This piece was written as a one-shot for an Aurikku group onLive Journal.
The original posting of this piece on ffnet was back in December.

Enjoy!

Trouble

Trouble.

That's what I saw when I first looked at her. She was bold; I would give her that, but still young, naïve and scared. She wouldn't even open her eyes as her face turned up to mine, her chin shaking in my hand. She would be no use as a guardian, but in the end it was not up to me if the girl came. This was ….

Trouble.

That's what I was in and in it deep too. Of all the people to want to look at me it had to be the monk. Sure he was tall, dark and handsome, but I had a pretty good idea the word rigid needed to be thrown in there somewhere. Well, no matter what I thought about him, here I was standing below him, trying not whimper out loud, but can you blame me? Did you see that sword? I had a bad feeling not even Yunie was gunna get me out of this one. I was in…..

Trouble.

She finally opened her eyes, even if I had to command it, and that bad feeling came upon fresh and new. It was not the fact that she was Al Bhed; I already knew. It was something else, something at the moment I could not put my finger. Jecht would have laughed at me, standing stunned and not able to comprehend what was going on. Then it hit me the longer I stared into her eyes that pulled me into her like the shimmering whirlpools they were. This time I heard the deep laugh of my friend and knew what was on the way…

Trouble.

That's what he would be. He would rub me the wrong way, like sand from the desert that gets stuck in all the wrong places. And then I wondered if that would be such a bad thing. And then I wondered what the hell I was thinking. And then I just stopped thinking and stared. He really was handsome. I could hear Pops yelling at me now. There was only one thing that could come from this.

"No good?"

"You are certain?"

"A hundred percent!"

"If Yuna wishes it."

The legendary guardian and the little thief walked in different directions, backs to one another. Neither saw the other turn, nor give the other a slight once over, both thinking the same thing.

Trouble.

R&R.. it's nice to know whatyou think.

Eva Harlow