AN: Yeah, about the lyrics... I lied, lol.

This isn't going to follow X-2, I swear! I just thought I should clarify a bit about what Yuna and Rikku had been doing for the past few years.

Hope you like this one...

Disclaimer: Hmmm... what do I own? NOT A DAMN THING!

I know where you hide

Alone in your car

Know all of the things that make you who you are

I know that goodbye means nothing at all

Comes back and begs me to catch her every time she falls

Tap on my window, knock on my door

I want to make you feel beautiful

- "She Will Be Loved" by Maroon 5

A young woman glanced up as we entered the airship, red eyes glinting in the light. My gazed traveled over her, noticing her dark clothes, covered in belts and skulls, and the way that her silver hair flipped up on top of her head. She had the dark, brooding, moody girl look down pat. She didn't say a word, but instead waited for us to make a move.

I liked her instantly.

Yuna jumped past me, nearly pushing me into the doorway. "PAINE!" she screamed as she flung herself into Paine's arms, giving her a huge hug.

The corners of Paine's mouth turned up in a smile. "Hello Yuna." Then, she looked at the rest of us. By the way she nodded at Wakka and Lulu, I had a feeling that she had met them before.

But when her eyes met mine, a bit of shock went into them. "Sir... Sir Auron? Is that really you?" she asked.

I nodded, smiling a bit at her. "Are you the pilot?"

"Yeah," she grinned. "I had to do a few jobs before getting my baby here, but with Yuna and Rikku's help, it wasn't even a problem."

"Help?" I asked.

"Yuna was a sphere hunter, ya?" Wakka joined in.

I looked at all of them like they were insane. "Sphere hunter?"

Lulu looked sympathetic as she started explaining, which bothered me some. It made me remember how during the pilgrimage, everyone would pooh pooh all of Tidus' questions. Actually, I did that too, but hey, I couldn't help it. I had to deal with the kid for years, you know. "Sphere hunters search all over Spira for spheres of Spira's past, and get payed by the various groups who collect them for research."

"Oh, I see," I said. Then, I thought for a moment about what Paine had said just before. "Wait... was Rikku a sphere hunter too?"

Yuna glanced at Paine with laughter in her eyes, making me feel like the village idiot. "Rikku got us all into sphere hunting, Sir Auron. She and her brother were the head of the Gullwings and they recruited Paine as one of their hunters. Then, I needed something to do, so I started helping out too."

"But we're all on vacation at the moment. Yuna went back to Besaid, Rikku went to Luca to play Blitzball for awhile, and I decided to finally buy my airship," Paine added in.

The group paused, realizing that Paine had no idea about Rikku's recent whereabouts. "About Rikku..." Lulu started.

Paine saw our worried faces and her face fell. "What's going on?"

"Rikku was kidnapped earlier this morning," I put simply.

It took a few minutes for the news to finally sink in. Finally, Paine looked up at the rest of us, put on a brave face, and said, "Well then, where to? We need to start somewhere."

"You said Rikku was in Luca, right?" Wakka asked. Paine nodded, surprised that he was actually saying something useful. "Well, then why don't we start there, ya?"

"Bevelle is the more obvious choice, Wakka," Lulu argued.

"Which is probably why we shouldn't go there, Lu."

"Wakka's right. Besides, if we're in Luca, we can ask around and find out if Rikku was involved in anything that would result in this kidnapping," Yuna agreed.

"Paine," I started, which caused her head to jerk up in surprise, "How fast can you get us to Luca?"

"About an hour, Sir Auron."

"And Bevelle?"

"About four."

"Luca it is then," I smiled.

I spent the hour waiting to get to Luca, and the first few hours we were there, doing absolutly nothing useful. The others ran around all over town, asking everyone questions, getting the news involved and everything. I actually saw that annoying young girl that always hung around the temples during Yuna's pilgrimage running around with Yuna, holding a microphone. Instead of that, I spent the hours walking, searching for any sign of her spiral eyes, her exotic clothing.

I found absolutly nothing.

Afternoon grew into evening, and I was spent. After speaking with the rest of the group, I checked into the nearest inn. The clerk smiled at me and handed me my key, and I walked down the short hallway to my room.

It was small, almost to the point of claustrophobia. But, I supposed, it was something that couldn't be helped. Instead of concentration on the size of my room, I took off my coat, flopped back on my bed, and started thinking.

I knew for a fact that my extended time on Spira couldn't last forever, and I needed to let Rikku hear Lovesong. But at this moment in time, that couldn't be possible. I just wanted her to be safe... safe with me.

Moonlight spilled into my window as I laid there, analyzing everything.

A tap on my window snapped me out of my light sleep.

I sat up, shaking my head slightly. What the hell was that?

I listened carefully for another noise, but the world was still for the next few moments. I calmed down a bit and leaned back, resting my head against the soft pillow.

Then, another soft noise came from near my doorway. I bristled again, tensly waiting. The doorknob turned slightly, and made a soft click. Pale yellow light made it's way into my eyes.

Someone with a dark cloak edged their way into my room, closing the door behind them.

Feeling that there was no time left to lose, I catapulted from my bed, jumping on top of the intruder. I felt the swift hit of a knee into my stomach, but I knocked them down easily. We rolled around a few times, but they didn't try to hurt me, surprisingly. After a minute, I finally rolled on top of the dark cloaked person, sat on their stomach and held their hands above their head.

They squrimed a bit, and a soft wimper made it's way to my ears.

I felt strange, but I kept my pose. Moving one of their dainty wrists near the other, I held them down with one hand, and reached above my head to switch the light on.

As the soft, pale light filled the room, my breath caught in my throat.

"Auron..." Rikku whispered painfully.

I scrambled off of her stomach, let go of her hands, and situated myself a few feet away from her. The hood of her cloak came off of her head, and was covered with soft waves of her loose blonde hair. The dark material was sheer, covering her deep red tanktop and loose black pants. She had changed again, in the period of a day.

But those spirals in her green eyes, they never failed to be the same.

"Rikku..." I choked out, tears starting to come to my eyes. "I'm so sorry..."

"Auron..." she breathed. Then, to my absolute surprise, Rikku closed the gap between us and drew me into her arms. "I missed you so much..."