My eyes felt heavy, and opening them as I woke up seemed like a chore. The sun was just barely climbing the sky, and the light that flittered in from the windows bathed the room in a pale light. Rikku shuffled in her bed and turned over, still asleep. Her hair was out of its usual long ponytail and was sticking up in funny angles all over the place, even falling into her mouth, but even still, I thought she held a sort of natural beauty lying there asleep. The sunlight gave her face a sort of glow and I thought to myself that I wanted to touch it, just to feel the softness of her supple skin under my hand. A pang of guilt hit me as I thought of Yuna, who waited for me on the other side, probably crying her eyes out in worry. How would she react if she knew I had these thoughts about Rikku, her best friend and cousin for Yevon's sake. I loved Yuna- at least I thought I did- but these feelings for Rikku I felt welling up in my chest were undeniable. She was the first one I saw when I came to Spira, the one who had my back our entire journey, the one who stepped up to join me on this one. I felt happy when I was with her, and whenever we were alone together I got this little feeling of nervousness that fluttered in my stomach every time she smiled or touched me or laughed at my jokes. With Yuna, I just felt like I was with her because I had to be—because she loved me and I felt responsible for protecting her. Don't get me wrong, Yuna was cute, and I did enjoy our time together, but Rikku… She was just so much more to me. I heard Rikku stir in her bed, and the guilt just multiplied when she opened her beautiful emerald eyes.

"Morning…" She said with a yawn.

"Yeah…" I said, removing my covers and getting up from my bed. I was only wearing my boxers and a T-shirt, and Rikku blushed at my lack of clothing. Speaking of clothing, Rikku's was still tattered and worn from the fall through the portal, and even mine were a bit worse for wear. I decided that today we would go find a change of wardrobe and quickly got dressed as Rikku fixed her hair, a long process that actually required my help to hold it up in several places while she braided other parts of it and put on her blue headband.

"Thanks," She said, slipping on her boots. "Maybe I ought to adopt a more manageable hairstyle."

"I liked how you wore it three years ago. You were cuter then." I teased. This got a rise out of Rikku as she puffed up her cheeks and furrowed her brow.

"Heeeey, you big meanie!" She pouted, sticking her tongue out at me. I laughed and ruffled her just done hair before making my way to the door.

"Whaddaya say we go buy some clothes today?"

"Lead the way," Rikku made an over-dramatic bow and gestured to the door with her arm. I walked into the inn hallway, followed by the Al Bhed girl, and into the village. There were far more people out than yesterday evening, and I decided to ask a woman nearby where we could get some new clothes. She led us to a quaint little shop a ways from the inn and we went inside, looking around at the store's collection of fabric and clothing. A pair of black nylon shorts caught my eye, and I noticed Rikku looking at a blue-grey shirt that would only cover up to her belly button and leave her shoulders exposed. It was less revealing than what she wore now, at least. I tried on a few outfits, deciding on a pair of long, baggy shorts that almost reached my ankles. I also bought a new black vest that had a belt along the waist with a large buckle in the middle. It zipped up just to the end of my pectorals and tapered off into a pair of large white lapels like you would see on a tuxedo. It had a pale yellow sleeve on the left arm and a metal shoulder guard on the right that was decorated with a sort of swirly design that reminded me of Rikku's eyes. A pair of black leather gloves with metal wrist cuffs caught my eye as I went to check on Rikku. I picked them up and headed to the girl's section, where I saw my bubbly friend emerging from the dressing room. Man, was she a sight for sore eyes. Her blue headband had been replaced by a red one, and she wore a strange sort of shirt that was skintight black fabric on the right side and a cerulean polymer that covered her left breast and made an angle at her midsection, its vertex tied with a ribbon, that turned into a layered skirt, similar to the half-skirt Yuna wore, only it covered her entire waist. The skirt ended in the middle of her thigh, where a small pouch was tied over white stockings. She wore the same scarf, which she adjusted as I approached her.

"Wow… Not bad, Rikku." I said, blushing at how the skintight fabric accentuated her modest cleavage.

"Not so bad yourself, mister." She jabbed my stomach lightly with her elbow. "But.. It needs a little something…" She looked around, scanning the store. "Oh, perfect!"

Rikku scampered across the floor and picked up a silk crimson scarf, which she wrapped around my head. After messing with my hair a little, it really did complete the outfit. I had to hand it to Rikku. She knew fashion.

"Now we're matching!" She said, pointing to the red fabric on her head.

"I guess we are."

We entered the large temple that looked like the focal point of the entire village, expecting something similar to what they had in Spira, and for the most part, we were right. The only things missing were the statues and anything to do with Yevon –understandable since there were no summoners or Yevon here. Many people were praying in front of small altars that lined either side of the room, and a man dressed in some sort of religious garb stood before a large statue of some kind of beast. Rikku and I approached him, and, hearing our footsteps, he turned around.

"I had heard we had some visitors. How may I help you?" He asked, bowing slightly.

"We come from a place far away," Rikku said. "We want to learn about the, um, customs and… religion of this… region." I gave Rikku a big thumbs up in my head for thinking on her feet.

"My, where must you have come from that you do not know the customs?" The old man held surprise in his voice as he looked between the two of us. "Well, it matters not. It pleases me to see the young folks so interested in the temples." The man turned to the statue behind him. The beast resembled a large sort of serpent, its mouth lined with razor sharp teeth and its back decorated with big, spiky fins. "This statue depicts Charybdis, the god of the seas. It is said that it has the power to create whirlpools and massive tsunamis. The last record of its wrath was some two hundred years ago, when Charybdis and the god of earth Namazu shook the land and flooded the cities of the entire country. Legend says that this occurred because the people lacked faith in Yurlungur and his five sons. Now, you will see many temples like this one all across the land of Mysidia. This one in particular is one of the five Holy Temples dedicated to the five sons of the Great Aeon."

I gave Rikku an inquisitive glance, and put my hand to my chin in thought. So the people here worshiped and feared Yurlungur as a god, just like the people of that Fayth girl's village. Could they be connected somehow?

"Hey old man, you said Yurlungur, right? Is there a temple for him too?" I asked, a thought forming in my head.

"Why, yes there is… at least there was. The Great Temple vanished about a thousand years ago, along with the village that housed it. It is a great mystery, even to this day."

Just as I thought.

"Thank you, sir. We learned a lot." I said, giving him a short bow just as he had given us when Rikku and I greeted him. We left the temple and walked out into the noontime sun, feeling the heat growing on our backs and the questions filling up our heads as we prepared to leave the village. If Yurlungur was real, then did that mean those five other guys were too? Did that mean we would have to fight them? I could only hope that we weren't getting in over our heads on this journey, and that we would find Auron soon. Yevon knows we would need all the help we could get if we were gonna take down a bunch of gods.

Do you like the new designs I thought up for Rikku and Tidus? I drew some rough sketches that I posted on my deviantart (knation12) so you can better see what they look like. I kind of took inspiration for Tidus' outfit from Shuyin and the sketch of Tidus in the HD Remaster's audio drama -Will-. Also tell me if you guys like the world I've come up with and its lore/religion if not, tell me what I can do to spice it up. I really want to keep it interesting for you guys.

I will also be uploading this fic to Archive of Our Own due to FanFictions guidelines and limitations, where the sexy times that will occur later on will be available to read.

As always, review/fav/follow and thanks for reading!