A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Throwing-Fire-Twice, since you're the ONLY person who bothered to review last chapter! So thank you for that – and the rest of you BE ASHAMED!

Chapter Nine

Rikku woke with a smile on her face. She'd had the most wonderful dreams…Auron had come back to her, and he'd told her what he never had before; that he loved her, and she'd told him, and after that everything had moved into a halcyon whirl of desire and passion and blissful, unimaginable happiness. Was that real? Wait a second. Her green swirled eyes snapped open. And immediately shut again. Holy fuck she had a hangover. The kind that made your brain feel like it was splintered into a million pieces and about to fall from your ears. The kind that made you feel like you wanted to throw up and stay in bed for the rest of the day. In a cool dark room.

No.

Can't, she thought. Auron. Please, please, let me not have dreamed him. Not again. It had been so real. She could still smell him. It wasn't a dream, she was becoming more and more convinced of that. She was in bed with Gippal – because she'd gotten drunk and he'd gotten her out of her vomit-covered clothes. She'd thrown up because Auron had come back. He'd been just…standing there. Like he never left. Like he'd done nothing wrong. She had to find him. She had to demand an explanation, and then she had to kiss the shit out of him.

Letting out a hiss of pain, she opened her eyes and sat up. Stopped. Wearing Gippal's shirt. Needed to change out of it. She turned back to the bed. "Gippal!"

He moaned and turned over. "Too early, kid."

She hit his shoulder. "Gippal, get up, right now!"

He finally rolled over and glared at her. "What?!"

"Where did you put my clothes?" she asked frantically, hopping from one foot to the other.

"They're over there, but they're all covered in sick," he answered. "Why're you in such a hurry anyway? S'not like anyone else is gonna be up yet."

"Auron will be!" she cried. "Oh fuck it!" There was a white flash and then she stood there in her gun mage's costume. (A/N: I always liked that one.)

Gippal was frowning, sat up now and thinking hard. There was that edge of hysteria in her voice again. To be honest he was amazed she didn't have a hangover, and still too fuzzy with sleep to think. It was coming slowly though…

"Wish me luck!" she said, running from the tent.

Gippal sat there for about thirty seconds. "Oh." A pause. "That's a bit fucked up."

Outside, Rikku was running – where, she didn't know, as she'd pretty much always been able to feel where Auron was. That went for all the others, too. It was a Pilgrimage thing – in battle you had to know where your allies were, what they were doing and be aware of their movements every step of the way. They worked as a team, and in any team, cooperation was the name of the game. By the time they got to Zanarkand, though, no one worked better together than Rikku and Auron did. It was like watching water – liquid and flawless. They could be like that again, now that he was back. They could fit together in every possible way. The idea was enough to make her laugh while she ran.

Within a half an hour, she was no longer laughing. Or smiling. She was frowning. Where was he? He wasn't anywhere in the village, and no one had seen him leave. He wasn't in the temple, or on the beach, or on the normal paths, or by the promontory…Rikku was running out of ideas.

"Hey, Rikku," Tidus greeted as he strolled from the hut he and Yuna lived in. "You feelin' ok after last night?"

The truth was no, and she'd already thrown up half a dozen times since getting up – the running certainly hadn't helped – and the headache had gotten considerably worse. She was going to tell Auron off for being so hard to find before she kissed him. She nodded. "Yeah, have you seen Auron?"

"Uh, not this morning, why?"

"Because I want to kill him again," she muttered.

"What?"

"I'm looking for him, you idiot!"

"Where you tried?"

"Everywhere except like the Cloister of Trials!" she complained.

"So…look again!" he shrugged.

"Urgh, you're no help." Spotting Wakka, she abandoned Tidus and ran toward the larger man. "Wakka!"

Wakka suddenly found himself with an armful of blonde Al Bhed. "What's up, ya? Why you all red?"

She leaned against him for a moment; mainly because the world was spinning. "I can't find Auron!" she wailed. "I've looked everywhere, and I can't help thinking what if I dreamt it and he's not back and, Wakka, I can't lose him again I just can't-"

A light touch on Wakka's shoulder; he turned to give his wife a helpless look while patting Rikku's back gingerly. Lulu smiled and nodded – with some careful manoeuvring Wakka put Rikku into Lulu's arms while he went to check on Vidina. Lulu smiled fondly after him; that was why she loved Wakka so much; he always tried so hard. Even if he couldn't do anything, even if the situation was hopeless – Wakka could always be counted on to be there. And loving her unconditionally didn't hurt.

The black mage smoothed some hair from Rikku's face. "Rikku, what's the matter?"

Rikku wiped tears that she pretended weren't there away and sniffed. "I can't find Auron. I didn't imagine him coming back, right, Lulu?"

"No, I don't believe you did," she replied, her voice cool and soothing.

"So where is he?"

"If I know Sir Auron…"

"…fighting fiends," Rikku finished. "But I've checked in the normal places…"

"Then perhaps you should look in some unusual places," Lulu suggested. She was rewarded by a tight hug and the restoring of the blonde's good humour. Within seconds Rikku was running out of the village. "Rikku, wait, don't go anywhere…" Too late. She was gone. Lulu sighed. "…without backup," she completed lamely. I hope she finds him. I hope they can heal each other. "Oh well. What trouble could she get into, after all?"

--

Now, Rikku was strong. She was more than capable in battle, and her garment grid was full. But she was going into the Besaid Caves, and the fiends in there – no matter how strong you were – meant that you needed help. But young, hot-blooded Al Bhed girls who were desperately in love did not think ahead. Or think at all.

Especially about how much noise they make, Auron thought. In truth, Rikku had run past him at least ten times this morning, but he had heard her coming from a mile away, and made himself scarce. He wasn't hiding. But he wasn't ready for her to tell him that his presence was completely superfluous to her just yet. But he had kept an eye on her during the occasional battles she'd been in, and been impressed with how well she fought. A bad move on his part, since watching her lithe body move had brought to the surface the love he'd been pushing down, as well as a darker, more deeply hidden lust. Gods, all he could think about was having her right then and there – up against a tree, if he had to.

Thankfully, he now had more important things on his mind than ravishing Rikku senseless. Like the fact that she'd gone into those caves almost an hour ago and still hadn't come out. Swearing softly under his breath, he entered the caves after her.

It was only after he got to the very back of the cave that he found her, slumped over, the body of a huge fiend dissolving into pyreflies in front of her. He was shocked to see her in some weird armour; more shocked to see his Masamune stuck in the ground acting as a support for her. She fell, and Auron caught her before she hit the floor. She was already unconscious, her face pale and several wounds on her – some shallow and some not; and he had no potions.

She wasn't heavy, and was warm, and her skin was soft and she looked so fragile…

Auron sighed as he made his way back to the village as quickly as he could. I need to leave Besaid.

When he got to the village, thankfully Yuna was walking back from the Temple – she saw him carrying Rikku and gasped, then rushed over. "What on Spira happened?"

"She went into the caves alone," Auron replied, his voice tight with worry. "Can you heal her?"

"Yes, bring her into my hut," she said breathlessly.

When he put Rikku down on the bed as gently as possible, her eyes flickered open, the emerald spirals hazed with pain. "Auron…?" she whimpered.

He put a hand on her forehead. "Hush. Yuna needs to heal you."

She nodded. "Don't…go…" She faded back into unconsciousness, and Auron backed away from the bed to let Yuna come forward and begin working.

"How long has she been out for?" she asked.

"In and out of it for the last twenty minutes," he said, not taking his gaze from Rikku's sweat-sheened face.

Yuna put a hand on his shoulder and smiled encouragingly. He realised this was not the same timid Summoner he'd left. Before Yuna had had the compassion, but not the self-confidence to make people believe in her. Oh she was revered as the High Summoner now, just as Braska had been – but like her father, no one in Spira had actually expected the young girl to defeat Sin. "She'll be ok, Sir Auron."

Apparently some things did not change.

He stayed until Rikku's wounds were closed, and her sleep became less troubled. "She'll be awake in a few moments," Yuna said. "But I doubt she'll stay awake for long. The healing process can be begun by magic but for true healing the body needs lots of rest. She'll be up and about by tomorrow."

As if to demonstrate her words, Rikku stirred and opened her eyes. Despite exhaustion clear on her face, her smile was still utterly radiant. More dazzling than the sun. Her eyes did not leave his face; she did not even see Yuna. "You're here," she murmured.

He nodded. "I'm here."

Already the healing process was dragging her back under, and it was clearly a trial to talk. "…was looking…for you…"

"I know," he said. Even through the leather of his glove he felt her touch on his skin.

Her eyes flickered open one more time, then closed again. "I'm sorry…but Gippal…"

His copper eye closed briefly. "It's alright. I know."

This seemed to comfort her, and she fell asleep with a smile on her face – a smile that told Auron he'd been right – and curled up slightly, her face turned toward him. From this angle the smile looked mocking. Yuna stood. "Will you stay with her for a while, Sir Auron? Just until I can find Tidus or Gippal?"

The mention of Gippal's name tightened Auron's mouth, but he nodded. "I'll stay."

Yuna nodded and left the hut. Auron sighed and let go of Rikku's hand. Did she have to look so beautiful? It wasn't the same innocent beauty she'd had three years ago- it was older now, more experienced. In her face wasn't the optimism of youth anymore; she'd seen tragedy now, experienced loss and become stronger for it. But she was still so young, that much was evident. It wasn't that he wanted her to become as cynical and world-weary as he was, but…a little less flippant? Not with the people around her – she'd do anything for them – but with problems. If an obstacle was there; no matter, she'd just overcome it and move on. With no thought as to how, and no consideration to the fact that sometimes there were going to be problems she couldn't fix.

She didn't need someone like him around to drag her down.

And he didn't need to be around someone he couldn't help but love.

By the time someone came to relieve him (Tidus; fortunately for him, Gippal had gone back to Djose), Auron's decision still hadn't been made. When he walked out of the hut, he finally realised that at least part of the empty feeling in him was hunger – it had been, after all, thirteen years since he'd last felt the compulsion to eat – and went to find something. What constituted food again?

It looked as though a guardian angel in the form of Lulu had answered his prayers – she'd left a basket of fruit and some fresh baked in his hut, along with a note. Thought you might be hungry. The shop sells food for next time. He chuckled, good humour momentarily restored, and picked up an apple, then decided to go for another walk. The earlier anger that had fuelled him had drained out now – and it had helped clear his mind. Which he was going to need. He had some thinking to do.

A/N: PLEASE DON'T KILL ME! If you wanna cause harm do it verbally instead lol with a review. And I'd quite like reviewS plural for this one!