5. Departure

"Wow, do I have horrible timing or what?" Tidus and I broke our kiss to see Rikku standing about ten feet away from us holding Vidina. I gave her a look that said 'what-the-hell-are-you-doing-here??' and of course she ignored it as she walked over to us. "What's going on, you guys?"

"Umm....not much, Rikku." I didn't mean to be rude with my tone, but I really wanted to be alone with Tidus for a little while, and she majorly just ruined the moment that he and I were having. "What do you want?"

"Buddy and Brother are here, and I'm going to go back to Bikanel now. I just wanted to see if you guys could watch Vidina." She handed the baby over to me who squealed in delight. Great. I wanted romantic private time with my boyfriend, and instead I'm stuck babysitting. "Paine is going with us as well."

"She's going back to Bevelle right?" I asked as I bounced Vidina a little bit in my arms. Rikku nodded and shrugged.

"She's going to go see what's goin' on with Baralai and stuff, maybe visit Nooj along the way." Rikku fixed the headband that was on her head and sighed.

"What was the sigh for, Rikku?" Tidus said as he raised an eyebrow at her. She sighed again and crossed her arms.

"Well, obviously it's because I know who will be in Bikanel at the same time that I will be, and I don't want to see him."

I shook my head at my cousin because she wasn't fooling anyone. "Okay Rikku, you're one of those people who have transparent feelings. I know that you want to see Gippal, so don't even try to fool us. Hell, you said so yourself yesterday."

"Well, okay, maybe I do want to see him, but he can be so cocky and so arrogant....and soo..." She let out a frustrated sigh at the thought of Gippal. "Gippal lyh yhhuo dra becc uid uv sa...pid ra ghufc E fyhd res."

I didn't need to know Al Bhed to realize what my cousin just said. (She said, "Gippal can annoy the piss out of me...but he knows I want him" in case you wondered) The poor girl. I'm sure the fact that now that I have Tidus he and I have been lovey dovey...and she doesn't really have anyone to go to. "Rikku, as much as you hate to admit it, seeing Gippal will probably be a good thing for you. I mean, I'm not saying that you should forget your new friends, but seeing old childhood friends is always a good thing too."

"Yeah, besides, I do miss screaming at him in Al Bhed." She giggled at the thought. "Oh...good times." Tidus and I both had to smile at the dreamy look that Rikku had on her face. She snapped out of it quickly and shook her head. "Yeah, anyway, I'm going to go, okay?"

I handed Vidina over to Tidus for a second and gave Rikku a huge hug. This was going to be the first time that we were separated since...well, it's been a long time. She was practically my sister, and I was definitely going to miss her. "You better keep in touch, you hear!"

"Of course, Yunie. I'll come visit...it shouldn't take long before Home is up and running again. Basically all the Al Bhed in Spira will be there. For as lousy as my dad is at being a father, he is actually pretty decent at being a leader." She scrunched her nose at what she just said. "Kinda scary isn't it?"

"Well, that's Cid for ya I guess. You better say hi to him for me, okay?" Tears started to well up in my eyes as I hugged her. "I, um...think my eyes are leaking."

Rikku couldn't help but giggle as she looked at the tears welling up in my eyes. "Oh, Yunie...it's not like we'll never see each other again." I knew she was right so I just smiled. I took Vidina out of Tidus' hands so he could hug Rikku as well. "Well...I'll miss you guys."

"Hey, Rikku..." I said with a smile, "Be careful with Gippal okay?? Be a good girl."

She flashed an innocent smile and blinked a couple of times. "I am a good girl. You don't have to worry about me, Yunie."

"Yeah, okay." I said sarcastically. "Just don't get caught."

Rikku giggled at the thought, "don't worry, I'm careful." I had to sigh and laugh at her. Tidus and I waved as she walked away. After she was out of earshot, I sighed for a couple of reasons. The first one was obviously because Rikku just left, and the second one was that since Tidus and I had baby sitting duties, we really couldn't do anything else.

"So um...how long are Wakka and Lulu going to be gone?" I knew Tidus was going to ask that. I could've bet 100 gil on it. Well, mainly because if he wouldn't have said it, I would've because I was thinking the same damn thing.

"I have no idea, but I'm kinda hoping that they're back soon because this kind of put a damper on the mood." Tidus nodded in agreement as I looked down at Vidina. He was innocently sucking his thumb...oh, he's so adorable.

"I guess we should get used to it though," Tidus said as he ran his fingers through Vidina's hair. I looked up at him in question and he simply kissed me on the lips. "Well, we'll have to do this when we have kids, Yuna."

I have no idea why that thought scared the hell out of me. Me? A mother?? I'm only 19 years old!! Having kids really scared me. Tidus and I aren't even married yet...so how can we think of kids at this time? I realized that I couldn't just stand there with a blank look on my face...I had to say something...but I wasn't sure what to say. So I just kind of spit out words, "Yeah, uh, um...sure. Maybe, uh, sometime in the, heh heh, future, Tidus. But not...right...away."

He only laughed at me. "Yuna, I know that. I came back less than twenty four hours ago. I'm not expecting us to have kids right away. But...someday...right?"

"Yes, that I'll agree with you on." Tidus and I started to walk back into Besaid. "Ya know, it's funny. Two years ago I never thought that I would make it to my 18th birthday, but look, here I am...talking about having kids."

"Kinda scary isn't it?" I smiled at Tidus as we continued walking back to Besaid.