Disclaimer: Okay, let's go over this again…Sekugi does not own Final Fantasy IX! Get it? I do!

Rushi-chan: Be patient! The LUV will come soon enough! First Kioku needs a guy, doesn't she? Give me time!

Toxo: Thanks! I apologize for the shortness of my previous chapter, but I had to change it from the original chapter I had written 'cause I didn't like the way I had portrayed Kuja-sama. (I'm sure my fellow Kuja lovers would have killed me if I'd used that chapter!) So I had to figure out something else…but I really couldn't…I honestly didn't like the way it turned out, but oh well…As long as you liked, I guess it's alright! (I'll attempt to make this chapter longer. ) Other characters will appear in later chapters, promise!

A/N: Hi again! I'm listenin' to "Rose of May" and I'm all ready to write chapter 4! YAAAAY CHAPTER 4!

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"A-A boy named Kuja?" Relm asked.

Kioku nodded, "Yeah, he was a genome…in some city I had never seen anything like…"

Relm shifted uncomfortably.

Kioku stared at her friend, "Have you…heard of him?"

Relm jumped, N-No! Of course not! I-It was just a dream! R-Right?"

Kioku glared at her, "Relm, you're the worst liar I have ever met! Now please tell me what you know of this Kuja!"

"Kioku…I…we're not supposed to…" Relm whimpered on the verge of tears.

"Please, Relm," Kioku pleaded, " The last time I had a dream like this, I just knew the people in it were real…I never had the chance to find out who they truly were. That bothers me to this very day. Please…it may help me understand what these dreams are…why they are…"

Relm turned away, "Kuja is…was…"

"He was my older brother."

Startled, Kioku turned to see Mikoto standing in the doorway, "W-Was?"

"I shouldn't say anymore." Mikoto said calmly, "Your parents told me that I was forbidden to speak of him.

She tuned to Relm, "That we were forbidden to speak of him."

"Your brother…?" muttered Kioku, "But that would make him my-"

Mikoto shook her head, "Not supposed to talk about him."

"Then why did you…"

Mikoto walked out before her niece could finish.

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Later on the Invincible Kioku manage to get away from Relm and her shrill squeals of pleasure long enough to meet Zidane on the ship's control panel.

"Dad?" she asked timidly.

"Yeah?" he said without turning.

His daughter took a deep breath, "Wh-Who was…Kuja?"

Zidane was silent as he lowered the airship to the ground and stepped off the control panel.

"Did Mikoto tell you about him?" he asked.

"Well, no." replied Kioku, "I had a dream about him. You know, like the ones I had when I was younger?"

Her father sighed but did not respond.

"Please, dad, who is he? I just want to know about my uncle!"

Zidane glared, "Now I know Mikoto had to have told you that!"

"What does Aunt Mikoto have to do with any of this? This is about you not telling me that I had an uncle!"

"For good reason!"

"What possible reason could there be that could make even think of keeping something like this away from me!"

Relm walked in nervously.

Zidane looked at her severely, "Do you have anything to do with this?"

She shook her head, "N-No, sir. She asked me about him because she said he was in her dream…"

Kioku ignored Relm, "Why can't you tell me about him? What is so horrible that you can't tell me about it?"

Zidane turned away, "It's best you stay oblivious."

"Oblivious to what? My uncle?"

Zidane sighed heavily, but said nothing.

Kioku glared at him and turned away, "Fine, I'll find out about him myself!"

Before Zidane and Relm could protest, Kioku had run out the door to her on board room. She quickly grabbed everything off the shelves, walls, and floor and placed it in a pack she had found in her closet a few years back. She swung the pack over her shoulder, grabbed her prism staff and walked out.

Relm quickly ran up to her in the hallway, "Kioku, be careful what you do! Your father said he wouldn't lower or stop the ship for you!"

Kioku glared ahead for a moment before saying simply, "My mind's made up."

"But…!"

It was too late, Kioku was already halfway down the hall, where she nearly ran into her mother.

"Kioku?" Garnet said with a laugh, "What are you doing charging through the hall like that?"

Kioku just looked at the queen, hugged her, and said, "I'm so sorry, mom. I just…need to know about…everything."

Garnet looked at her daughter in horror as the girl ran straight to the nearest window…and jumped out just as the airship began to lift off.

"KIOKUUUUUU!" Garnet screamed.

The girl just ran as fast as she could. She somehow had to find this Kuja guy and ask him some questions!

After a while, Kioku stopped running and sat down to rest.

"What am I doing..?" she wondered to herself, "Is it really this important to me…?"

She opened her pack and began to take inventory, pulling things out and setting them on the ground beside her.

"A few phoenix downs, ethers, potions, high potions, elixirs, magic tags, antidotes, vaccines, eye drops, softs…dad's orichalcon…oops…"

Kioku pulled the daggers from their sheaths and looked at them. She knew the blades had a history with Zidane when he had kidnapped Garnet. Now she had the feeling she hadn't gotten the whole story…

She sighed and lay down on her back, looking at the sky…the perfect blue sky…blue…

The color of Gaia. How many times had Zidane told her that?

So…why does it bother me…, she wondered, Does it have to do with the planet Doctor Tot had told me about in my lessons?…Terra?

She paused to remember her lessons.

Terra, the planet of sleeping souls…the planet that assimilated with other planets in order to stay alive. It had attempted an assimilation with Gaia a while back, but it went wrong.

Something had destroyed the surface of Terra, weakening it to the point where the assimilation backfired. Instead of Gaia becoming part of Terra, Terra became a part of Gaia...

Kioku could still remember when she had learned that.

"What destroyed the surface, Doctor Tot?" she had asked.

He had hesitated before responding, "No one really knows, my dear princess. It is a mystery."

Kioku jumped as she heard a familiar sound…the sound of an airship's engine…

Fearing that it was the Invincible, she quickly cast vanish. She watched a rickety old airship fly above her. Realizing that this could be her chance to hitch a ride, she quickly tucked her tail into the orange outfit once worn by her mother, put on the a white mage cloak (also her mother's), and hurriedly cast dispel.

"How do I flag it down?" she asked herself frantically.

In an instant, she had cast holy into the sky. She watched happily as the white orbs of energy wove amongst each other through the clouds. A minute later, the airship landed next to her.

A boy stepped out as engine slowed to a stop. He had black hair pulled back in a short ponytail. He wore a dusty white shirt, a baggy brown pants, and a pair of dark brown working gloves.

"Hey, miss!" he yelled over the still roaring engine, "You need a ride or something'?"

"If it's not too much trouble!" Kioku screamed back.

As she stepped onto the airship the boy took her hand and said, "And what might your name be, miss?"

"Ki-" she paused as a voice in the back of her head sreamed at her not to give her real name, "Kiki…"

"Nice name." the boy said nonchalantly, "I'm Aji, captain of the airship Ryu Chikara!"

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A/N: Sorry this one took a bit longer to write. I've had a super hectic week. The other day I had an after school program 'til five, then a school concert at seven (though I was supposed to be there at 6:15...I was thirty minutes late…)Ah well… At least I got this chapter done! The things I do for you people -shakes head-…Hope it's long enough…

SO REVIEW! I WORKED HARD ON THIS CHAPTER and I need your support! -teeheehee!-