I wanted to be like you
I wanted everything
So I tried to be like you
And I got swept away
I didn't know that it was so cold and
You needed someone
To show you the way
So I took your hand and we figured out that
When the tide comes
I'd take you away
-"All You Wanted" by Michelle Branch
I nearly dropped my plate of cookies at the appearance of the Maester. He stood, his silhouette surrounded by the light coming in the doorway. His hair was blue and in the usual Guado hairstyle, large pieces clumped together and made into zigzag lines that trailed down his back and over his face. His robes were long and far too big for him, but they were opened in the front, giving a mighty huge view of his chest. And his face, although handsome, I suppose, was covered in veins that mimiced his hairstyle.
"I'm very pleased that you decided to grace me with your presense this evening. Welcome to my home. Oh," he smiled, nodding, "I see that you've already started to help yourselves. Very good! That means we can get started."
Yuna bowed, smiling gracefully at Maester Seymour. "Thank you very much for inviting us, my lord."
"Would all of you like to sit down? I'm sure it would be much more comfortable to eat at a table."
"Yes, thank you," Yuna replied. The rest of us decided, it seemed, to let her do all of the talking for us. Besides, it was her right, being our Summoner and all. I sure wasn't jumping to have a conversation with him.
Everyone moved towards the table in the middle of the room, but I stalled for a moment. Auron looked down at me, glared a bit, and pushed me along. Unfortunatly, by the time I reached the table, the only seat left was the one next to the Maester himself. Auron pulled out my seat, then when I was settled, sat down next to me.
"Why hello," Seymour said to me as I nervously picked at my food. "I was aquainted with all of the other guardians when they first arrived, but I don't believe that we've met. What's your name?"
Great. "My name is Rikku, my lord," I mumbled, making sure not to look at him.
"Are you enjoying your stay at Guadosalam?" he asked nicely, apparently trying to make me feel more comfortable.
"It's a lovely city," I said even more quietly, trying to disappear into the chair. I started to pick up my cookies and took a small bite, taking great care to chew slowly as possible.
"Have you visited the Farplane yet?" he asked, not leaving me alone for even a second.
Yuna cut in at this point, saving me. "We all decided to go as a group, but I'm sure we won't have time until tomorrow morning, isn't that right, Rikku?"
"Of course," I whispered, breath bearly even coming out of my lungs. "The Farplane... Tomorrow. Yay."
"Yay?" Yuna, Auron, and the Maester all mimiced at once.
"If I didn't know better, Rikku, I would think that you were disrespecting the Farplane," Maester Seymour said sternly, staring me down. Oh, lovely. Now, I've got Guado Man in a huff. Why must I always be stuck in these stupid social situations?
Yuna, trying to save me, I guess, started talking quickly. "No, of course not, right, Rikku? She is just tired from the Pilgrimage, and she was injured just a few days past. We were all so worried about her, but she's coming along just fine and..."
Yuna seemed to go on and on and on for hours. I nodded and tried to look interested, but I could feel my head starting to spin. Dizzy, I looked down at my plate, but of course, I had absolutly no cookies left. Just when I needed to choke myself with one too. I lifted myself to my feet, balancing my hands on the table for the minute as I stablized myself.
"I... I have to... I don't feel well..." I started mumbling, feeling myself tip to the side. Luckily, that time, I caught myself just before I spilled onto the Maester's lap, but I overcorrected a bit and ended up landing in Auron's instead, causing him to spit out the cookie that he just put into his mouth directly into the lovely, tangled up masses of my hair. And, of course, just as I lifted my hands up to comb the chewed crumbs out of my hair, the tempermental sunglasses slipped off of my face.
They hit the floor before I could catch them, and I was left defenseless. I shut my eyes tightly, turned, and shoved my face into Auron's coat. "Please... Someone just kill me now..." I mumbled, feeling myself start to cry.
"I'm going to take her to get cleaned up," Auron said, standing, lifting me up with him as if I was just one of the feathers normally braided in my hair.
I heard a snap, and he replied, "Herman?"
"Yes, my lord?"
"Show them to the nearest washroom."
"Yes, my lord," he said humbly as I felt Auron start walking, following the smelly guard.
I clutched onto the opening of the crimson coat, trying to calm myself down a bit. And I breathed, in and out, in and out, gulping my breaths and hiccupping from my tears. I was embarrassed, okay? Embarrassed, scared for my life, and completely and wildly dizzy.
"Shhh... We're almost there," he whispered to the top of my head.
"Right here, Sir Auron. I'll wait for you and Lady Rikku to come out to lead you back."
"There's no need for that, Herman. Go," Auron said, ice seeming to drip from his very tone of voice. Then, I felt my body slip through his fingers as I fell, bounce, bounce, bounce, onto something incredibly snuggly. I opened my eyes slightly as I glanced around the large room, bright purple in color and covered in paintings of Guado mothers. Creepy, yes, but at that point in time I felt wonderful just being away from everyone else. I looked over my shoulder and realized that I was laying on a light purple minibed, which seemed rather odd being in a washroom, but I wasn't too worried about it.
But what gave me the snuggliest feeling inside was seeing Auron stand in the middle of the room, looking out of place and mighty concerned. He really did protect me, just like he said he was going to. Amazing.
"Hi," I whispered, turning so I could lay on my side. He grunted and I smiled, motioning him down next to me. He kneeled next to the bed slowly, and he smiled slightly at me, looking relieved.
"Are you alright?" he asked, starting to brush the cookie crumbs out of my hair.
"Better than before..." I murmured, staring into his eye. "Thank you..."
"For what?" his sunglasses slid down his nose, and I nudged them with my finger, grinning as they slid back down again.
"For protecting me... for everything..." I said, as I started to sit up. He held his hand up quickly, trying to stop me, but I could feel everything go back to normal for me and sat up despite his concern. "I'm okay now, thanks to you. Thank you so much for getting me out of there, even if we have to go back in a minute anyway."
I could see him start to blush a bit, and it made me want to giggle. "Your welcome," he grunted, not looking at me.
I noticed a mirror across the room, and I stood up, putting my hand on his shoulder to steady me. But, surprisingly, he grabbed my hand instead, and lead me over to the mirror. My hair was a mess, oh yes, but my dress and face seemed to look okay. Except for one thing...
"The sunglasses fell under the table, didn't they?" he asked, concerned.
"Yes... Can you go get them for me?" I asked sweetly, batting my eyelashes obnoxiously at him.
"Fine. But stay right here. Understand?" he said sternly, staring me down.
"Of course!" I said, shocked at his distrust in me. "I'll be standing right here when you get back, okay?"
He nodded and turned to go, coat whipping behind him as he put his hand on the door.
"Wait..." I said slowly as I reached out for his arm
"Yes?" he grunted, as he turned back to face me. "What else do you want, princess?"
"This..." I whispered as I threw my arms around him. I was up on my tippy toes, but I didn't care, because I had my arms around his neck and I was clutching onto his coat with everything I was worth. And I squeezed and I squeezed and I squeezed, and while I was squeezing him so tight the veins were popping out of my arms, I felt his arms slide from his side to around my waist. And I sighed and breathed in deeply, revelling in the wonder of it all, when I caught the whiff of something wonderful.
It... Sir Auron the Almighty smelled exactly like it...
"You..." I breathed as I let go slightly and looked into his eye, "You... You..." He smirked at me, taking pleasure in my discomfort it seemed, as I tried to find my voice and make intellegent words pass through my mouth. "You're... Why didn't I notice..."
"What, princess? What didn't you notice?" he smiled, seeing everything come together in my eyes.
Finally, I understood everything. EVERYTHING. Or, at least, everything that I could possibly understand with the information that I had at the moment. Love, sake, and cinnimon cookies.... Why hadn't I thought of this before? Stupid, stupid me...
The room seemed to get brighter and darker all at the same time. My eyes opened wide, and I moved my hands from behind his neck to touch his face. My fingertips stroked the stubble on his cheeks, chin, and the pinky, delicate skin from the scar. His breath caught in his throat at my exploration, and his entire face turned red, blushing in a shade that matched his coat perfectly.
He grabbed my hand and stopped me. "What didn't you notice?"
"You," I breathed, as I leaned in and kissed him.
The kiss was long and sweet, and I clutched his face, trying to hold onto something that could keep my body from flying away. I smelled it, I tasted it, I breathed it in that very moment, where my mind seemed to stop and my heart started to soar. I could see sugar plums dancing and fireworks exploding behind my closed eyelids, and I was in such a dizzy euphoria that I could hardly keep a hold of myself, let alone keep track of anything else.
It was Auron, and Auron was it, and kissing him made my entire soul come alive.
We broke apart, and I leaned my forehead against his, breathing hard and fast, barely keeping up with what had just happened. "I can't believe we just did that..." I giggled.
"I certainly wasn't expecting it," he added gruffly, attempting to be serious, but it obviously wasn't working due to the slight smile on his face.
I stared into his face, and traced the lines across his skin with the tips of my fingers, feeling a sense of peace deeper than anything that I've ever felt before. But I still wasn't sure of everything that I thought I knew, and I just had to clarify everything. Call me crazy, but sometimes people just have to state the obvious for me. "You... You saved me from Chimmy, didn't you?", I asked hesitantly.
His mouth quirked up on one corner, and I felt embarrassed for asking. "Yes," he said simply.
"And carried me all the way to the inn?"
"Yes."
"And sat up with me the whole night?"
"Rikku, obviously the answer is yes. What do you really want to know?" His gaze probed into mine, and I knew I was caught.
The real question was, WHY? Why did he do all of these things when he barely even knew me? What was in it for him to protect me? But of course, I could never ask him those questions, they're way too important and embarrassing to just blurt out without any kind of thought to it.
I know it's hard to believe that I could be embarrassed by anything, really, considering my peachy keen attitude about everything, but believe me, when I get embarrassed, it's horrible. I get red and smudgy and start to stutter, and then I wish I was never born. It is always much better if I just avoid that whole stupid situation.
"I... I wanna know why you haven't got my sunglasses yet, mister," I stammered, trying to deflect the question away from me. "You should do that so no one starts to worry and comes to check on us, okay?" I pulled my arms back to my sides and stepped back into the cool air, nervously playing with the material of my dress, trying not to look him in the eyes.
He looked at me curiously, I know, but then sighed and turned away. "Stay here," he said sternly.
"Of course," I agreed. "Where else do I have to go?"
The click of the lavender door shutting was the answer to my question.
AN: Have I thanked my reviewers yet? I don't think so! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY to my reviewers, each and every one of you, who make me smile at my computer screen whenever I get an email about you. I hope you like this new chapter, and another one will be coming up soon (tomorrow maybe, not sure), because I already know where I want the next few chapters to go. Oh, and Happy New Year!
