A/N: Hi everyone! Aren't you glad this one didn't take as much time to post? Hehe. ^o^ Sorry, we're going to try to not take so long to update. Anyway! I have a question for all of you writers out there! Lately, I (Anna) have been thinking about a story but since we have so many fics that we're working on, I don't have the time to write it!! Is anyone out there interested in writing a Kuja/Hilda fic? ^o^ Hehe, as bad as it sounds if you really think into it, then it wouldn't be such a bad story! I mean, Cid cheated on her with someone from the pub, why couldn't she get even? We're probably going to end up writing one some day anyway. But I just wanted to see if anyone shared my thoughts. Heh. Okay, here's the chapter you've been waiting for! ENJOY!
Tereterhomdark2003: No, I'm sorry, Zidane and Kuja won't be coming back physically. They will be mentioned and appear briefly in dreams and other subconscious…things (for lack of a better word).
Angel of Death 87: I seem to be very good at making people hate Garland. Hehe.
Jkateel: I read in your bio that you are a comic book artist. That's really cool! Do you draw/write American comic books or mangas?
Chapter Three
Mikoto docked the Red Rose and got off. Treno had indeed grown since she had last been there. The airship dock was its newest addition because of the overwhelming flock of tourists that visited every year.
The architecture remained the same as it had always been: breathtaking. But with the population growth the city experienced, the crime rate increased as well. It did not matter how many laws the city council passed, there was no way of stopping the thievery.
"Good evening ma'am," a man smiled at her. "How long will you be docking here?"
"I'm not sure yet," Mikoto answered truthfully.
"Well, you are going to need to pay a docking fee of 1,500 gil and it's 50 more gil for every day you're here."
"I have no money."
"What!?" he exclaimed, looking up from his clipboard. "Then I'm afraid I cannot allow you to park your airship here!"
"I will pay the fee if you put it on a tab for me. The reason I'm here is to collect money."
The man looked at her awkwardly, "You mean a pretty and innocent-looking thing like you takes up prostitution?"
"No."
"Then how? Your only other options are stealing and gambling!"
"I own the Auction House," she stated monotonously.
"Oh! I am terribly sorry!" he bowed deeply as if to emphasize his statement, "Of course I'll put it on a tab for you Ms. Tribal!" The man scribbled something down on a piece of paper and pointed her to the exit.
"That will take you to the front gate of the city, then I'm sure you can find your way from there."
It had been such a long time since Mikoto had last been to Treno. She still vaguely knew her way around, but so many things had changed. For starters, more streets were added on, making the city even more confusing, and the old part of town, even the most beautiful buildings, such as the Card Stadium and Queen Stella's Palace, had become slums. Also, all Gaians were now expected to carry around some form of identification, though this rule had been passed only about fifty years ago. Though she would have rather not had an I.D., the law was enforced so harshly that she did not have much of a choice.
"Hey, sweetie!" a man catcalled. He was leaning against a light pole with a toothpick protruding from his mouth. "Wanna come over here and keep me company?"
Mikoto ignored him and continued to walk away. "Hey! Woman! Don't you try to get away!" he yelled after her. "You know you want to!" She felt disgusted by the man, but tried to block these feelings. The punk reached out to grab her wrist, but she agilely evaded it, so fast it seemed as if she disappeared all together.
"What the-?"
Suddenly, she was behind him. She pulled his arm behind his back to where he was wincing in pain. "Leave me alone," she said eerily. His eyes widened and he nodded.
"Y-Yes ma'am!"
She let go of his arm and continued to follow the cobblestone street that led to the Auction House. She managed to make it there without anyone else bothering her.
When she finally arrived at her destination, she was tired and ready to get the money so that she could get back to the mansion to sleep. However there was one problem; a guard was standing in front of the double doors. "Halt, missy," he said, holding his arm out to block her. "Where do you think you're going?"
"Inside the Auction House."
"I'm sorry, but no thieves allowed."
It took everything in her to keep her feelings in check after that comment. Her tail swished agitatedly under her cloak as she thought of what she could possibly say. "I need to speak to the manager of this establishment."
"Can I see some I.D. please?"
Mikoto sighed. She always hated this part. Casually she reached into the back pocket of her pink skirt and pulled out a small leather wallet. Previously it had been Zidane's, but obviously he didn't need it anymore. The wallet was nearly empty; it had only a few gil and her identification, which was several centuries old and needed renewing. She handed it over to the man and he scanned over it.
"Wait! This can't be right!" he exclaimed as he read it over. "What exactly does D.O.A. mean?"
"Date of awakening."
"So, basically date of birth…" he gave the identification back. "Nice try, but sorry."
"What?"
"First of all, this is not a current ID. Plus, according to this, you're over five hundred years old."
"Five hundred and twenty three to be precise," she said coolly.
"You don't look a day older than sixteen!"
Mikoto merely shrugged. "That's my picture is it not?"
"It isn't like I've never seen a fake I.D." The man rolled his eyes. "Oh brother, when will you teenagers learn that you can't outsmart those superior to you?"
Mikoto chewed on her lip. She needed some way to prove to this man that she was really a member of the Tribal family. "Do you know what the Tribal family trait is? Or have you not been a security guard long enough to hear?"
At this the guard seemed taken aback. "I'll have you know that I've been a security guard for almost two years now! And my boss told me that all the Tribals have tails like that of a monkey!"
The blonde Genome lifted her cloak so that her tail swung into view. The man seemed stunned at this, but his expression soon melted and he smiled at her. "It's fake. I'll bet it is a fake tail,' he jeered.
"It is not!" she protested. She was starting to feel a bit impatient, but quickly dismissed the emotion.
"Then you'll have to prove it," he smiled lecherously, "Go ahead, turn around."
She didn't know what to do. She needed the money, but she would not put up with being molested for it. The poor girl felt so alone and confused, yet she was not supposed to express emotions, otherwise it would all be over. Her promise to Zidane would be a lie. Just when she thought her head would explode with thoughts the door opened and an old, fragile-looking man stepped out.
"Mikoto? Is that you?" he asked, pushing his thick glasses further up on to his nose. "How long has it been?"
"Almost fifty years," she said. This caused the guard's jaw to drop. "Normally when I'm here you're off traveling and your brother is here instead."
"So, I suspect you wish to make a withdrawal?"
"Yes, Mr. Jenkins."
"Well, by all means! Come in! Come in!" he opened the door wider and motioned for her to enter. As she did so, she snatched her I.D. from the loosened grasp of the door guard. He seemed nothing short of horrified as he watched her walk inside.
After the old man shut the door he looked at her, "Next time just ask for me or my brother," he whispered. "Now Rudy is going to be asking a lot of questions about you and your age." To specify who Rudy was, he jerked his head in the direction of the door guard.
Outside of Gaia, the only humans to know of her condition were the Jenkinses. Their family business was to manage the Auction House, so they were very familiar with the Tribals and their inherited problems, and they were sworn to secrecy not to tell anyone. Mr. Jenkins opened the door to the main room and instantly the sound was tremendous. Nobles were bidding on rare, yet useless items and the auctioneer was talking so fast that Mikoto barely understood what he was saying.
"In here!" he yelled over the commotion, and then he ducked inside his office. Mikoto followed him. Inside his office was a beautiful mahogany desk with scattered papers all over it. Behind it was a giant bookshelf, but instead of books it held folders that had sale histories inside them.
"We're running out of items to auction off," he said as he sat down in office chair. "You may have to go treasure hunting."
"How soon?" It would not be her first treasure hunt, but the world only had so much treasure. Still, there were many places to travel, but that meant she had to be around a lot of people. Something she wasn't comfortable with.
"I would say you have a few more months before you need to worry about anything. I'll contact you. You still use Mognet, right?"
"Yes."
"I'll send you a letter then," he smiled warmly. Mikoto smiled back, though hers, he could tell, was empty. "So, how much money will you be taking out?"
The Genome thought for a bit, she did not want to carry a large sum of money around this town. She would withdraw more money when she left for the Desert Palace again. "I'll be staying in Treno for a while, is it okay if I make small withdrawals every once in a while?"
"Of course!" he exclaimed. "How much do you need to start out with?"
"I think 1,500 gil will do for now," she said.
Mr. Jenkins scribbled something on to a piece of paper, then looked back up to her. "Okay, follow me then." He led her out of the office and through the main hall. Once again it seemed as if she was bombarded with noise. On the other side of the room was another door that was covered in gold padlocks. The old man pulled a huge ring of keys from his coat pocket and unlocked each individual lock. The thick oak door opened only to display a gigantic metal safe. As he entered the combination he smiled, "Still remains the only business in Treno that has never been robbed successfully."
"That's good news."
Once the safe was opened, Mikoto's eyes scanned the inside. Piles of gold coins were stacked from wall to wall. Silently Mr. Jenkins counted out the right amount of money and put it in a small leather pouch.
"Hurry to the mansion," he whispered into her ear after he shut all of the doors. "Do you need an escort?"
"Um…" She really did not know. Treno seemed to be a lot more dangerous since she had last been there. Plus she did not want to be alone with that guard again.
"Who would be escorting me?"
Mr. Jenkins thought for a bit. "I'll have my son walk you home when he returns. You may wait in my office until he gets here."
"No sir, that is quite all right. The mansion is not too far away. I'll be fine."
"Okay then, stop by soon!" he called after the Genome's retreating figure.
"As usual, it was dark when she exited the Auction House. She murmured a protect spell under her breath, hoping she wouldn't need it; the mansion was only down the street. Local Treno residents thought the mansion to be haunted. As far as they knew, no one lived there, plus it looked haunted. Kuja had been the one to design it, so it undoubtedly appeared eccentric.
The mansion itself was brick and had many gargoyles that served as water spouts on the roof. Its yard was surrounded by a wrought-iron fence that enhanced the threatening appearance. Along the path that led to the door were many dead shrubs. It was apparent that the house hadn't been taken care of in a long time. Oh well, it will give me something to do to keep my mind off of things.
She opened the fence and walked across the overgrown path. The house had a dull yellow aura around it, the result of a very old, yet very strong, protect spell that Kuja had cast on it. This prevented windows from shattering due to any rocks thrown my mischievous children.
As she approached the door, she pulled a single gold key from a pocket in her cloak and turned the key inside the lock. The door opened with a terrible creak to expose the entryway. The smell of decaying wood and dust made its way to her nose.
"Mikoto? Is it really you?" a squeaky voice asked.
The poor girl almost jumped out of her skin. She looked ahead and saw the outlines of two moogles standing in the doorframe. "Moogerz? Mogzika?" Just to make sure it was really them, she turned on the light. The sudden brightness made everyone wince until their eyes adjusted.
"Is really is you! KUPO!!" one of the moogles exclaimed. As it jumped into the air, dust that had been collecting in its fur was released. Indeed, it looked comical that two moogles who had once been a dull pink were now gray.
"So, I see you have not cleaned since I last visited." Both moogles shook their heads, thus creating another cloud of dust.
Mikoto coughed, "Is the bedroom at least acceptable?"
"Truthfully, we don't know, kupo. It's been a while since we went up there. Kupopo."
"Oh man…" she said, rolling her eyes. "Tomorrow is going to be lots of fun…"
"Why? Kupo? What's the plan?" Mogzika asked.
"We're cleaning."
Both moogles gasped and covered their mouths with their paws. "But we haven't in over a century! Kupo!"
"Yeah! We've probably forgotten!"
Mikoto shrugged and walked up the stairs, leaving footprints in the dust collected on the floor. "And, maybe we'll have enough time to give you two a bath."
* * * * * * * * * * * *
I hope everyone enjoyed it! If you haven't noticed, most of the characters are moogles. We decided to lengthen it somewhat, and not introduce the original character for a while. Maybe the chapter after next…if we're lucky. Heh. Please leave us a review! Flames and feedback are appreciated!
