Whoo, I was able to have my computer behave long enough to finish this chapter and then post it:sigh: I need a new battery for my laptop, so it will seriously last about twenty minutes and then die on me...even if I have it plugged in. Oh well...It's been working for about an hour now, so that makes me happy. My new battery will come in the mail sometime this week...YAY! Anyway, so yeah, I didn't originally plan to write this chapter,...but when I wrote the next one, I felt like something was missing. Therefore, I wrote this one. yay. It took me a while to write actually...and I changed the name of it...lol. Chapter Five will be up in a few days! Okay, that's it! Bye!
4. A Woman's Intuition
I lifted my arm and shut off the alarm before it was able to buzz twice. I probably could've gotten to it sooner, but oh well. It was 7:30 am. The sunset was at 6:12am and it was gorgeous in case you wanted to know. How did I know the exact time? I watched the sun rise over the horizon from my spot in my bed. Yeah, I was awake all night and it was definitely one of the longest nights of my life. Spira was pretty damn boring compared my Zanarkand, but staring at the clock as the minutes click away your existence wins the boring award.
All right, I lied. I wasn't only staring at the clock all night; I had a lot of things on my mind and I overanalyzed them all. That is one trait that I absolutely hated about myself. I couldn't just let something work itself out; I had to think of every possibility of what could happen. Yuna always tells me I just worry too much, but usually I worry about things that I have a bad feeling about. For instance, that damn box. What the hell was up with it? I should've just gotten up in the middle of the night and opened it, but I just couldn't. Maybe it was just the fear of actually finding out what was inside. My mother always told me that curiosity kills the chocobo, but it was basically taunting me! I'm sure if I would've dreamt, my dreams would've consisted of black boxes saying, "Open me…you know you want to…" I battled myself over it, but I decided on just confronting Yuna about it when I went to visit her at the hospital later.
With a sigh, I sat up in my bed and hung my legs over the edge. After tapping the ground with my toes for a second, I stood up and walked over to Ari's playpen. She was awake; I saw her wake up about an hour previous. She didn't cry or make a fuss so I let her entertain herself by playing with a stuffed Shiva that her mother bought for her. Yuna thought the doll was cute and I went along with it, but I still wasn't sure just how thrilled I was about it. The thought of Yuna's pilgrimage just chilled me to the bone and I didn't like to be reminded me of it. I was just waiting for the doll to become possessed and perform Diamond Dust or something.
She looked up at me and squealed as she dropped the doll. I smiled as she grabbed onto the side of the playpen and tried to stand up. You would think that she would be able to walk by now because she is a year old, but she just attempts. She takes about two steps then falls right back down. However, she's like her mother; never gives up.
I leaned over and kissed her on the top of her head then walked to the closet to find something to wear. The shirt I wanted was up kind of high, but since I wanted to wear it, I was determined. I bit my bottom lip, stood on my tiptoes and reached for it. I got it, all right…along with the other shirts that were around it.
A rain of clothing fell down around me and I groaned. If I didn't pick them up before Yuna came home, she'd have it in for me, that's for sure. With another groan, I bent over and picked up the shirts. As I was about to pick up one of my favorite blue shirts, something fluttered out of it.
"Hmm," I muttered as I picked it up. It was an envelope. I frowned when I saw Yuna's name embossed on the front of it and quickly opened it. It was obvious that it had been opened previously, so my heart raced. I put my finger under the flap to open it and I took out the thick parchment paper that was inside.
The piece of paper inside was badly crumpled, no doubt from Yuna after she read it. She probably got frustrated with it, but that just begs the question; why did she put it back in the envelope? More importantly, why did she save it? Those questions only made my curiosity grow, so I knew I had to read it now. Even though I knew the only people in the house were Ari and I, I still looked around before I unfolded it.
"'Soon,'" I read aloud, raising an eyebrow. That's all it said. One word written in thick, red cursive in the center of the page. I flipped the paper around in my hand, hoping that there would be more information than that, but, alas, there wasn't. Okay, that's great. Soon what? When? How soon is 'soon?' Who knows how long ago this letter was sent anyway! I scoffed and shoved the letter back in the envelope then into the pants that I was planning on wearing.
My spherecell rang so I rushed over to it and picked it up. "Hello?"
"Good morning, Sunshine!"
"Rikku?" I asked, putting on my clothes at the same time. She was such a morning person. Actually, she was one of those 'all day' people; no matter what time it was, she was hyper. "Good morning to you as well."
"I just wanted to be your wake up call and make sure that you didn't forget that we were going out to breakfast." Like I said before, that girl thinks solely with her stomach.
"No, I didn't forget," I informed her, picking up Ari so I could get her dressed. "However, I really would like to see Yuna a.s.a.p., so I think I'm going to skip breakfast."
"What!" I was holding the phone between my ear and shoulder, and I almost dropped it. She screeched out the word at such a high pitch that I'm surprised I didn't go deaf. "Tidus!"
"Yeah, I know," I said in apology as I entered Ari's room. "You guys can go on without me, okay?"
She let out a long sigh and I didn't have to see her to know that she was wearing a pout. "Fine. But just think of all the warm, squishy, delicious pancakes you're going to be missing! And don't think that I'll be saving any for you. I'll eat them all by myself!"
"Rikku, come on," I protested. I was grabbing clothes out for Ari with one hand while I held the baby in the other with the phone between my ear and shoulder. I probably looked hysterical. "You know that I wouldn't miss a meal if it wasn't for an important reason."
"Uh oh," she said quickly. "Did you figure out what happened? Like, who shot her and stuff?"
"I'm working on it," I replied as I put Ari on the changing table. "I just need to ask her a few questions, that's all. Just meet us up at the hospital after breakfast or something."
"Well, yeah, because we're all leaving today," she informed me. I knew that Paine and Baralai were leaving that afternoon but I completely forgot that Rikku and Gippal were leaving right away as well. They originally planned to stay a few days, but some official Machine Faction business popped up right before they left, so they needed to get back there as soon as they could. "I definitely want to see you guys before heading back to Bikanel."
"All righty, but I gotta go because I need to put some clothes on Ari then head over to the hospital." I loved talking to Rikku, but I was having a hell of a time trying to dress the baby with one hand. Ari was extremely fidgety this morning for some reason and it wasn't making the task easy.
"You're not going to take the baby with you, are you?" She asked as I stole a glance down at Ari.
Dammit, I didn't think about that. "Well…um…Rikku…"
"I'll be right over!" She exclaimed, grasping my hint. "Okay! Bye!"
"Bye," I responded, quickly hanging up the sphere then slipping the dress on Ari before Rikku arrived.
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"Awww!" Yuna clapped her hands together and squealed as I walked in her hospital room about an hour later with a bouquet of flowers. I kissed her on the lips as she looked at the flowers. "They're beautiful!"
"So, what's in the box?" I asked her as I crossed my arms. I should've asked her how she was feeling, but I didn't waste any time. I wore a cheerful smile as she froze while putting the flowers in water.
"What did you just say?" She turned her head toward me slowly, in disbelief that I just asked her that.
I shrugged my shoulders and rocked on the arches of my feet. "You heard me." I'm pretty sure the smile on my face confused her the most. After a second with her mouth gaped wide open, she realized that my smile was one out of irony and she frowned.
"There are a zillion boxes in our house, so how am I supposed to know which one you're talking about?"
"It's a black box, about 'yea' big," I began to explain as I motioned the approximate dimensions with my fingers. "I found it in your top drawer. If you ask me, it wasn't very cleverly hidden."
Her face was deadpanned as she looked at me. She was clearly scrambling for an excuse in her head, but I could tell that she couldn't find one. "Oh, that box."
"Yep, that's the one."
"Did you…open it?" She asked, grimacing. She didn't want to know the answer to that question.
"Honey, if I opened it, I wouldn't have asked you what was in it," I said, watching the relief wash over her features. "But now that I think about it, if you don't tell me what's in the box, I could always just go back home and open it up. I just wanted to see if you would tell me what was in it so I wouldn't have to play detective."
With an exhale, she rubbed her face with her hands. "Tidus, it's nothing important." Her voice was muffled from her hands and I chuckled at her. She parted her fingers so one eye could see me. "What's so funny?"
"If it wasn't important, you wouldn't have tried to hide it," I told her as I walked over to her bed and sat down next to legs. "Another thing, if it 'wasn't important,' you would tell me what was in it. What are you hiding from me?"
"I'm not hiding anything." I narrowed my eyes at her and she put her hands in her lap. "I'm not, I swear"
"Then tell me what's in it." I didn't think I was asking for a lot, but apparently I was wrong. Her face turned paler by the minute and her skin even broke out into goosebumps. The room was so quiet that I could hear her breathe…in a scared manner. "Was it something I said?"
She shook her head and even let out a breathy laugh. "How's Ari?"
Leave it to Yuna to avoid the situation when it was just starting to get interesting too. "She's fine, Yuna, but you're dodging the subject." She shrugged, so I pulled the note that I discovered earlier out of my pocket. "Does this tie into whatever it is that's in the box?"
She swallowed as she took the envelope with her trembling fingers. I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to give that to her or not; she looked like she was going to have a heart attack right then and there. Her eyes looked at the front of the envelope and she didn't even open it.
"Who's it from, Yuna?" I asked sternly. She shrugged and continued to look at the paper in her hands.
"Please don't patronize me," she whispered, ripping up the envelope with the note inside of it into tiny pieces before continuing. "I really don't need this right now."
I took the pieces from her and threw them away. "I'm not trying to patronize you. I'm just trying to look out for you."
"How many times do I have to tell you that I'm fine?" It was the first time she looked up at me since I walked in, and even though her eyes flared up, I was at least getting some kind of a response. "Look, I know you're concerned and that's very sweet, but I'm telling you that there isn't anything to get worked up about."
"In less than 24 hours ago you were shot and now I'm finding black boxes and notes with random messages on them that you were hiding from me," I retorted back, shocking her with my tone. "If you told me what was going on, I would get off your back about it, but if you're going to stay all secretive about what's going on, so be it. I'll just figure everything out on my own."
"The more you know, the shorter your life will be." Now it was my turn to break out into goosebumps. I have never heard Yuna speak like that; not just the words themselves, but the way she said them. Her voice wasn't just icy and full of warning, but she was completely terrified herself. "For too long I've been the first one to try to unravel the problems in Spira and all it's done is cause more problems. Now I'm married and starting a family. I'm sick of making risks and putting others in danger."
I wasn't sure where she was going with this, so I sighed and crossed my arms. "Are you even listening to yourself as you speak? You never dragged anyone else into danger. You were always the one who saved thousands of lives. Think of all the times you've saved Spira from complete armageddon."
"This time it's different," she stated, smoothing the sheet out on her legs.
"What do you mean?" I asked, furrowing my forehead.
"This time it's about me. Therefore, if I keep my business to myself and not get involved with what's going on, things won't get worse and everything will be fine." Again she looked away from me and twisted the sheet between her fingers as she spoke.
"So, what you're saying is that you're going to just hope that it all goes away?" I raised an eyebrow at her and she nodded. "Oh, Yuna, you think it's all that simple."
"Tidus, you're the one who making a big deal out of nothing," she replied back with a huff. "Please, just let it go."
I couldn't help but feel defeated. She wasn't going to cave in and relieve my curiosity. "Will you at least tell me how long ago you received that note?"
"Two weeks ago," she said simply. Her voice was sharp, but at least I got an answer out of her. I still wasn't sure how soon 'soon' was, but maybe 'soon' was a while ago. "Everything will be fine, okay?"
"How do you know that?" I countered back with a sigh.
"Call it a…woman's intuition," she replied with a sly smile. "You know me, if there is trouble, I'm the first one on the 'Yay, let's save Spira' airship. Therefore, since I'm calm, you should be too. Wow, is it me, or does it feel like we had this conversation yesterday?"
I chuckled and nodded. She was right; we did have the same conversation the previous night and I'm imagining that we would have it again if I didn't listen to her.
"Okay, I'll give in," I informed her, attempting a smile. She grabbed my hands, leaned over, and gave me a kiss in gratitude. "Oh, I do bring you good news though."
"What's that?" She asked me, kicking her toes under the sheet in excitement.
"The doctor says you can come home today." She let out a squeal and hugged me. "But, you have to promise me that you will relax and rest, okay?"
"Of course, of course!" Her eyes sparkled in happiness as she looked up at me with a very large smile. "When?"
"I'm gonna go talk to the nurse right now and find out for you, okay?" I asked as she nodded. I kissed her on the forehead and she continued to move her toes. She looked like a kid in a candy store and she probably felt like one too. Like I've said before, she hated hospitals and anything to do with them.
I walked out of the room and sighed at myself for caving into her wishes. She was right though, and Lulu said the same exact thing the previous day. Yuna was always the first one to investigate things that were going on, and she was calm this time. Hell, she almost broke out of the hospital a few years ago to see what was going on in the Via Infinito, but this time she was the one convincing me not go leap into something.
Oh well. You can't ignore a woman's intuition now, can you?
