A/N: Hey, thanks for the reviews, guys! You're all so nice. I'm glad you like the story thus far, and don't think my characters are annoying. Well, Jack I can understand. But he'll get better. He has no choice, he's under my power! Hahaha! Anyway, I hope you enjoy my latest installment.

Disclaimer: Come on now. Everyone knows 'Final Fantasy IX' does not belong to me.

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Requiem for an Angel

a Final Fantasy IX fanfiction

by Wakizashi

Chapter Eight: The Bodyguard

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God, Claire wanted to go home. This was getting ridiculous. Getting stuck with Jack was bad enough, but now she and Kuja were traveling with a con artist. Jack refused to return her ill-gotten profits, and Felina refused to leave him alone until she got it back. Could this journey get any worse?

Claire sighed and looked out the window at the passing trees as the Berkmea descended the mountain. She had hoped they would be in Alexandria by now. She still had no idea what "business" Kuja had there, but she supposed there were a lot of things he didn't see fit to tell her. And that was okay; she just wished he trusted her more.

She looked over at Kuja, fast asleep in the seat next to her. And no wonder; she didn't think he could have gotten more than an hour or two of sleep the night before. Leaning back in her seat, Claire's mind drifted back to the conversation between him and Doctor Tot in the middle of the night.

After much pleading, the scholar had conceded to let them spend the night at his house; or at least, what the residents of Treno deemed was night. Jack had turned the offer down, saying he preferred a little inn over in the slums. He assured them he would return in the morning, but Kuja had remarked to Claire that it would have been "unfortunate if he were to drown in the canals sometime in the night."

Tot only had one extra bedroom, and Kuja had insisted that Claire take the bed, and that he was quite all right on the floor. After folding one blanket in half, he lay on it, pulled another over himself, and was immediately asleep. But not for long.

In the middle of the night, Claire had been startled awake by the sound of violent coughing. She sat up straight in bed, and in the dim starlight streaming through the window, she saw Kuja doubled over, coughing painfully into his hand.

"Kuja?" she said, her eyes wide in alarm. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"Yes, it's nothing," he managed to reply between coughs. "Go back to sleep."

Claire started to climb out of her bed. "Do you need some water?" she asked.

"No," he almost shouted, causing her to flinch slightly. "Don't trouble yourself, little bird, just go back to sleep." He stood up and abruptly left the room, his long silver tail thrashing behind him, leaving Claire alone in darkness and confusion.

Instead of going back to sleep, Claire remained sitting up for a long moment, wondering what to do with herself. She wanted to see if Kuja was all right, but she knew he would only be angry and tell her to leave him alone. Finally, cursing under her breath, she got out of bed and crept to the door. After peering out and making sure the coast was clear, she tiptoed out into the hall.

The light from a candle was flickering at the end of the corridor, and she heard another fit of coughing in Tot's observatory. Silently, she stole up to the doorway and pressed herself flat against the wall.

"Here," she heard Doctor Tot say. "Drink this. It will help, if only slightly."

This was followed by a short silence, and then Kuja quietly replied, "Thank you." She heard him sigh. "I have a fairly high tolerance for pain, but I must admit, it really jars me."

"I can only imagine," said Tot.

Claire frowned, and Kuja cleared his throat. "I never thanked you for your assistance," he said in a low voice. "But I'm very grateful for it. To be honest, I didn't expect you to agree to help us."

"Neither did I," Tot answered frankly. "But your little friend Claire was very persuasive. She is quite a remarkable young woman."

There was another silence. "Yes," Kuja said softly, "she is."

Claire blushed at the tender manner in which he spoke of her, but the bout of coughing that followed filled her with worry. It was a harsh, rattling cough that sounded more fitting in a patient with tuberculosis.

"You should try to get some rest," Tot advised, and Claire tensed, ready to run back to her room.

"No," said Kuja after he had recovered. "I won't be able to sleep anymore. I might as well go out and take care of some things."

"Well, be sure to return before morning, or Claire will worry."

"I will."

"And Kuja..." Tot hesitated for a moment. "I am sorry about your condition. I'm sorry I can't do more for you."

The silence following this statement stretched on for almost a minute. "I appreciate your concern, Doctor Tot," Kuja finally said in an unsteady voice. "But I've come to accept it." There was a sound of retreating steps as he descended the winding stairs.

Noiselessly, Claire crept back to her bed, a thousand fears weighing on her mind. It seemed like an eternity until she was able to fall asleep, and it wasn't until early morning, when the sky was only slightly less dark, that Kuja silently returned to his bed on the floor.

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Of course, it was only until they had left Treno that Claire realized that Kuja had sent Silver Dragon back to the palace in the middle of the night. But he had never said a word to her about his coughing fit, and she didn't dare mention it to him. Clearly, it was one of those things he was sensitive of, like his tail.

Either way, he was understandably exhausted, so Claire wanted to let him sleep. She looked up at him and realized his hood was starting to slip back. Carefully, she reached up and gently pulled it back down over his pale face. Suddenly his eyes fluttered open, and she jumped in surprise.

"I'm sorry!" she blurted, recoiling in embarrassment. "Your hood was coming off... and I thought... I'm sorry," she ended lamely.

His lips curved slightly in amusement, a shadow of a smile. "It's all right," he replied. "I shouldn't have dozed off." He covered a jaw-cracking yawn with his hand. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Only about half an hour." Claire hesitated, biting her lip, and then added, "I wish you could've gotten more sleep last night."

His slender frame stiffened for a brief moment beside her, and then he shrugged with deliberate casualness. "Don't worry about it," he said evenly.

"Well, it's kind of hard not to," she found herself saying as she gazed pointedly out the window. "I mean, you did sound pretty awful."

"Claire..."

"I just wish you trusted me enough to tell me some stuff, you know?" she continued, her concern inexplicably turning to annoyance. "It's kind of insulting to me when you keep me in the dark. Like, you still haven't told me why we're going to Alexandria when we could be on our way to Vile Island. But I haven't said anything about it, because I trust you. It's just too bad you don't trust me."

"Claire." She felt him shift in the seat next to her, and he placed his hand on her forearm. She still kept her eyes stubbornly on the passing scenery out the window. "There may be some things I'm not telling you," he said quietly. "But only because it's better that you don't know. And it doesn't mean that I don't trust you. I do." He paused. "I'm... I'm trying to protect you."

"Yeah?" Frowning, Claire turned and looked up at him. "From what?"

Kuja said nothing, and they stared silently at each other as the cable car bounced and rattled beneath them. Under his hood, his wintry blue eyes seemed to be filled with a bottomless sadness. Slowly, Claire covered his hand with hers, urging him to speak. In response, he lifted his other hand and placed it gently on the side of her face. Her heart began to pound in her chest.

"Give me back me money, you half-wit!" Felina roared from the other end of the cable car.

"No way, she-devil!" Jack shouted.

Quickly, Kuja yanked his hands back down, and Claire scooted away from him, her face flaming. And then, absurdly, she began to laugh. Kuja whipped his head around at her in surprise, and then after a moment he started to chuckle softly as well.

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"Tell you what," Felina said in a calm, reasoning voice as the group left South Gate behind and began making their way through the Zamo Basin. "If you give it back, I'll give you four, no, make it three of me best cards."

"No deal," Jack replied blithely.

The cardsharp's gray eyes bulged in anger. "Why, you little virus!" she said hotly. "You couldn't buy these cards at an auction for seventy-four hundred gil! You'd be gainin' on this deal!"

"Sorry," he said cheerily.

Felina threw up her hands in frustration. "What is wrong wif you?" she demanded, her gloved fists clenched. "Are you completely daft, mate? What can you possibly gain by takin' a measly seventy-four flippin' hundred gil, besides me dignity?"

Jack smiled magnanimously. "The pleasure of your company."

She scoffed disdainfully and pushed rudely past him, trotting up to Claire and Kuja, who were walking ahead of them. "How in the name of all that's holy did you two ever get stuck wif him?" she asked furiously.

Kuja merely sighed wearily, but Claire took pity and answered her. "He's blackmailing my friend into taking him with us to Alexandria."

"Aha!" the blond exclaimed triumphantly, turning around and glaring at Jack. "I knew it! You ain't any better than me! What's the difference between me takin' advantage of card players and you takin' advantage of these good people?"

"'Cause one of them isn't 'good people', that's the difference," the four-armed thief said sourly. "Besides, if it's just a measly seventy-four hundred gil, why do you want it back so bad?"

"It's the principle!" Felina persisted. "You drove away me customers, and you ain't gonna get away wif it!"

"Looks to me like I am."

"Give it back!"

"No!"

"Oh, just shut up, both of you!" Kuja snapped unexpectedly, and they immediately fell silent. Claire had to admit, he was a pretty frightening guy when he was angry. "Now look," he said, drawing back his hood, "If you insist on traveling with us, Miss--"

"Flynn," the girl replied. "Felina Flynn."

"Miss Flynn. If you are going to travel with us, you will abide by our rules. And this goes for you as well, Jack. You will stop arguing, stop acting like children, and stop being a nuisance. You will contribute to the group by participating in battles with any beasts we might encounter. And you will not speak to each other unless it is in a calm, civilized tone. Is that understood?"

Jack lifted his head imperiously into the air. "Hey, you can't tell me what to do. I can still turn you in to the authorities."

"And I can still kill you," Kuja replied menacingly.

"Please, do!" Felina beseeched him, clasping her hands. "Then I can get me money back off his corpse!"

"Those are the terms," Kuja said firmly, folding his arms. "Take them or leave them."

Jack glowered at him angrily for a moment, then groaned. "Fine," he grumbled sullenly. Then he frowned. "Hey, how come Claire doesn't get a lecture?"

"Because Claire is the only one out of the lot of you who isn't a thorn in my side," Kuja growled.

Claire grinned, oddly flattered. "Oh, stop, you're making me blush," she said coquettishly.

Felina pushed her derby hat forward on her head and humphed. "Maybe he's a thorn," she said imperiously, nodding at Jack, "but I certainly ain't."

Jack snorted. "Well, look who's callin' the kettle black now," he muttered.

"Thorn!"

"She-devil!"

Kuja sighed and passed his hands tiredly over his face, but Claire smiled and patted his back reassuringly. "Don't worry," she said soothingly. "Look on the bright side. Before you know it, we'll be in Alexandria, and then we'll be rid of them forever."

As expected, he said nothing in reply, but as they continued walking, his tail curled affectionately around her arm.

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A/N: Oh, how wrong she is. But of course she doesn't know it yet. Anyway, I know not a whole lot happened in this chapter, but I needed to explain some things, like what the heck happened the night before and all that. But the next chapter will be chock-full of action and angst and all that good stuff, so don't go too far. Thanks for reading, and please be kind and leave a review. Danke!

-Waki