I never really wanted you to see
The screwed up side of me that I keep
Locked up inside of me so deep
It always seems to get to me
I never really wanted you to go
So many things you should have known
I guess for me there's just no hope
I never meant to be so cold
-"Cold" by Crossfade
"RIKKU! What are you doing out of bed?" Yuna called out, running across the front room of the inn towards me. "Does anything hurt? Do you need new bandages?" Holy cow. My normally calm cousin, who rarely talks above a whisper, raising her voice? It was a bit scary.
I gently pried her off of me, and took a quick look at how she was coping. As usual, Yunie looked completely flawless, from her carmel colored hair, her summoners robes that were in perfect condition (How does she do that? She should be advertising for laundry detergent), down to her boot covered toes. My favorite part of her outfit, of course, was her unattached sleeves that had wings of material that faded from white to pink, almost as big as she was. Her eyes, bi-colored blue and green, were concerned though. "Yunie, I'm okay. Don't worry about me so much."
She glanced up and down me, gently holding onto my bandage covered arms. Then, of course, she spotted the sunglasses. "What are you doing wearing those?" she whispered. "I thought you were going to behave!"
I smiled slyly at her, then glanced up at the rest of the party, who were all staring at me with the same, stunned expression. Realizing that I couldn't really explain what was going on without being killed by some Al Bhed hating meanie, I said loudly, "You know, maybe if you just cast a bit of a Cura, I should be good to go." Then I whispered, "Yunie, I'll tell you later."
Looking past her face, I could see Auron discreetly buying another pair of sunglasses from the innkeeper. Same black frames, same dark lenses, same everything. Aha, he was covering up his tracks, because obviously, if he was wearing the same exact pair of sunglasses as I was, I couldn't possibly be wearing his. Smart guy. Makes me wonder about what else he's covering up.
Yuna smiled, then nodded her head. Holding her hands over my face, she chanted out the words to the ancient spell, curing my wounds, covering me from the top of my messy ponytail to the bottom of my boots with a soft, warm light. With a snap, she was done, and I felt much better. "Thanks Yunie, I owe you one."
"Your welcome," she said, turning to look at the rest of the group. "Are we ready?"
"Whenever you are, Yuna," Lulu said, speaking for all of us.
"Yeah!" I exclaimed. "Come on, let's go! How far away are we from Guadosalam?"
"Close enough," Auron grunted, pushing his way past Tidus and Wakka to reach the door, his brand-spankin-new sunglasses firmly in place. Unfortunatly for him, the door just so happened to be stuck. So, he jammed his shoulder into it, hit his head on the small bell above the door, and let out quite the little string of profanities.
Great. The last thing we need is for him to be pissed off.
Yuna started to say something, but it didn't even reach his ears, considering the gung-ho expression on his face. He stepped back again, adjusted his shoulder to the perfect postion, and rammed the door. Of course, this time, there just had to be a slight problem. A loud cracking sound made the rest of us, the poor, innocent bystanders, gasp in shock.
Instantly, all hell broke loose.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" the innkeeper, jumping over the counter, started screaming. "That door is worth 500 gil."
My mind started scrambling. Last I checked, we only had 238 gil, give or take a few stolen pieces located neatly in my pouches. There was no way that we could pay that back! Maybe we could wash dishes, or make dinner, or clean the rooms of the inn... anything to make money. On the bright side though, the little setback was something that had the potential to halt the pilgrimage for at least a few days.
And, now I had something to harp on Aurie Warie Poo about.
"Sir, I am so sorry... I'm sure we'll find some way to pay for it! Do we have the gil?" Yuna said smoothly, giving the rest of us pleading looks. We all started rifling through our pockets and pouches, throwing our gil in a pile in the middle of the floor.
After a quick count, Lulu piped up, giving Auron the most frightening evil eye that I have ever seen. "Well, we used to have 238 gil, but considering someone needed new sunglasses, we now only have 78 gil."
I could feel my face heat up at that little comment, and I glanced at my toes, keeping my eyes away from the looks that I was sure the rest of the group was giving me. I dug a bit more in my pockets, searching for something, anything of value that I had pilfered in my few days of hanging out with this groovy bunch. Nothing. Absolutly nothing, well, except for maybe some pocket lint, but you couldn't sell that and expect 428 gil. It just doesn't work like that.
Then, genius girl that I am, I came up with a brilliant plan. By far, the most intellegent thing that I've ever thought of in my whole life. I mean, this plan, so full of smart goodness, could singlehandedly take over the world.
"RUN!" I screamed, grabbing Yuna by the wrist and booking it out of there.
Without any hesitation what-so-ever, Tidus grabbed Wakka, Lulu grabbed Kimarhi, and we all ran like the wind, hair flailing behind our backs, dust billowing in our trail.
That was, until we realized that we forgot someone.
"SHOOT!" I screamed out, coming to a quick stop, in a small clearing. "We forgot Sir Auron!"
"Leave him! He's the one that got us into this mess in the first place," Lulu said bitterly.
"No, no, we can't do that," Yuna sighed. "Let's go back, we can find a way to pay for it, I'm sure."
"NO," I yelled, shocking the rest of them into silence. "Here's the dealio, you guys. You go ahead, and just book it towards Guadosalam, okay? I'll go back, and do what I do best."
"And what is that, Rikku?" Lulu asked.
"I steal things for a living, Lulu. I can definatly pilfer Sir Auron, and we'll catch up to you as soon as possible. Good plan?"
"Sounds good to me," Tidus instantly agreed. ROCK ON, my good buddy! I winked at him and smiled, and he winked back. He knew I was leaving my cousin in his hands, and I trusted that kid profusely, even though I probably shouldn't have, considered he's pretty much my long lost brother, personality wise.
Kimarhi nodded at me, Wakka and Lulu looked at each other, and then at Yuna, "If it's alright with Yuna, I guess we can do that," Wakka said.
"Fine with me," Yuna said cheerfully.
"Rock on!" I exclaimed. "We'll catch up to you guys in a few hours. If you make it to Guadosalam, check into the inn there, or hang out somewhere easy to find. Okay?"
"Okay!" everyone exclaimed, and I took off running back the way we came.
"Run like the wind, Rikku!" Yuna yelled to me, and I waved my hand to her, running like the blazes back to the inn where Mr. Let's-Get-Into-Ten-Tons-Of-Trouble was being kept hostage.
Coming up to the inn, I slowed down a bit, and took a moment to go over my plan. Now, I know everyone is shocked by the fact that I, Rikku, the nonrational one, has a plan, but we all have to do something remotely intellegent once in our lives. Walking into that inn without a plan of action was like walking straight into Chimmy's gaping jaws.
Which, of course, I pretty much did that too, but I'm much smarter now.
I slid around the back of the inn, back to the wall, doing the best secret agent, super ninga stance that I have ever done. I mean, this one totally beat out the usual "Oh, HEEYA, I'm a super ninga-agent" that I usually do during a battle, which by the way, is way cool, in case anyone was wondering.
There was a window above my head, and I stood up on my tippy toes a bit, peering into the window.
There, facing me with a livid expression on his face, was the Legendary Guardian Sir Auron, washing out the pots and pans from dinner the night before.
Oh, the blackmail from this one is going to be real good.
He spotted me, and he opened his mouth to start talking, but I put my finger to my lips and hissed, instantly shutting him up. "Is there a door closeby?" I mouthed to him. He shook his head slightly, and I smiled, realising what we had to do.
I slid open the window as quietly as I could, reached my hands in, grabbed him by the head, and flung that son-of-a-gun right out of the window.
He hit the ground with a huge thud, and we both froze, listening for any sound. Nothing. Good. I, the super ninja-agent, then motioned for him to crawl past the window, which he did with quite some protest, but all it took to stop his whining was a headjerk towards the kitchen, and a smile at the pink plaid dishtowel he still held in his hand.
With little difficulty, we slid past all of the entrances of the inn, and made it to some bushes near by. He sat on the ground, breathing hard for a moment, and then looked at me in a way that I've never seen him look before. It was almost with... respect?
"Thank you," he said simply.
I only smiled, then grabbed his hand and started running towards Guadosalam, before the evil innkeeper realized that his hostage was gone.
AN: Hey guys, hope you enjoy this one. It certainly did take forever to write!
