A/N: Yay, I've finally updated! My computer has been down for the past week or so. Sorry it took so long. Anyway, in this chappie, we are getting into the action. There's some angst and drama, but for the most part, this is an ACTION chappie! There are going to be a lot of twists and turns in the next few chapters, so I hope you enjoy the ride! Thanks for being so patient! Rhianna XD

Chapter Five
Violence

Part 1
In the days and weeks that followed, Rikku grew more and more withdrawn and quiet. She watched with hollow eyes as Yuna and Tidus' relationship continued to blossom. On several evenings, she would return home from work to find the two of them cuddling on the couch.

Rikku would make small talk for a few minutes, but she always found a reason to excuse herself and shut herself in her room for the night. She kept thinking about the last time she had seen Auron. The fact that he had admitted to having genuine feelings for her still weighed heavily on her mind.

It all seemed so unfair, so wrong. Two people who cared for each other should be able to be together, not be avoiding each other at all costs. So many times, she thought about picking up the phone and calling him, but a little voice in her head always made her pull her hand away.

Gippal, the guy from work she had thought about dating, kept trying to get her to agree to out with him, but her heart simply was not in it any more. She didn't want to be unfair to him, because he was nice. She was unaware that Gippal also worked for the Police Department and was just trying to keep a closer eye on her, since everyone had been informed that she was a "high alert" charge.

Rikku arrived home early on a Friday evening, three weeks after her last meeting with Auron to find Yuna alone.

"Hi, Rikku," Yuna greeted her cousin. "You're home early today."

Rikku shrugged. "Not much going on in the world of technology today," she said nonchalantly. "Where's Tidus?"

Yuna sighed. "He had to go back to Zanarkand for a few days. The P.D. up there found a lead on some of the drugs or something, so he and Auron went to check it out."

Rikku's head snapped up at the mention of Auron's name. "I hope everything's okay," she said quietly. "So, uh, have you seen Auron lately?"

Yuna nodded. "He and Tidus came by this afternoon before they left for Zanarkand." She looked at Rikku's slightly dejected expression. "He said to tell you 'hello' and that he hopes everything is well with you," Yuna offered.

Rikku nodded. "Oh. Okay," was all she could think to say. "I'm going to go put my purse and stuff away real quick." Yuna just nodded.

Rikku opened the door to her room and gasped. Lying across her pillow was a cactus flower – something she hadn't seen since leaving Bikanel. Tears sprang to her eyes, and then she noticed the white envelope lying next to the blossom.

Picking it up, she noticed that it was sort of lumpy. Across the front of the envelope, written in a stern, masculine hand, was a short note:

Rikku,
When I saw this, it reminded me of your eyes. I am always thinking of you.
-- A

Blinking back tears, Rikku opened the envelope and pulled out a delicate silver bracelet that was studded with tiny, sparkling emeralds.

She sat down on her bed and allowed herself to really cry for the first time since she'd last seen him.

When she had calmed down somewhat, she fastened the bracelet on her wrist and fingered the emeralds lightly. "Oh, Auron," she breathed.

Part 2
"He still eludes me!" Seymour Guado ranted from his hideout in the Omega Ruins. "I ask you blithering idiots to find something useful on LaGuard, and you come up with nothing! Every man has a weakness! All I want you to do is find his!"

He looked up at Tromell, his most loyal lackey. "Do you think you can handle that, Tromell?" he asked icily.

"It will be no trouble, Sir," Tromell said in his nasal tone.

"I can't go to him. He has too many people working too closely with him. I must find a way to bring him to me. Because down here, he doesn't stand a chance," Seymour said cruelly. "Tromell! Stop standing around! Go!" he ordered with a wave of his long, veiny hand.

"Yessir," Tromell said. "But, what exactly am I looking for?"

Seymour rolled his eyes at the incompetence of his help. "Bait," he said. "We have a very large fish to catch."

Part 3
Auron sighed to himself as he listened to Tidus ramble on and on about Yuna. Tidus had been talking non-stop about her many wonderful attributes since they had left Bevelle. Even though Auron was driving, he felt like jumping out of the car.

It must be nice, he mused, to be able to talk so openly about one's feelings for another. He turned his attention to Tidus. "You truly are Jecht's son," he said wryly.

Tidus paused in mid-sentence. "Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that neither of you know when to shut up. Look, I will give you fifty of my own gil, if you stop talking about Yuna right now."

"Ah," Tidus said knowingly. "You're hung up on that girl, huh?"

"What girl?" Auron asked, bristling.

"The girl you bought the bracelet for. Obviously, she's special to you, or you wouldn't have dropped all that gil on her," Tidus said matter-of-factly.

Auron grumbled under his breath.

"So?" Tidus asked. "Who is she? One of your many conquests, I presume? I mean, you had to know eventually one of them would get to you."

Auron gave Tidus a stony glare. "Actually, she was not one of my 'conquests' as you so colorfully put it. Not that it's any of your business."

"So, it's someone you're trying to make a conquest?" Tidus asked, grinning mischievously.

"No!" Auron shouted. Maybe it was better when he was talking about Yuna, he thought darkly. "Not this girl," he said to Tidus. "She's – different. Special."

"Ah-ha!" Tidus exclaimed. "The legendary Detective LaGuard has finally met his match!"

Auron just shook his head and turned his full attention back to the road. "You really know nothing, boy," he muttered.

Part 4
"That's gorgeous!" Yuna cried when she saw Rikku's bracelet. She held Rikku's hand and turned it over and over, watching the emeralds shimmer in the light. "Where did you get it?"

Rikku hadn't planned on Yuna seeing the bracelet, but when she had gone to the kitchen to make some tea, Yuna's all-seeing gaze had caught sight of it.

Rikku just shrugged. "I saw it in the store window, and I – thought it was pretty," she said breezily.

"Well, it is!" Yuna squealed. "It's like – your eyes!"

Rikku smiled sadly. That's what he thought, too ...

Sighing, she went to the front closet to grab her brown leather jacket. "Yunie, I'm going for a walk," she told her cousin.

"Do you want some company?" Yuna asked, looking at Rikku with concern in her eyes.

"No. I really – just want to be alone right now," Rikku replied. "Nothing personal." Impulsively, for a reason Rikku didn't understand, she gave Yuna a hug. She couldn't explain it, but she had the strangest feeling that something was about to happen – something big.

When Yuna hugged Rikku back, she felt it too. "Rikku, maybe you should stay," she said cautiously. Her heart had begun to pound wildly, and all her instincts were telling her to make Rikku stay!

"Yunie," Rikku said. "Don't worry so much! You'll get wrinkles. I'll be back in an hour, I promise!"

Yuna watched Rikku walk out the door and felt a dark cloud descend over their world.

Rikku wasn't back in an hour.

She wasn't back by the time the sun came up the next morning. Yuna picked up the phone and dialed Auron's cell phone.

He answered almost immediately when he recognized the number that appeared on his cell phone. "Rikku?" he asked, nearly breathlessly.

There was a pause. Then a hysterical voice spoke. "Auron? It's Yuna."

"Yuna? What's wrong?"

Tidus snapped to attention at the mention of Yuna's name.

"Oh, Gods, Auron, she's gone!" Yuna cried.

Auron felt his heart leap into his throat. "Who's gone?" he asked in a very calm, even voice.

"Rikku! Rikku's gone, Auron!"

Auron snapped his phone shut. "Shit." With that, calm and sensible Auron LaGuard whipped a sharp U-turn in his car, ignoring the honks and dirty looks from other drivers on the highway. He headed back toward Bevelle at breakneck speeds.

"Uh, Auron?" Tidus asked. "What about Zanarkand?"

"Fuck Zanarkand," Auron spat. "Rikku's gone."

"Rikku?" Tidus asked. Then, noting the expression on Auron's face and the crazed way the older detective was behaving, Tidus finally began to understand. "She'll be okay," he said, more to himself than to Auron.

"She Gods-damned better be," Auron retorted. "I swear to Yevon, if he's behind this – if he touches her ..." He didn't finish his thoughts, though he had many. He picked up his cell phone again and dialed quickly.

"Lulu Magis," Lulu answered on the fourth ring.

"Lulu, Auron here. Rikku's gone."

Lulu's eyes widened on her end of the line. "Shit," she cursed. "We'll get right on it."

"Good." Auron flipped his phone shut again.

Tidus looked back at Auron. "They wouldn't hurt her. They'd keep her alive – right? Because kidnapping victims are more valuable alive?" He sounded uncertain, young, and scared.

Auron glared at the rookie. "Don't you understand? There are things that are far worse than death. Especially if a maniac like Seymour Guado is behind it."

"Do you think that he is?" Tidus asked. Auron didn't answer. "So we go get her!" Tidus cried, pumping his fist into the ceiling of the car.

"No," Auron said coolly. "If this is a kidnapping, and if Seymour is behind it – and we don't know for sure either way, yet – we have to wait for contact to be made. A ransom note, a phone call, something. If we go barreling in there, and he's not behind it – Well, he will find her, and he will kill her. If only to spite me."

Part 5
Rikku didn't know where she was, or how she had gotten there. She had been walking down the street, minding her own business, when someone had come up from behind and placed a drug-soaked rag over her nose and mouth. She had passed out, and when she had woken up, she was blindfolded and gagged, and tied to an extremely uncomfortable wooden chair.

The smells that reached her nostrils were that of a stockyard. She could smell some sort of livestock not far off, and she knew without a doubt that she was no longer within the city limits of Bevelle.

The smell of hay was very strong, and when she moved her feet she could feel plank wood under her shoes. There seemed to be an open door, or a draft coming from somewhere behind her, because she could feel a cool breeze. She noticed that she no longer had her jacket. Am I in a barn, maybe? she wondered.

She heard footsteps and began to struggle against her restraints. "Easy there," said a surprisingly gentle male voice. "I don't want to have to hurt you."

Rikku said something vicious to her captor, but he couldn't understand what she said because of the gag.

"I'll remove the gag now, because there's no one around for miles and miles," the voice continued. He removed the cloth from her mouth. "Is that better?" he asked, touching the top of Rikku's head softly.

Rikku jerked at his touch. "Don't touch me," she hissed. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Well, obviously, I've kidnapped you. You're going to be very useful to me, Rikku."

"How do you know my name?" Rikku demanded.

"Your ID was in your jacket," the man explained.

"Are you going to kill me?" Rikku whimpered.

"Well, I hope it doesn't come to that. No, Rikku, once I get what I want, I'll arrange for you to be picked up and delivered safely back home. But not a minute sooner than that."

Rikku swallowed hard. This man, he didn't seem menacing at all, and yet, he had kidnapped her and was planning on holding her for an indefinite amount of time. A psychopath. That's what he is. Great. Oh, Gods! Auron, help me!