"No Running, kiddies"
Rikku rolled over in her bed, not in any hurry to open her eyes. Infact, she would quite rather still be sleeping.
The sunlight poured in the room, making the bright sheets and shiny wood floors glow. The strong reflection was what made her eyelids peel open. A dark figure penetrated her vision, which was quite blurry as it is, so Rikku was startled, but her instincts told her not to make any sudden movements or signs of life until she knew who --or what-- it was. Her eyes opened more, and the creature's back was facing her. He --she guessed it was a male by the fairly short brown hair, with strands of gold and gray-- was leaning against her night-table. He was wearing a dark crimson robe, with shoulder-blade-armor beautifuly decorated. His collar rose with strands of blue and yellow fabric encircling it.
"You're up early." The figure said, with a hint of amusement and sarcasm in his voice. 'Damnit, it heard me.'
"Auron?" Rikku lifted her head, trying to her open her eyes fully. Her voice was quiet and deep. "What time is it?"
"One in the afternoon."
"How long have you been standing here?" Rikku was worried. She has this nasty habbit of talking in her sleep, and often says embarrasing things.
At this, the legendary guardian grunted and said, "Does it matter?"
"Well it does to me." Rikku muttered as she flipped over the sheets. Realizing she was in her rather skimpy pajamas, she quickly covered herself again. Auron, seeing her embarrased, turned away and examined the bookshelf.
"Um...I need to get d--"
"I'll be in the Bridge," and the guardian walked past her bed as if he was a Greek God, without even looking at her, except...
'Was that a glance coming from the corner of his eye?'
Rikku dismissed the thought, thinking her self more foolish than usual. She always felt inferior around him, though she'd never admit it. He made his way down the stairs and out of the bar.
When she heard the door shut, she quickly hopped out of bed and got dressed in her usual; yellow bikini top with black adjustable straps and a knot in the middle, white sleeves which covered her arms, not her shoulders or hands, with very neatly fluffed up bows holding the sides together, a green very short skirt with yellow drawstrings connecting the front to the back, curved at her hips. She also had heeled boots, but they were soft and comfortable, white with blue crosses. She completed her outfit with her extra-long scarf, blue headband and thin rubber gloves that were more brown than red, and they did not go much further than her knuckles.
'Now, as for the packing...' She stood over over her dresser, the drawers opened, looking down at them and frowning. Her suitcase was next to her, on the bed, open.
Suddenly she leaned over and grabbed a buncha clothes and shoved them into her suitcase. When the first drawer was empty, she started on the second. Socks, shirts, pants and bras sometimes flew out of her grasp and landed in various other places. Some even landed in the downstairs bar, causing Barkeep to look up in wonder.
Rikku was lost in her determination to pack as quickly as possible, so she didn't notice Paine standing there.
"Excited?" Paine asked loudly, and Rikku jumped back. Seeing it was Paine, she lowered her arms and tried to catch her breath.
"Yeah...don't do that," Rikku said, sort of shaking her finger "no" at Paine.
"Just a thought...packing? Not your thing."
Rikku looked up at Paine and scoffed. At this Paine raised her hands as if surrendering to something and smiled.
After watching Rikku's madness, Paine finally asked, "You know you're only spending a week there, right?"
"What?! A whole week?" Rikku sighed in frustration and stopped what she was doing, momentarily.
Paine rolled her eyes. "Come on, it'll be fine. You wear the same thing everyday anyway..."
"DO NOT!" Rikku insisted as she closed her suitcase, sat on it, and clipped it shut. She grabbed it by the handle, and picked it up as though it was as light as a suitcase full of air. Which it wasn't, because the minute she dragged it off the bed it fell to the floor, and her along with it.
"Damnit, give me a hand, will you?" Paine helped Rikku carry the quite heavy suitcase half way down the steps when they decided to toss it as far as they could in the direction of the door.
"One...two...GO!" they swung it and sent if flying over the spiral railing. It i just /i missed the small square table, grazing it slightly. It slid out the narrow door a few inches. Rikku hopped over the railing, landing on her feet, her and Paine running towards it. Rikku kicked it as hard as she could, sending it sliding halfway down the walkway, and Paine raced to kick it the rest of the way.
They were both laughing as they rushed to the end of the hallway in the elevator. Suddenly the doors opened and Auron stepped out. Paine immediately let go and stopped running, but Rikku's attention was on the race and the suitcase as she was sliding it fast as she could, causing her head to knock right into his...sensitive area.
Rikku fell down, landing on her butt, and froze on the spot once what just happened became clear to her. Auron let out a short gasp of air and grunted, but immediatley regained his composure as he took the suitcase, lifted it by the handle and stood back up again, as if the suitcase weighed about the same as a cardboard box.
"Sorry," Rikku whispered hoarsely as she peered up at the calm character. Being near him made her fluttery and anxious enough, but knocking into him took the cake, especially considering where she actually knocked into.
"Hmph, don't worry about it." He said casually. Paine was standing up, her fingers curled and covering her mouth, trying to conceal her laughter. "Let's go," and he turned around to walk back in the elevator.
Paine took wide steps to reach Rikku, leaned into her ear and said, "This is what happens when children run in the hallway," and she started giggling.
"Shut up! Anyway, I don't think children knock into groins everytime they run in the hallways." Rikku hissed, and all three of them crammed into the elevator, facing the door. Rikku was pressed directly against Auron, and Paine was off to the other side. The doors closed, and it was dark. Trying to get in a comfortable position, Rikku started to squirm around a bit.
When she finally found a comfortable position, (just before it was time to get off, actually) she realized there was a certain something digging into her upper thigh, and it wasn't Paine. Surprised, she jumped a little, but sensing Auron tense up, she tried to relax and pretend like nothing was out of the ordinary.
'After all, he is a guy. It's not like if someone else wasn't squirming all over his groin, he wouldn't...ew. Point is, it didn't happen just because I was the one that did it...' Rikku tried to convince herself that nothing special happened; that he was, after all, a male, and males do tend to have penises. She tried desperately to push the thought out of her mind. I mean, she has had a crush on him since she was 15, but Auron! Of all people! She could barely stand the thought.
Yet she couldn't help her heart fluttering just a little as they all stepped out onto the Deck, waiting to arrive at the Thunder Plains to jump ship.
