Love Through Jealousy
By Natsue Arishima

Chapter Four: Doubt

Wakka cursed loudly, struggling back up onto his feet. Ignoring the sharp pain in his ribcage, he tightened his grip on his blitzball. It was covered in slime, and he grimaced in disgust.

All complaint left his mind as the Spherimorph chose a new target and moved away from the blitzball player. Towards the strong silhouette of a woman, whose crimson eyes gleamed with power even in danger, her posture never slouching or cringing.

His warning died in his throat as the damned Spherimorph locked onto its target and dropped onto the woman. The ground shook at the force and Wakka nearly fell over, straining against his broken ribs, but the pain was nothing compared to the fear in his heart. It was absolutely nothing.

Lulu! He mentally screamed, and was about to run forward but a hand put itself on his shoulder. He jerked his gaze around, furious. Lulu... She was...

He was surprised to find himself face to face with a bronze face. Auron stared back at him, eyes unreadable behind a pair of shades. The legendary guardian remained quiet for a long time before speaking, his voice strangely sharp and cold. "Rikku is over there, Wakka."

Wakka took a step back, wincing mentally at the gleam in Auron's eye. Was he... angry? The redhead shook his head. Who cared anyway? Lulu was in trouble. "I know that, ya? It's just -"

Auron turned away, his grip tightening on his sword.

Wakka blinked before forcing himself to return to what was important. In the corner of his vision, he could see Yuna and Tidus running towards the garish chunk of power, Yuna's voice high and worried. "Oi, buffoon!" he yelled, chucking his blitzball hard at the Spherimorph. It didn't even twitch.

Red-hot fury exploded inside of him and he nearly squeezed the daylights out of his ball when he caught it again. About to throw it once more, he stopped when the Spherimorph suddenly seemed to groan, almost as if it was in pain.

Light erupted near the metallic, see-though base and the Spherimorph bounded backwards, but not quickly enough. Another flash, so bright that Wakka had to shade his eyes, and the thing was twisting, contorting in agony.

The black mage straightened, her gaze never ceasing its cold stare. The light reflected off of her skin, making her look even more unearthly. Shutting her crimson eyes, Lulu raised slender arm over her head, braids sliding smoothly over pale shoulders, before casting another thundaga at the retreating Spherimorph.

There was a flash of red and someone ran in front of the mage. Auron had unleashed his overdrive. The fight was over before Wakka knew what had happened.

He stared at the two of them. A deadly pair.

Very deadly.

Once again, they had so easily dispatched the enemy.

Someone latched onto his arm and he looked down, meeting a mass of silky blonde hair. Rikku switched her gaze onto him for a second with her emerald eyes before turning back to the previous battle.

He did, too, and felt an emotion that he absolutely hated.

"Rikku... why does this seem..." He didn't need to finish his sentence. Rikku felt the same way.

They were jealous.



With a little undignified huff, the Al Bhed plopped herself down on the glistening grass next to the redhead, rubbing her sore joints. Yuna had healed all of them just a few minutes ago, but she still felt stiff.

Beside her, Wakka barely indicated that he was aware of her presence. Instead, his eyes were fixed on a clump of shimmering jeweled trees, brows furrowed.

Rikku rolled her eyes before waving her hand energetically in front of the blitzball player's face. "Helloo!" She blinked when she got no response. Sighing, she shut her eyes, lips in a firm and annoyed line, before tweaking his ear with her nails.

Wakka yelped and scrambled away. "Rikku, what was that for, ya?"

"Oh good. You can see me. I was getting worried," she replied sarcastically. Truthfully, it was a bit weird to see Wakka so serious. "What's so interesting about those trees, huh?"

He shrugged, ears turning pink. Rikku stared at him for a while before her all-knowing eyes probed out a bit of information. A smirk curved around her face. "So... Lulu's close by, isn't she...?"

Wakka blinked, eyes surprised. "How do you do that? Just look, and then know..."

"You're hiding something."

He nearly fell over. "You did it again, ya? Weird... It's like your eyes have some sort of power..."

"Stop changing the subject."

He really did fall over.

She smiled brightly at him, leaping to her feet and staring down at him. He looked away, getting back into a sitting position and dusting himself off. Rikku leaned forward, hands on her knees, her eyes glittering. "Yes?"

"Fine," Wakka replied tonelessly. He made sure that his eyes were anywhere but on Rikku's face. "Auron's supposedly... what was it? He's 'close by' too."

He waited for several moments, ready to clamp his hands over his ears at Rikku's probable outburst. But no outburst came. The silence stretched on and roared in his ears. Finally, Wakka couldn't take it anymore and chanced a peek at Rikku.

She was still in the same position, the previous grin planted on her face. But the smile, and her eyes, were empty. Empty and blank. Unseeing.

He was about to punch her, slap her, anything to get her to stop staring like that, when Rikku shook her head frantically before sitting back down next to him. Her smile was still the same, but it was a strained one. Or at least he thought it was. Wakka was surprised when she started laughing.

"What's so funny, ya?"

She gasped between giggles. "I should have known."

"What?" Wakka frowned at her, still clueless.

"I think our plan is working, Wakka."

He blinked at her, still incredulous, before sighing and resting his head on his arm. "What you talking about, Rikku? Are you insane? I think your hair's a bit too blonde, ya? It's not working, and you know it."

Secretly, Rikku wasn't sure why she was laughing, but she needed something to do. She didn't want Wakka to see her unsure of herself. Because she was unsure of herself. Truthfully, she was trying to convince herself. Convince herself that Auron somehow really did care. That he was off with Lulu to talk about the current events, to see what he could do to 'get Rikku back', rather than off with the mage to do some more... physical activities...

Eww...

Must get mind out of gutter...

"No seriously. Use your limited brain power, Wakka. Auron and Lulu were both uncomfortable, couldn't you tell? I bet they're just planning to break us up right now, and choose to talk about it in a more private area." Yes... must convince self...

"Lulu's not like that, Rikku."

Wakka's voice was quiet. Rikku had never heard him so serious. She shook that thought away. "Wakka, it's true, I swear!"

"And you know this because...?"

Because Auron wouldn't do that to me... "Because..." she faltered. Slowly, she let herself fall back onto the cool grass. "Because he cares..."

Wakka sighed, running his fingers through his hair. Rikku looked up at him, her eyes welling up with unstoppable tears. He shifted uncomfortably. He didn't like seeing girls cry.

"Hey," he muttered, racking his brain for a source of information that might make Rikku happy. A light appeared in his head and he smiled. Rikku raised an eyebrow at him, rubbing her own eyes furiously, her voice clogged in her throat. "Remember, this morning," Wakka started, then paused for a second. "When that jelly-thing went after Lulu..."

The Al Bhed sniffed.

"Well, when I was goin' over there, Auron stopped me. And you know what? He was all mad, and now that I think about it, he was mad 'cuz I was supposed to keep you safe and stuff."

"Your point, please." Rikku shifted, eyes on the canopy of trees stretching over their heads. The lights shimmered with an invisible breeze, and patches of starlight flickered between the gaps in the branches.

"I think he was mad because I wasn't watching over you." Now that he thought about it seriously, it did sort of make sense. He felt stupid for worrying earlier. So maybe Lu didn't care, but at least Rikku was getting somewhere.

Rikku's sniffing stopped. Wakka looked at her, and she slowly torn her gaze away from overhead and sat up again. Her light hair fell over her face, hiding her eyes.

Wakka sighed. Well, he'd tried. With a grunt, he got to his feet.

Rikku laughed.

He turned around, back towards her, and realized that she was smiling. "You know, I think the both of us are too easily worried. It's not gonna work if we keep doubting ourselves. So, from now on, positive attitudes only, 'kay? And we have to add more stuff to keep it convincing, like a kiss or a hug or something, alright?"

He nodded.



Tidus yawned loudly, exaggerating his stretches by running his hand through his sun-bleached hair several times. His eyes glinted with their usual liveliness, and his steps still contained their bounce, but if one were to look at him closely, they could have realized that his posture was slightly bent, face a shade lighter, and the lines around his lips would have been visible.

Next to him paced Yuna, her complexion clear and with the usual curve upwards of her lips. But there was nothing behind the smile. No happiness, joy, not even sorrow or anger. Her eyes were the same, blank blue and green.

Everyone failed to notice.

Actually, the summoner mused, she was happy that no one noticed. She didn't want the others constantly worrying on her back. Seymour was her own problem, and she'd deal with him by herself.

But... Tidus... Something shifted inside of her and she sighed. Tidus was important to her, very important. And he seemed to be taking the information badly.

Yuna shut her mismatched eyes before turning around and eyeing the people behind her. The couple to her left caught her eye, and she held back a smile.

Wakka and Rikku.

She never would have thought that two people so different would end up together. In her earlier years, Wakka hated all Al Bheds. Did he somehow change? Or... did he not know that Rikku was one?

That wouldn't be good.

She watched as Wakka pulled Rikku close and planted a soft kiss on her forehead. Again, the same strange emotion stirred within Yuna and she turned away, confused. The blue-haired man blazed in her vision once more. Seymour. Would he ever truly love her, or even treat her like how Wakka was to Rikku?

Probably not.

Yuna was pulled from her thoughts at a sudden outburst from behind her. She spun around quickly, Tidus at her shoulder, but was too late to see what had happened. Instead, she was greeted with a strange sight.

Rikku was standing behind a glaring Wakka, who had an arm out to keep her back. In front of the redhead stood Auron, his face unreadable from underneath his glasses. It almost seemed like the guardian was shaking, but Yuna frowned. Auron wasn't one to so easily show emotion. But... her eyes dropped down to his hand and she stifled a gasp.

His hand was placed firmly on his sword hilt.

"Sir Aur-" Her cry died in throat as a deathly pale hand was placed on Auron's shoulder. White against crimson. The hand curved into a slender wrist which slid, hidden, underneath black lace.

Lulu.

Thank goodness.

"You'll leave him alone, Auron," Lulu whispered, her voice low and scarlet eyes glinting.

Slowly, Auron straightened and his hand was raised to his coat collar. Behind him, Lulu dropped her hand and continued walking as if nothing had happened. Onion Knight hopped back into her waiting arms.

Yuna frowned but smiled as Lulu sent a questioning look her way. As always, the black mage was concerned for her.

"I'm fine," Yuna whispered, bowing her head towards the mage, before turning around again. She could feel Tidus' eyes staring intently at the back on her head.

What had just happened?



A/N: Gah! I actually had this chapter written a week ago, but then I had my science, history, reading, math final crap. So... hehe... I guess I never got around to it. Sorry for the long delay! And okay, about the story. Auron didn't get as angry as I had first pictured it, but then again, a blotchy-cheeked Auron would be a bit out of character, no? Next chapter will be up soon, promise! Please R&R!

--Natsue Arishima