Everything was a flash of white as we fell through the portal, the pressure even greater than it was in the Chamber of the Fayth, and it threatened to crush our bodies and steal our breath. Suddenly, a flash of blue burst out around us and we were plummeting toward the ground from who knows how high in the air. Rikku held onto me for dear life, and Auron braced himself, arms crossed over his head. It happened in an instant, a painful splash of cold water and the dull thud of hitting the sand below the only thing I felt before falling unconscious.

I awoke with a throb in my head, face down in a pile of warm, white sand. I looked at my surroundings, trying to figure out where I was. It looked like Besaid Beach, but there were no docks, or people playing blitzball. Just white sand and crystal blue water. I felt something warm and soft in my palm, and I looked to see what I was holding. It was a hand, thin and white, wrapped around my own, fingers intertwined. Its owner lie next to me on her side, still unconscious. I let my gaze linger a bit, noticing drops of water that slid down her wet skin and dripped into her cleavage. Rikku's bikini top had become frayed and barely held together, just shielding what I sinfully wanted to see. I thought about what she would do if she caught me staring. Would she blush and act all embarrassed, or just get mad and smack me a good one? I giggled as I pictured it, and the sound caused the sleeping girl next to me to stir. Noticing I still held her hand, I blushed and let go, scratching my nose in embarrassment.

"Ugh, where are we?" She mumbled, holding her head in her hands. "What happened?"

"I don't know. It looks like Besaid." I looked around again, suddenly remembering that Auron had come with us through the portal. He was nowhere to be found, and I cursed myself for not grabbing onto his coat or his arm before we leapt. I looked back to Rikku, who was fixing the sleeves on her arms and covering up a rather revealing tear in her olive green skirt by wrapping her scarf around her waist. She sighed, noticing her ruined top, and looked off toward the horizon.

"So this is a whole other world… I wonder if it's anything like Spira." She said, squinting her eyes in the orange glow of the sunset.

"I don't know, but we should find a town before it gets dark." I noted, finding a footpath through some trees. It looked like there were definitely people nearby, and that this beach was accessible to them. I wondered for a moment why nobody was here. Usually during this time of day, couples would be cuddling by the ocean, watching the sun go down together. I watched Rikku as she did just that, her skin dyed a beautiful orange. I often found myself doing this whenever it was just me and her, admiring her soft skin or spiral green eyes. I had Yuna, of course, but there was no harm in looking, right? Rikku, having had her fill of the sunset, turned around and nodded to me.

"You're right. I need some new clothes too. I hope there's an armor shop nearby." She walked on ahead of me, through the small path in the trees. I followed and looked around to see if Auron had fallen somewhere. Rikku didn't say anything, but she must have been worried about him too. Wherever he was though, I'm sure he could handle himself. The path opened up in a larger beach area, littered with umbrellas and towels. It reminded me of the resort beach at Zanarkand, where everyone used to go after a big Blitzball victory. I scanned the area and found a stone path leading inland. I gestured for Rikku to follow me and started the journey to the next town.

Though the path was paved, fiends still popped up every few to hinder our progress. I guess that explained why no one was at the beach. A particularly troublesome foe emerged just as a village started to loom on the horizon. The Rukh came from above, ambushing Rikku and I just as we were recovering from another battle with two Coyotes. It screeched at us, saliva oozing from its mouth and splashing on the ground.

"Gimme a break!" I yelled, taking a slash at the winged beast with my sword. Rikku switched to her Gunner dressphere and went Trigger Happy on it, distracting it long enough for me to charge up a Spiral Cut attack. I ran up to the beast just as Rikku had stopped to reload and leaped into the air, spinning once and coming down on the foe with all the force of gravity, piercing its skull with my sword. The Garuda cried out, bursting into a swarm of pyreflies and faded from existence. I struggled for breath, leaning over with my hands on my knees. Overdrives really took a lot out of you, and I was already tired from the last battle.

"You alright?" Rikku said, switching back to her normal clothes. "Here, use this." She tossed me a potion, which I gladly drank up. Feeling the energy return to my body, I stood back up, caught my breath, and put away my sword.

"Yeah, thanks. Look, there's a village over there. Maybe we can get a room at the inn."

"Finally. Ugh, why're are there so many fiends this close to people? It's really annoying, y'know?"

Rikku stretched her shoulder as we came up on the village enterance. The sun had just set, and the stars were starting to fill up the night sky one by one. I looked around for someone I could ask about an inn, and found a boy petting a dog near a hut by the village entrance.

"Hey, kid! Is there an inn nearby? My friend and I have just come from real far away and we don't have anywhere to sleep." I jogged over to the boy, who looked up at me with a cautious glance. He shuffled closer to his dog and answered quietly.

"Um, there's one in that bigger house over there." He pointed to a conspicuously large hut near what looked like a temple not too far off from where we stood. I nodded to the boy in thanks and left him, continuing down the stone pathway to the inn. Perhaps Auron had already found his way to this village and was waiting for us there.

We walked through the cloth entrance of the inn, exhausted from our trek from the beach. I walked up to the counter and asked the young lady there if she had any vacancies.

"Let me check, sir." She grabbed a guestbook from under the counter and began flipping through the pages.

"Oh, and did a man named Auron come by here? He's wearing a red coat and carries a really big sword. You can't miss him."

"I'm sorry, sir. No one like that has come by."

I sighed as she told me the bad news. Where could he be? We came through the portal at the same time, and I remember him being right next to me when I was falling. Did Rikku and I maybe drift off in a different direction than he did? I decided to think about it tomorrow and asked the lady one more time for any vacancies.

"So are there any rooms left?" I asked. The lady smiled and pointed at a blank spot in her guestbook.

"Yes. Room 14. How long will you and your girlfriend be staying?" She smiled at Rikku, who turned as red as a beet at the receptionist's assumption. I blushed too, and cleared my throat.

"Oh, uh, she's not- I mean… Two nights." I rubbed the back of my neck as I dismissed the notion of being Rikku's boyfriend. For some reason, I didn't really deny it, and I felt a warm sensation in my chest at the thought.

"Okay. That'll be 800 gil please." The lady said. I took out my coin purse and gave her the eight 100-gil coins, then received the key from her and walked up the stairs to Room 14 with Rikku.

Inside the spacious room were plenty of nice seaside themed decorations, a round wooden breakfast table, and one bed. One bed. I felt my face flush a bit, and turned to Rikku, who was looking away in an attempt to not look embarrassed. She looked at the bed, then to me, then back to the bed, and blushed even more, which in turn caused me to do the same. No doubt she was thinking about having to share a bed with me, our warm bodies lying right next to each other, sharing the same comforter. Her soft skin might graze my arm or some other part of my body… Who knows, we could get really cold in the night and- Wait, wait, wait. I shook my head to clear my thoughts and broke the awkward silence.

"Maybe we should go ask for another room." I said, rubbing the back of my neck like I always did when I was embarrassed.

"Y-yeah. I mean, right. We just weren't clear with what we wanted." More like I wasn't clear. If only I had just told the receptionist that Rikku wasn't my girlfriend we wouldn't be in this mess. I sighed and turned around so I could change the reservation.

"Excuse me, ma'am…" I said as I once again approached the counter.

"Yes? Is the room not to your liking?"

"Well, there's only one bed. Could we change the reservation?"

"You don't want to sleep with your girlfriend? You're a strange fellow." She again took out her guestbook and skimmed through the pages, looking for another opening.

"Oh, she's not really my girlfriend. We're just uh, traveling together." I chose my words carefully. No doubt this woman would think I was crazy if I told her I was from a different world. I already had my fill of that three years ago.

"Oh, so you're one of those kinds of guys. Well, no biggie. I don't judge."

"Huh? No, I-"

"Ah, here we go. Room 3. Two beds. We'll also throw in free room service for the inconvenience. There will, however, be a slight up-charge on the room since you're not staying in one bed.

"But wait, I'm not-"

"Here is your key. Have a good night!" The receptionist smiled and handed me the key. She sure liked to interrupt people. Well, whatever. I gave her the extra 300 gil and returned upstairs where Rikku was waiting. I told her our new room number, and could almost see the relief in her voice when I told her there were two beds. She hurried on ahead of me, walking at a strangely quick pace, and I followed behind her, slightly disappointed that I wouldn't get to spend the night with her.

And we finally get to see some Tikku fluff. Where could Auron be? And what will happen with the Fayth girl and Yurlungur? Stay tuned! As always, review/fav/follow and thank you for reading!