Chapter Eight : Alone with Mr. Antisocial

A/N : Okay, here is a new chapter of the story. I hope that you may enjoy it and I apologise if the content goes a little too hay-wire. =)


Alone with Mr. Antisocial

I opened my eyes to see dazzling white snow around me. Despite its beauty, the surroundings were terribly freezing cold as I shivered. I trod on the soft snow, with a rather large tent-like building materializing before my very eyes soon after.

'Rin's travel agency!' my heart jumped as I saw the building that would save me from the cold. Upon impulse, I rushed to the life-saving building.

It was beautifully warm inside the 'tent'. It was not surprising that Rin was out; he had returned to Home to collect more supplies. Taking some thick clothing with me from the agency, I strolled to the door.

"You're such a nag!" I heard a familiar voice from outside. I turned to look and saw a lady with a blue bandana, complete with braided hair. She was with the same man I had seen in my peculiar dreams.

"Nag?!?" the other man replied in anger. I could see that his character was similar to someone special too. "If we didn't stop you, you would have...."

"Okay, enough!" the other girl spoke, still with her back facing me. "See? I told you, what a nag you are!" She spoke to him as she turned, revealing her visage and causing me to have a shock. This girl had almost the same face as mine, except for her looking a little older than me. Assuming her to be at least two years my senior, I continued to watch the scene.

My dead-ringer gave a humph as she walked away. Suddenly, her hand was gripped by that of the crimson man, who now seemed to resemble Auron a little. "Let me go!" she tried to struggle as I saw him tightening his grip. "You're such a jerk....!" The scene became romantic as the red-clad man pulled her to him, bending down to touch his lips with hers. The older girl stopped her struggle and began to move closer to him.

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I abruptly woke up to find myself surrounded with the evergreen trees of Macalania woods, their needle-like leaves supporting the snow on them. In the distance I saw another red-clad man, but definitely not the one who could have done what I had saw in my dream. Auron approached me, his manner still aloof.

"You're awake," he spoke coldly. As he turned, I picked up a snowball and threw at his head. Auron turned back to look at an angry me.

"You idiot!" I screamed. "Must you come and ruin my dream at this time?"

"This is no time for dreams," he warned. "We search." The guardian walked off into the distance. Having no one else for companionship except this cold guardian, I ran to catch up with him.

"Hey Auron," I turned to him, while trying to bear the freezing cold. It was obvious that he showed an expression that he was reluctant to share the coat with me. "Why are you always that quiet?"

"That question is unnecessary," he replied sharply. "Your only interest now is to protect Yuna."

"Hey wait mister!" I walked in front of him and put my hands on my hips. "Can't you be a little nicer to others?"

"Whether I'm nice or mean," he retorted frigidly. "Is none of your concern." The crimson guardian began to walk away once more. Feeling a little cold, I took out any thing I could have in my small pockets. As I dug them for any items, I notice that it was getting colder. With a slight tug, a green piece of cloth came out of my pockets.

'Let me try to wear like that girl in my dream,' I thought to myself as I tied it to my head as a bandana, attempting to imitate the girl's style in my dream. Done with tying the bandana, I turned to see Auron still 'marching' away on the snow.

"Hey Auron!" I once again tried to accost him. "How's my new look?" I asked him, trying to get him to talk. His expression was a little shocked at my new headdress.

"It's irritating," he answered with sarcasm. "Take it off; it doesn't look good on you."

"Shan't!" I stuck out my tongue at him. "I'll make sure that you will have a tough time!" I taunted as I walked ahead of him.

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The Macalania Woods must have been a very big place. Night had fallen and we had not reached the main road yet, as mentioned by Auron.

"Some good sense of direction you have, Auron!" I was sarcastic in my tone, trying to make him argue back, which I had by now enjoyed doing so. "You said that we would reach by night."

"We will reach," he replied calmly, traveling across the thick snow.

"Reach?" I stopped him again. "Look at the sky, old man!"

"Fine then," he answered. "We rest."

I gave a slight irritated nod at him as he stood by a tree. "Rest here," he pointed to it, obviously trying to show a bit of sternness but also clearly fake too.

"No need to fake it," I spoke to him softly as I sat down to rest. Leaning my head on the trunk, I closed my eyes, hoping that night would quickly pass. At the same time, it was terribly cold too but nevertheless, I managed to take a successful rest. Before I closed my eyes, I saw Auron standing in the open, unaffected by the cold.

I woke up, disappointed that I did not have any of those 'special' dreams. As I tried to get up, I noticed that a crimson coat was on me, presuming that the cold guardian had some compassion left in him to help me. I looked around for him, finally finding him against another tree, with only his black armor, boots and pants on his body. He stirred as I approached.

"I will make sure you will pay for what you did..." the giant guardian spoke sub-consciously as he talked in his sleep. I was rather amazed by his strange words.

"Hey! Wakie wakie!" I shook him, discovering him to be very heavy. He gave a second stir and opened his eye at me. "Morning to you, Mr. Anti-social!"

Auron gave me another scorn, but quickly changed to a face of no expression. For the first time, I noticed that he had removed his sunglasses, but had now put them back on.

"Hey! There's no need to look at me like that!" I was angry at the way he felt towards me through his face. "You look like I had done something unforgivable to you."

The red-clad guardian took out his sword, helping him to rise and tower over me. He began to walk away into the snow again. Without hesitation, I walked behind him, tracking his footprints.

As we walked across the snowy landscape again, I took out a picture of a close male friend and me. As I pretended to scrutinize it, I turned back to notice that Auron was trying to be a little of a nosey parker too.

"Girls' stuff!" I snapped at him, showing the sign of forbiddance. "Can't believe that you're a busybody!"

"Who's that in the picture?" he gave a nosey question out of the blue, so unlike his usually quiet personality.

"My boyfriend!" I lied, trying to make him a little jealous of me. He did show the expression of the green-eyed monster before reverting back to his usual cold self. At that moment, I concluded that to me Auron was a fairly easy person to read, just like Yuna, though the rest found him difficult to comprehend.

"Why? Jealous?" I taunted, trying to make him show more jealousy.

"Just some childish stuff you can really involve yourself into!" he spoke, obviously trying to cover up his feelings. He turned his head and began to continue walking.

"Hey wait!" I yelled as I attempted to catch up with him, the red-clad guardian being ignorant of my existence.

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"Hey, ya are back!" Tidus exclaimed as I emerged from the forest onto the path. We did a high five as we met again.

"Yup! Good ol' Rikku's back!" I spoke enthusiastically to him. "I had a fun time," I continued my tale. "Except for that person there," I pointed to the man in red.

"Wow! How was Auron?" the blitzball player questioned.

"Someone you wouldn't want as a life partner," I spoke with a bit of disinterest in the subject of the legendary guardian.

"Don't be rude, Rikku," Yunie came up to me. "Sir Auron is just a little quiet."

"Hi Yunie!" I hugged her, having missed her. "It's good to see you back again!" As I looked in the other direction, I noticed that Lulu and Auron were having a somehow interesting conversation.

'Those two seems compatible to me,' I presumed as I turned back to look at Tidus and Yunie. They smiled as we continued our path to Lake Macalania, with Auron leading the way once again.


Okay, that's all for now! Thank you for your reviews too! And by the way, this chapter itself is almost an AU, so the story isn't really 100% original too. Rikku blackouts all the time because...I like it this way! =P Okay, thanks for readingsee you in the next chapter!