Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy X
Thank you to CupofTeaforAliceandHatter! I'm glad you found it interesting :) I always felt like Auron needed more hugs when he was younger.
Sorry this chapter is so late - life and A Levels happened. But you get a double dose today, so there's that!
050. Flowers
Her eyes reflected in the Moonflow were perhaps the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Not mysterious like Lulu's intense crimson eyes, or quite as rare and pleasing as Yuna's refreshing blue and calming green eyes, but they were different, rare, outside of Home, and rare to see even then without goggles covering them. And hypnotising, with the swirled pupil. But the brilliant green hue - close to emerald, but yellow enough to be near lime - reflected in the pink waters of the Moonflow in the evening, they were beautiful then. In life, I'd never had much of a chance to see any woman's eyes and admire them - I had no mother in my memory, and the nurses at the monastery were never in favour with me. The only woman who'd ever been almost romantically involved with me, was the girl who I rejected. I never wanted to marry her, just because her father said I should in order for me to gain a higher up job. Her eyes weren't nearly as beautiful - they were like two lumps of emotionless, thick, black coal. I know that they'd never look so beautiful in the light of the Moonflow, not as beautiful as Rikku's anyway.
I was surprised to see her, a girl like her anyway, on the day we met. I was expecting from the suit to appear a different type of person altogether - a man, firstly, and an older person whatever the gender eventually transpired to be. Her age was always conflicting for me. In reality, I was ten years younger, but she was still too young anyway. There could be nothing there, nothing but admiration from afar. When I first looked into her eyes, I expected something else - perhaps blue eyes, or maybe even brown, but not the piercing green and swirled pupils. Even if it did take a while to coax her eyes open, it wasn't what I expected. And I must admit that even then, I was pleasantly surprised by them. They were attractive, curving upwards at the ends to an almond shape, with smooth, unblemished, tanned skin surrounding them.
Yuna asked to stay in the inn that day, pleading a weary body, and as unanimously nominated 'party organiser' as such, I agreed. I knew that we had to push forwards before Tidus knew what was going on, and before Yuna could change her mind, but I was prepared to give them this one.
She was sitting by the river bank that evening. I left the small inn to wander in the temperate, slightly humid and sticky air; taking in the sight of the late evening, watching as the sun began to slope down behind the horizon and sleep for just a few hours. She was kneeling by the bank, her hands in the water, looking at the large, magenta hibiscuses, and playing carefully with the petals. Her face had a pink glow to it, and her lips were plump and smiling. I left whilst I was still at a distance - it would be for the best.
After she knew my secret - when they all knew my secret - we returned to the Moonflow. There wasn't much that needed to be done there, but Yuna wanted to visit with Tidus, Lulu and Wakka just wanted them to be happy, so Rikku and I tagged along with Kimarhi. He was the first to leave, being as stoic as he was, no doubt shadowing Yuna and Tidus after they left. Lulu and Wakka went off somewhere to sit down, or something of the like, leaving the two of us to it - not that it mattered at this point. She pulled me, playfully, by the arm down the crisply muddy banks of the sloshing river, the pyreflies dancing gracefully in the air, giving the atmosphere that much more mystery and calm and beauty. She sat on the crisp, dry mud and parted the ground next to her for me to sit on. I was either a fool by this stage, treading the line too misled, or I was working too hard.
Unlike before, I could see all of her face this time, she was tinged with a pink glow, just like before, but I got to watch it up close. I got to see how the whites of her eyes faded into the outlying pink, and then blended into her vibrant, emerald irises. I got to see the lips plumped and juicy up, closer reflected in the ethereal light. I got to see how her hair was no longer a sandy blonde colour, but rather a gingery pink shade; hide warm and soft it looked and felt too, and the flower by her hands, the pink hibiscus.
Hibiscus = rare and delicate beauty in Plant Symbolism. Not really relevant, I guess, but it what other flowers can you use in this scenario?
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