Thunder Plains - Morning. The travelers are just leaving the woods. It is raining as usual.

"Great! The Thunder Plains." Rikku whimpered as the tower-studded landscape came into view between the trees. Lightning flashed overhead and thunder rolled behind it, sweeping through the clouds. Rikku kept one eye on the sky as she huddled behind Yuna, who patted her soothingly and murmured quiet words of comfort. "Bah!" Wakka snorted confidently. "We've crossed the Plains before, Rikku. It's no big deal, ya? We'll all go together, and stick close to the towers. Just don't walk too close to Kimahri and you'll be fine." He gave her a wink and pantomimed a horn.

Rikku smiled wanly, but did not relax her death-grip on Yuna's arm. Yuna hid her smile behind her hand as Kimahri frowned at Wakka's joke, his fur standing on end like an affronted cat's.

"Wakka's right, Rikku," Tidus piped in cheerfully. " With all the towers around all we have to worry about are any stray bolts. But those will be easy to dodge!" he added quickly as Rikku's skin took on a grayish cast. "Look, I'll show you!" he said as he dashed out into the rain.

"See?" he said, spreading his arms and turning to face the group huddled under the trees. "Nothing to worry about!" Tidus' motivational speech, along with Rikku's confidence was shattered as a bolt of lightning ripped through the sky. Rikku and Yuna both screamed and covered their ears. Tidus gasped and jumped aside, neatly dodging the bolt. He recovered quickly, however, and grinning hugely at his victory, turned to his friends. "There! No problem!"

Auron groaned inwardly as the blond began dancing around in the rain and yelling at the sky, shouting nonsense and taunting the lightning. He wondered what Yuna saw in the young man, who at the moment was acting like a total idiot. Yuna was smiling shyly and laughing at Tidus' antics. Even Rikku was giggling a little. He shrugged the question away, coming to the conclusion that love really was blind. And deaf. A near inaudible mutter caught his attention. Auron glanced at Lulu, who was standing next to Kimahri. The black mage was watching all the arm waving and shouting with a look of mild irritation on her face. Auron felt his own irritation flare, and caught himself almost wishing that a bolt of lighting would strike Tidus. That would just make Auron's day.

It did.

Wakka had just left the sheltering branches of the trees, hoping to help lure Rikku out, when another bolt of lightning struck at Tidus. Tidus yelped and began frantically dodging as bolt after bolt stabbed uncomfortably close to him. Rikku and Yuna screamed in horror as they watched the young blitzer desperately trying to avoid the lightning in an almost comic dance. Wakka and Kimahri were both shouting something at Tidus, which was a waste of breath since it could not be heard over the crack of lightning or the boy's screams. Lulu stood by impassively, her face carefully blank.

Auron gazed up at the sky and praised Yevon.

The lightning finally subsided, leaving a wide-eyed, shaken Tidus standing amidst a circle of blackened earth. Wakka and Kimahri plodded reluctantly after Yuna as she rushed to Tidus, Wakka dragging Rikku along.

"Must be all the metal he's wearing." Lulu commented dryly as she cast Reflect on the party. Auron gave her a penetrating look, and saw a near invisible smile as she said "Shall we?" and stepped out into the rain.

The party followed Lulu, walking quickly. Auron got a certain amount of grim amusement at seeing Tidus jump at every flash of lightning and rumble of thunder; he could almost hear the boy's bones rattling. Rikku seemed less frightened with Lulu's Reflect spell on her, jumping only at the really loud thunder, but Auron noticed that she gave Kimahri a wide berth. In fact, everyone did. Kimahri either did not realize this, or if he did, he did not care.

Auron frowned as he realized that his fun had turned sour, in fact it had curdled to the consistency of cottage cheese. Yuna and a braver Rikku were walking close to Tidus; Yuna walked arm-in-arm with him. Auron maneuvered close to Kimahri and nudged the Ronso. Kimahri looked down at the warrior who nodded in the direction of Yuna. Kimahri followed his line of sight, and did not like what he saw. For a moment Auron felt guilty as hulking Kimahri stalked over to Tidus. He had pulled Tidus from his time and dropped him in the future where his father turned out to be Sin. He admired his boundless energy and determination, and he had grown to be a good warrior. However, when he thought about his endless cheerfulness the guilty feeling quickly vanished. He chuckled to himself as Kimahri loomed behind Tidus, shadowing him and making him very uncomfortable. Even during their stay in the Travel Agency, Tidus could look over his shoulder and see Kimahri standing and watching him with an intense glare. Tidus had even woken up once during the night to see Kimahri, illuminated eerily by the lightning flashes, standing over him. The sight was quite disturbing to say the least.

Tidus endured his hulking shadow until the party was nearly to the entrance to Guadosalam, at which point, he had enough. Letting Yuna and Rikku continue ahead, he turned and faced the Ronso. "Now what?" He demanded, tipping his head back to look eye to eye with Kimahri. The big humanoid growled like thunder.

"Kimahri not like little human hanging on Yuna!"

Tidus regarded him for a moment, the gears in his head clicking away at a high rate of speed. His eyes flashed merrily after a moment more, and a big grin split his face. "Awww," he said teasingly as he playfully elbowed Kimahri in the ribs. "Don't worry, big guy. I'm just a lowly Guardian, and Yuna is a High Summoner. It wouldn't work out for either one of us. Besides, I'll bet you like your girls a little hairierUulp!"

Tidus found himself jerked off the ground at a frightening speed. His legs kicked ineffectively at the air as he twisted slowly, suspended from one of Kimahri's strong hands, which held him fast by the back of his shirt. Tidus realized that resistance was futile, and gave up his struggles to dangle limply in the Ronso's grasp.

"Little guardian not insult Yuna! Remember Temple Blessing. Kimahri rip off more than Tidus' pants! Understand?" he snarled, giving Tidus a little shake to emphasize his threat. Tidus' face drained of all color and he nodded his head so fast that his teeth clicked together. Kimahri briefly entertained the idea of hanging the boy from one of the lightning towers. No, that would have made Yuna sad. Kimahri hated to see Yuna sad. With one last snarl, the broken horned Kimahri dropped Tidus and fastidiously wiped his hand on his loincloth. He turned his back on him, and with a flick of his tail, left Tidus in the mud and trotted off to rejoin the party. "And I thought defeating Sin would make my life easier!" Tidus grumbled.