"What about…. This?" Yuna had a dress in her arms, and was holding it up to her body, admiring her reflection and spinning so her cousin, Rikku, could see.

"Hm…" Rikku hummed, pondering the dress. It was plain white all the way to the waist, where layers of tulle in pastel pinks, purples, and blues had been sewn. "Well, it's a nice dress… but maybe we should look for something a little more… daring."

Yuna stopped spinning and glared at her cousin. "I'm not wearing one of YOUR dresses, if that's what you mean," she snapped, her held-in laughter showing only in her eyes. She, and every one else in Besaid, knew Rikku's formal wardrobe consisted of low-cut dresses with short, short skirts. Sometimes it absolutely baffled the young, quiet teenager that she could have such an outgoing cousin.

Rikku stuck out her tongue at the young ex-summoner. "You're to boring, Yunie. You got 'a go out and LIVE, for Yevon's sake! And, no, I don't mean go out and have sex with your boyfriend."

"Rikku!" Yuna exclaimed, blushing scarlet.

"What?" the bouncy Al Bhed demanded. "We both know that's your-"

She was cut off by the door opening, showing a blonde teenage boy, Tidus. Yuna smiled at him and placed the dress on the bed next to her, then walked quickly over to him. He took her in his arms and pressed his face to her hair. "Hey," he murmured, his voice obscured slightly.

"Hi," Yuna said back quietly, turning her face upward. Tidus met his lips with hers, and for one beautiful moment all was right in both worlds. Tidus's guilt for not telling Yuna of the voices he had been plagued with the past two weeks evaporated. Yuna's worry for the upcoming ball, where she would tell Spira of her resignation as the maestress of Spira, which entitled her to rule and govern the growing populace,  also dispersed.  In that perfect moment, they were the only two people in all of time, in the history of humankind.

The moment was disrupted, of course, by Rikku's exasperated sigh. "You guys can make out LATER, you know," she said. She was no longer overjoyed to see Yuna and Tidus making out every time they met. It was her only wish that they would grow up eventually. She just didn't know when that time would be, and, for the girl, it would never be soon enough.

That doesn't mean, of course, that Rikku wasn't happy to see her cousin in high spirits. Rikku never wanted to see Yuna the way she had been in Tidus's six months of absence: a mere shell of what she had once been. When ever Rikku had looked into her eyes, it was like looking at those of a corpse. There was no emotion, not even sadness. It may have been selfish, but Rikku wanted to see any emotion in Yuna's eyes, even sadness, even anger.

There was anger in Yuna's eyes now. And Tidus's. "Fuck off, Rikku," he muttered angrily. Yuna slapped his arm lightly. "Language," she said in an almost warning voice, as though she were talking to a five year old who had repeated a swear after hearing it from an older sibling. He glared at her jokingly. "What, is everyone against me today?" he said, feigning anger.

"Aw," Yuna cooed, hugging him again. "You know we love you."

"Well, some of us." Rikku, it seemed to Tidus, just couldn't keep her mouth shut. He was about to give the same retort as before.

Yuna saw this in his eyes and put a finger to his lips. "Don't, Tidus," she said, trying to keep a straight face. She leaned her head against his chest for a moment, her eyes closed, and then grinned. "Hey," she said, leaning away from him. "What do you think about this dress for the ball?" She went over to the bed and picked up the dress, holding it to her body.

Tidus scrunched up his nose. "Nah, it's too frilly. It's not you."

"Hey, Yuna," Rikku piped up. "I think your boyfriend's gay."

Her cousin snorted. "Oh, no, I'm fairly certain he's not."

"I can prove it," Tidus said with a grin.

"Please don't." Rikku said the request like a command.

He glared at her good-naturedly. "Spoilsport."

She gave him a quick, sarcastic smile, then pushed him towards the door. "Out. This is girl stuff."

"Hey, I'm her date to this thing! I should be allowed to know what she's wearing!"

Any further debate between the two was interrupted by Yuna. "What about this, Rikku? Daring enough?"

The girl was holding a dress that slightly resembled a kimono, but more modern. It was white silk, embroidered with sakura branches in sky blue thread. It reached down to Yuna's ankles, and the fabric of the collar cuffed around her neck slightly. Light blue roping lined the neck and cut across the chest, then ended along the sides. Along this roping were hooks, made of the same blue material, that held the dress closed. But what made it daring was the fact that there were slits on the either side that went three-quarters of the way up her legs.

Tidus raised his eyebrows, as did Rikku. In fact, they did so quite nearly in tune with each other. "You better not be messing with my head," Tidus warned.

"Or what?" The thought that he was threatening her amused Yuna to no end.

"Or… I'll do something."

"Ooh, I'm scared now," Yuna responded sarcastically.

"Yeah, you better be." Tidus was now grinning. Yuna returned the smile.

"Anyway…" Rikku prompted. They both looked at her. "I think you should go with something a little more traditional. Get back to the roots, you know?"

"No, Rikku," Yuna said, a blank look on her face. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

The young Al Bhed sighed. "Like, something not TOO modern. Classy, you know?"

It was Yuna's turn to sigh. "Rikku, make up your mind. First you tell me to be daring. Now you tell me to be classy. What do you want me to wear?"

"I know what I want you to wear."

Both girls looked up and saw Tidus standing near the closet, peering into it at something. Rikku muttered a quiet "Who asked you?"

Yuna smiled. "Do I even want to know, Tidus?"

He reached in, back into the depths of Rikku's closet. When he emerged, muttering, "A guy could get lost in that place," he was holding a long, slender dress of black velvet with ribbons in the place of sleeves. This dress, also, had slits along the sides. Yuna took it from him, a thoughtful look on her face. She pulled one corner of her bottom lip into her mouth. Then she shrugged. "I don't know. I don't really like wearing black. Too depressing, you know?" As an afterthought, she added, "And I'm too pale to look good in it."

Her boyfriend smiled. "Yuna, you look good in everything. But if you don't want to wear it," he shrugged, "then don't."

Yuna smiled. Tidus smiled back.

"Do you guys EVER stop the lovey-dovey stuff?"

"Do you EVER stop complaining?"

"Tidus…" Rikku paused the debate to turn toward the boy she was talking to.

"Yeah?"

"Go away."

Tidus raised his eyebrows. "Oh, well, excuse me for wanting to see the girl I'm in love with." Upon saying this, he wrapped aforementioned girl into his arms.

"Go away." Rikku was looking more exasperated by the second. "It's my room. I say go away."

"Rikku!" Yuna exclaimed, breaking away from Tidus. "That's not nice!"

"Neither is distracting us from our work. Which he I doing. Now, make him go away!" Rikku whined.

"You sound like six-year-old, Rikku."

"Well, you're his girlfriend! Come ON! We have to get you ready for this ball. We're leaving tomorrow and you still don't have a dress!"

"Neither do you," Yuna reasoned calmly.

"Yeah, I do. Wanna see it?"

"Sure," the young ex-summoner agreed with a smile.

Rikku reached into her closet and pulled out an emerald-green taffeta dress whose color matched her eyes almost perfectly. Despite its brilliant hue, it was one the young Al Bhed's quieter pieces of clothing. It would fall to her ankles if she wore it, and this, like the one Tidus had selected for Yuna, had thin ribbons in the place of sleeves. There was a petticoat under the skirt and a wave-like design on the bodice, created by fancy stitching and sewed-on pearls.

Yuna stared. "That's such a pretty dress, Rikku," she said, walking closer to her cousin. She took the edges in her hands gently, examining it. "It matches your eyes. Where'd you get it? An Al Bhed place?"

Rikku smiled. "Actually, it was Cissan's. You remember her, right? My sister?"

Yuna nodded. "She's the one with really long hair, right? And she used to dye it all the time?"

Rikku grinned. "Yeah. You met her at the Jubilee, right?"

"Jubilee?" Tidus, having been momentarily forgotten, asked.

"Yeah. See, when Sin was defeated, there was this HUGE party. Every single city in Spira celebrated all day and all night, for almost three days!" Rikku explained, forgetting the disagreement that had taken place minutes ago. She remembered it quickly, however, and pointed to the door. "Now, out. Can't you find some way to amuse yourself while me 'n' Yuna figure out what she's gonna wear to this thing?"

Tidus grinned. "Fine," he said, finally admitting defeat. "I'm going. If anybody needs me, I'll be in my room, okay?"

Yuna smiled at him. "Okay," she agreed with a nod. He smiled back and left the room, closing the door behind him.

Rikku turned back to her closet. She pushed clothes aside, digging through the back. "Ugh!" She grunted in disgust. "I can't find anything else! Hey, you wanna raid Lulu's closet?"

Yuna smiled. "Think we'll find anything that fits?"

"Probably not, but, hey. You never know."

Yuna shrugged. "Sure. No harm, right?"

Rikku giggled. "Think we'll find, like, condoms or something in there?"

Yuna raised her eyebrows. "In her CLOSET? I doubt it. And besides, do you think we'd NOTICE if she was… having guys over?"

Rikku grinned again deviously. "Who says they have to be guys?"

Her cousin's response was to hit her in the arm good-naturedly. "Are you implying what I think you are?"

"Yes. Yes I am."

Giggling, the two girls made their way from Rikku's room to the one right next door. Yuna knocked a few times on the closed door. When no answer came, she opened the door a crack. The room was empty. Yuna nodded to Rikku, and the pair entered quietly. The feeling they shared was akin to that which Yuna had felt when she and Tidus had snuck down to the beach at midnight three or four days before: the giddiness of doing something they knew they weren't supposed to, mixed with the dread of knowing what will happen if they were caught.

The searched through Lulu's clothes, finding nothing that would fit Yuna and, to Rikku's disappointment, no condoms.

"It's not as much that I'd want to find them," Rikku explained as they were exiting. "I just wanna see if she should have yelled at you that one time, the night Tidus came back. Remember?"

Yuna laughed quietly. "How could I forget THAT night?"

Rikku smiled. "Hey, Yunie?"

"Yeah?"

The Al Bhed fidgeted nervously. "What was it like?"

Yuna turned to stare at her.

"I don't mean, like, go into detail," Rikku said quickly, holding her hands up. "I just mean, like, was it really as great as everyone says?"

Yuna paused, unsure of how she wanted to answer her cousin, then smiled. "Yeah. I guess it was. But," she added sternly, "that doesn't mean you should go out and try it, just because I said it was fun."

"Aw, come on, Yunie. You're only a year older than me now. You can't act all superior."

"Hey, you used a big word," a new voice, Tidus's, joined the conversation. He was leaning against the doorframe that entered into his room.

Yuna gasped, covering her mouth with her hand. "How much did you hear?"

He grinned. "All of it. And, Rikku, since when are you sixteen?"

"Have been for almost two months now," she answered simply. "And Yunie'll be eighteen in three months."

Tidus looked over at Yuna. "Why didn't you tell me?" he asked, an amused look on his face.

Yuna smiled and shrugged. "No need to. I mean, it IS three whole months, you know."

"But I have to get you a gift, you know."

"No you don't," Yuna said, shaking her head. "You've already given me the best gift ever."

"Oh? And what's that?"

She met his cerulean eyes with her own dichromatic ones. "You came back to me."

Tidus was speechless for a second, then he smiled. "That was just fulfilling a promise." He paused, an idea striking him. "I have a much better birthday gift for you. Much, much better." With that, he pulled her into his arms. He whispered, "I love you, Yuna," into her hair, his eyes closed, a sleepy smile forming on his lips.

Yuna inhaled deeply, enjoying everything about the moment. The way it felt to be in his arms, the way he smelled of soap and sea water, how his voice sounded when he whispered those three words. It amazed her how three words that were almost infinitesimal by themselves, put together, could voice the most wondrous of all human emotions. She whispered the words back to him, amazed that Rikku had yet to complain about their showing of affection. Yuna wondered if the girl was even still there. If she was, maybe she was ignoring it, or maybe she was too busy thinking of something else to nice. Maybe she just didn't mind, this time.

Rikku, in fact, didn't mind. The conversation they had just shared had gotten her thinking: Yuna really, really cared about Tidus. She had known this before, ever since they defeated Sin, but, somehow, it felt more real now. It felt like she knew exactly how Yuna felt, not because she had felt it for herself, but because she was finally opening her eyes. It was like a veil had been lifted from her, and she saw how much they loved each other. This wasn't some childish emotion, Rikku realized. This was the real thing. This was true love, the most beautiful thing two people could ever share.

Rikku quietly stepped into her room and closed the door. She turned on the small nyteu she kept near her bed, keeping the volume low so as not to disturb Yuna and Tidus, then fell onto her bed, landing on her stomach. The girl couldn't help but wonder if she would ever feel for a man the way her cousin felt for Tidus. The thought that maybe she wouldn't was extremely depressing, and she quickly pushed it from her mind. She DID have someone, even if it wasn't they weren't a normal couple by any stretch of the imagination.

A song in Al Bhed played on Rikku's nyteu. The girl recognized it immediately and sang along, closing her eyes and letting the music take her away.

"Ed'c rynt du pameaja dryd drana'c huputo uid drana

Ed'c rynt du pameaja dryd E's ymm ymuha

Yd maycd E ryja ran muja, dra ledo cra mujac sa

Muhamo yc E ys, dukadran fa lno…"

Rikku was practically entranced by the music. She was somewhere else completely. In her mind, she could feel each beat of the song as it played through the speakers, could see every note as a swirl of color that flew by her, twirling around her, tickling as they brushed against her bare arms. Every word echoed through her being; they flowed through her veins, over her skin and along every strand of hair that cascaded down her back, where it lay, free of the ponytail she usually had it secured in. The sensation was like that of stepping into a cold shower or under a waterfall in summer; shocking, but not uncomfortable, and like every pore in her body felt cleansed and pure.

The feeling was so wonderful, so soothing, and the all of it felt so magical, that at first, Rikku didn't hear the knocking on her door. Even when she DID hear it, she ignored it, not wanting to lose her newly-obtained calm. The knocking persisted, and Yuna's voice called her name. But Rikku still ignored it.

Yuna's calls became louder. "Rikku! Are you in there? Rikku!!"

Rikku sighed, opening her eyes. She stood and stretched, then called. "Yeah, I'm in here! Come on in, Yunie."

The door opened, exposing a worried-looking Yuna. "Are you okay?"

Rikku frowned. "Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, I think you were talking to yourself. At least, that's what it sounded like."

"Huh?" Rikku said quietly, then came to a quick conclusion. "Oh. I was singing. You know, along with the nyteu."

Yuna's worried expression deepened. "Rikku," she said quietly, "Your nyteu isn't on."

"Huh? But… I turned it on--"

Rikku turned, looking around. There was the nyteu, right where it was supposed to be. The red light above the power button was off, signaling that the nyteu was, in fact, off.. "Huh?" Rikku murmured again, frowning even more. "But… I don't understand. I know I turned it on."

"Maybe someone came in here and turned it off. Or maybe you fell asleep and just dreamed you turned it on."

"Maybe." Rikku wasn't convinced, but she didn't want to worry her cousin.

"Well, anyways," Yuna continued. "I came back up here to tell you that Alia's here to see you. She said to tell you to her hurry up, because you guys are already late. You know what she's talking about?"

"Yeah. We're going to Luca on the airship. She said she was going to meet me at the harbor at four. But I still have, like, an hour, don't I?"

Yuna once again looked worried. "No, Rikku. If you said you'd meet her at four, you're a half-hour late."

"What?!" Rikku's voice was panicked. How could it be four-thirty already? It had only been three o'clock when she and Yuna had stopped looking for something for her to wear. Guess I must have fallen asleep, Rikku thought. But that didn't make sense. She had turned on the nyteu BEFORE she lay down. Rikku walked over to the little table she kept the nyteu on and squatted down next to it. Looking behind the table, she saw that the piece of machina wasn't even plugged in. That couldn't be. She had heard the music… after she lay down. So, it was possible that she had been dreaming the whole time. It wasn't likely. But it was possible.

Rikku quickly stood and smiled at her cousin. "Wow, I guess I must've fallen asleep. But I'd better go down and see Alia. I'll see you later, okay, Yunie?"

"Okay, when do you think you'll get back?"

"Um… probably around seven or eight. Is that okay?" Yuna had become more than a friend to Rikku. She was a sort of mother to the girl who had never met her own.

"Fine with me. Have fun, and if you see anything you think I should wear to the ball, get it and I'll pay you back, 'kay?"

"'Kay, Yunie. Bye!" Rikku scampered from her room and down the stairs to meet her not-so-happy friend.

--

"Ooh, Yunie'd love this dress!" Rikku exclaimed, holding up a lavender, short-sleeved dress that would fall to about mid-calf on the girl who wore it. The young Al Bhed looked to her 'best friend' (who, secretly, was more).

The girl shrugged. "It'd look better on you."

Rikku laughed. "You say that about everything, Alia."

"Well, everything would." The girl looked around and, seeing that no one was watching them, gave Rikku a quick kiss on the cheek. "It's not my fault I tell the truth."

Rikku smiled at her girlfriend. Alia was afraid to 'come out,' so Rikku hadn't told anyone the secret they shared. To Rikku's knowledge, no one knew. Not even Yuna. Rikku hadn't even written the secret in the diary she kept, for fear that someone would read it.

Alia hadn't been too mad that Rikku was late. That was the good thing about having a best friend who was also her girlfriend. Now the girls were in Luca, browsing one of the many dress shops the city had to offer, looking for dresses for Alia and Yuna. Since the ball would be in Besaid, and all of Spira had been invited, anyway, Alia also needed good clothes to wear.

"Hey, how about this?" Alia was holding an indigo dress that was almost exactly the same as the one Rikku had been given by Cissan. The only thing that was different was the lack of embroidery on its bodice.

Rikku smiled. "Definitely. The dress I'm wearing is almost exactly like that, except it's green. We'll be twins!"

"I hope we aren't."

Rikku raised her eyebrows at her friend. "Why?"

"Because," she lowered her voice, "then us being together would be really, really sick."

The Al Bhed snickered. "Only you, Alia, would think of something like that," she said. Alia flashed her a sweet smile in response.

This simple action reminded Rikku of the things she had been thinking about earlier, how she'd wondered if she'd ever fall in love with a man. She realized now that she didn't really WANT to. She had Alia; who needed a man when you could be in a relationship with your sweet, pretty, wonderful best friend?

The thought made Rikku smile again. "Now that you're taken care of, on to Yunie!"

*-.-*

My, it's been a long time. This is my longest chapter yet. Rejoice! I think it's also my favorite. Rikku's my favorite character (I'm also cosplaying her at Katsucon this February; maybe I'll show you pictures!), and this chapter really went into more detail on her relationships with some of the characters. I also added in a little romance in there, just because I could.

Did I make it seem like Rikku and Tidus hated each other? I really wasn't trying to. I just wanted to show that the act kind of brother-sister towards each other, with the arguing and all.

The song Rikku's listening to is the Al Bhed lyrics to "Under the Bridge" by Red Hot Chili Peppers, who rock.

Let's see… what else? Christmas was relatively pointless, but I had an AWESOME New Year's. I spent it at my friend Angie's house with our friends Skids & Hannah. Oana, Angie's mom, was really cool. We were up till 7 a.m. and she only complained to us twice, when we woke her up because we were screaming so loud. She even offered us Bailey's. Angie lives in a two-family house, and the lady upstairs always complains about how she plays such loud music and stuff… so me, Angie, and Skids would randomly scream, as loud as we could, just to piss her off. An hour or so later we learned that she wasn't even home. But hey, it was fun anyway.

After that, we all went outside. Across the street from Angie's house, there's this huge park called Ghould Manor, and we all randomly decided to have a circle, since we're all Wiccans. It was so cool; I think, together, we're really powerful. I felt really light-headed and giddy afterwards, and I don't think I was the only one, because when we were going back to Angie's house, we were all laughing at really, really stupid things. Sometimes we would just randomly start laughing, too. We must've sounded drunk or something.

Also, one of our most-used phrases that night was: "I'm bored. I'm gonna go change my shirt." Yeah, we're all pretty messed up. We were going through Angie's clothes and wearing whatever we thought was cool.

And I gave Skids a back rub. Heh. That was fun. She's really soft. And, she untied her halter top (which she stole from Angie), so that makes it even more fun.

Anyways, since none of you really CARE, and I have nothing else to say, I'm gonna go.

Moo,

~E.N.

P.S: I'm thinking of changing my send-off from Moo to Blessed Be. What do you think?

P.P.S: Dave: in answer to your review, the chorus is: Pardon me while I burst into flames. I've had enough of the world, and its people's mindless games. So, pardon me while I burn and rise above the flames. That used to be my favorite song, so trust me on this one. And, yes, Qui-ti, I AM really bi.

P.P.P.S: Looks like I had more to say, after all.