, apprehensively, then she pulls out her daggers(well, I've sorta crossed FFX Rikku with FFX-2 Rikku, by leaving her with her FFX outfit and giving her her FFX-2 weapon).
"Um, Rikku?" Yuna questions, "A-are you sure about this?" she looks back toward the suddenly serious Leonn, before returning her gaze to Rikku.
Rikku nods to her friend, "I... I wanna know the truth, Yunie." she says, "I... need to know." she takes her stance and the scene switches into battle.
Leonn's standing with his nodachi on his shoulder and using his left hand to sorta scratch the side of his head. He then yawns, holding his left hand infront of his mouth as he does, then takes his nodachi off his shoulder in a type of right-to-left downward diagonal swing as he steps forward with his right foot. Leonn then twists his upperbody slightly to his right and brings his nodachi back, pointed out and down to his right, his left arm is more-or-less parallel with his right leg.
Leonn then runs over to Rikku, bringing his nodachi around and gripping the handle with his left hand, and jumps up slightly. He hits Rikku with a right-to-left downward diagonal swing, then leaps back to his starting position.
"Ow!" Rikku says, then runs over to Leonn and performs a left-to-right horizontal swing with her left-hand dagger, spins and stabs him with her right-hand dagger. She then jumps back to her starting position, "So, How'd ya like that?"
Leonn turns his head to one side, then the other, loosing the joints in his neck, "Not bad, Rikku." he says, "Now, Try one of my 'Swordsmanship' attacks! 'Gale Spiral'!" he runs over to Rikku and grips his nodachi's handle in both hands, then performs a right-to-left horizontal swing. He spins around, performing a second swing, then a third, fourth, and finally a fifth. He spins around one more time, bringing his nodachi up, and performs a left-to-right downward diagonal swing, releasing the sword's handle with his left hand. Leonn then jumps back to his starting position and Rikku drops to a sitting position, with her legs out to either side of her, "Ready to give up, Rikku?" questions Leonn, confidently. "Come on." he adds, with a shrug of his shoulders, "How do you possibly hope to beat me?"
Rikku takes a deep breath, then shoves herself back up to her feet, rocking unsteadily for a moment. She uses a potion on herself and then brings her daggers up in her fighting stance again.
'She's up?' Leonn wonders, raising an eyebrow, then says, "Fine, then. It's time to end this." he brings his nodachi up vertically infront of himself, holding his left hand open between it and himself with the palm toward the blade. The sword begins glowing, "Get ready to lose, Rikku." he says, then grips the sword's handle with both hands and brings it back to his right side, pointed behind him. He runs toward Rikku and brings his sword up and around himself, then he brings it down in a diagonal right-to-left swing.
However, At the last second, Rikku sidesteps to her left and spins, cutting Leonn along his right side with her left-hand dagger. She spins on around and stabs her right-hand dagger into Leonn's back. Leonn's muscles tense as he takes a couple slow steps forward, then drops to his left knee with his left hand flat on the floor to brace himself and the blade of his sword rests against the floor as well.
Rikku does a win-pose and states, "Ha! Gotcha!" then the scene switches back to normal with Leonn still on one knee with his back toward Rikku and the others.
Leonn's breathing is heavy, but it soon returns to normal as he pushes himself up, his back still to Rikku and the others, "Y'know..." he says, "For such a carefree and childlike person," he turns to Rikku with a smile on his face, "You sure pack quite a punch, Rikku. hahahaha!" he brings his nodachi up and lays in on his shoulder, then flicks the lock of hair infront of his face. After another moment or so, he takes his sword off his shoulder and spins it into reverse-grip in his right, then drives the blade into the metal floor of the airship, "Well, A promise is a promise." he says, reaching into a pouch on his back and then he pulls out a sphere(like the ones in FFX-2, of course.
He walks over to Rikku, "This is called a record-sphere." he says, "Some are older than Zanarkand. Here." he places the sphere in Rikku's hands, "Watch it."
Rikku nods and, she and Yuna watch the sphere. The picture, however, is very dark and the couple of visible figures can just barely be made out, though you can only see their silhouettes(not them).
)"So, What're we gonna do?" a female voice asks, worriedly, "They're after us!"(
)"I know!" a deeper male voice responds, sounding half-worried and half-angry, "... I'll hold them off, you run!"(
)"But!"(
)"No!" the male voice interrupts, "You have to get our daughter to safety!"(
)"... a-alright." the female voice relents.(
Rikku and Yuna see the smaller of the two figures start running away, but she stops...
)"Be careful, K----(/the sound fizzes, causing the name to be blurred out/)"I love you!"(
)"I love you too." the male voice responds, "Now, Go!"(
Rikku and Yuna see the female figure start running away again, then the sphere ends, "I don't get it." Rikku says, "What does this thing have to do with me?" she holds the sphere up in one hand and looks it over oddly.
"You don't get it?" Leonn asks, then scratches the back of his head and says, "Well, There's no way of knowing for sure, however, I believe that those two on that sphere are... your parents, Rikku."
"What!?" Rikku and Yuna respond, in unison, their eyes wide with shock.
Leonn retrieves the sphere from Rikku and returns it to the pouch at the back of his waist, then draws his nodachi from the floor, "There are sphere-hunters that search for these kinda spheres and I was thinking of going looking myself." he says, "If you two want, you can come with me. You might discover more clues, Rikku." he walks by the two to the savesphere, "It's up to you." he adds, then raises his left hand to the savesphere, "See ya, Cid." he then disappears, transported to the ground obviously.
After talking about it for a few minutes, Rikku and Yuna agree to accompany Leonn and walk over to the savesphere.
"Rikku. Yuna." Cid says, causing them to stop and turn their attention to him, "I wanna say..." he pauses, scratching the back of his neck with his left hand, "Ah, I ain't never been good at this but, be careful you two." he says, "And, uh... good luck together."
Rikku and Yuna both smile, "Thank you, Cid." Yuna says, bowing politely.
"Yeah! Thanks, Pops!" Rikku adds, waving her hand back-and-forth childishly. Then, The two touch the savesphere and vanish.
-Besaid Island-
Rikku and Yuna appear once again inside Yuna's hut, and then they run out of the hut to try and catch-up to Leonn. As soon as they exit the hut, they hear, "What took so long?" Leonn's voice asks.
Rikku and Yuna turn to see Leonn leaned against the wall of a hut, he stands up and turns toward them. Again, His left hand is on his right bicep and he's holding his nodachi in his right hand, with the blade on his shoulder, "So? You two coming?" he asks.
Rikku nods, "You betcha!" she states, childishly, then somewhat more seriously(well, serious for Rikku), "I wanna know the truth!" she finishes with a solid nod.
"And, I wish to accompany you as well." Yuna says, "Besides," she looks toward Rikku beside her, "I want to be wherever Rikku goes."
Rikku blushes slightly, "Awww, Yunie." she says.
"Well." Leonn says, turning away from the two, "I can't promise what we'll find, or if we'll find anything, but... what d'ya say we get started, eh?" he finishes as he glances back over his shoulder at Rikku and Yuna, who both nod in agreement. The three head toward the dock.
-----!!The End!! ... For Now ... -----
Ramblings: Well, Looks like that's it for this fic. However, In case you haven't guessed, I'm gonna continue this fic right into FFX-2(in the sequel). Oh, And as for Leonn, He's my own creation and his long sword is called a Nodachi(basically a long katana, 5ft long in this case). My sister and Flaming Soul approved him, so I added him in. Btw, I decided to use the video game's battle set-up for the fight in this story and I'll probably use the same set-up in the sequel... I don't know, it just seems to keep the game in mind. Oh, And Paine, Brother and Buddy will be in the sequel story... Shinra, however, probably won't(I hate that kid!). Anyway, Be sure to check out Flaming Soul's 'The Troubles of Love' on if you like this story(or the Rikku/Yuna pairing). Al Bhed translation as follows:
"We've found her, leader!" the current pilot of the airship says.
"Where!?" demands Cid, from where he's standing behind the pilot, "Tell me!"
"She's on Besaid island!" the pilot responds over his shoulder.
... he states to himself, then orders, "Fine! Take us to Besaid, then! Full speed ahead!"
"At once, leader!" the pilot responds.
... the pilot says, "We're closing in on Besaid now, leader!"
"Begin docking-procedures!" Cid orders, "Prepare to dock!"
"Yes, leader!" responds the pilot.
Be sure to review, okay? Well, That's all for this chapter. So, Ja til the sequel.