Hello and welcome to another chapter. Should have been doing these notes at the top from the start. Anyways, this chapter is almost 10k, so nice. To adress a few points in reviews.
Cao Mengde95: Naruto will have a dedicated weapon like most of the ffx cast, as well as an overdrive, Though obviously rikku's may change now since her ninja training has taken place. However which weapn and overdrive naruto and rikku will definitely have will remain unknown for now. Mystery helps.
Nerdlord2nd: Yeah, sending naruto to a new world when he's already been previously trained, regardless of when, can sometimes take away from the experience. Though since I skipped out on some of that anyway I'm guilty of the same. and I agree, bringing in more aspects of those peoples we don't normally see is always nice. My views of the Al bhed can be seen here and prior chapters, well not so much views but odd traits here and there I guess.
Roo: Hopefully I took care of the wall of text better in this chapter.
Full of imagination: The grid system adaptation I'm working on is a bit confusing I'll admit, but I'm trying to make the most of what FFX and FFX-2. As far as the classes, I'm basically bouncing between set class sphere grids, or a kind of evolution sphere to evolve the starter grid to a class grid that fits them, or some other option. As far as changing his class grid, he'll be within the same limitations for most of the time.
Now, hope you enjoy the chapter and lease review, so I know what I need to work on.
Disclaimer: I don't own naruto or FFX
With the ship coming to a slow near their no doubt intended location, the two ninja sighed as they realized their fun would have to wait. Goggles in place, they pulled their rebreather mouth pieces out of their gear pouches and slipped the elastic cord around their head to the neck, though left them hanging like a necklace, as movement caught their eye.
"Alright, All gather round. Listen, like leader cid spoke of before, there is machina below water, we have to go and search the depths for it. Unsure of if it's in this sector, but we find it, we must. Report all finds, and be wary of fiends. Questions?" Spoke an Al bhed wearing a full body suit of grey slacks and a yellow upper garment that blended into orange gloves.
"No questions, though I have to say Haiduke, your spiran is getting better, keep it up." Naruto spoke, with a smile to his fellow al bhed. Indeed, Naruto pretty much saw himself as an Al bhed now, fully immersed into their culture and ways, they were like family to him now. Family he always wanted. Family he would fight for. The now named Haiduke smiled and gave a dismissive wave.
"Still need work, though it's good to talk yes?" He spoke, his words a bit more broken than before.
"You got that right Hai, just keep practicing." Rikku cut in with a bright smile. "Now like Haiduke said, keep an eye on fiends, you now my dad doesn't like any of us not coming home like we should. So watch each other's back and keep each other safe. The machina or anything else we find won't do us any good if we're dead." Rikku reminded all of them of what cid deemed more important in their scavenging dives. Cid had worked bitterly hard to bring all the Al bhed together, and he wasn't about to lose any to fool ventures where lives could have been spared or saved.
The gathered Al bhed all nodded in agreement, the others donning their own rebreathers and goggles to ready for diving. All f those, including the captains, were experienced divers able to hold their breath for at least 5 minutes to make the most of the rebreathers. Thus whe they all jumped off the railing and into the water, there was n hesitation to going deeper, as they all pulled off lights from their belts and scoured the ocean for any signs of machina.
Naruto and Rikku stayed close together as they dived, they worked well together, hell, they worked best with each other, much to gippals annoyance. Gippal after having gotten his head out of his ass had taken an interest in rikku, though likely because she was cid's aughter, or so naruto thought. But Naruto and he butted heads a lot, and this caused a number of conflicts that usually rikku had to sort out. However rikku's clear defense for naruto infuriated the teen greatly, but naruto didn't care.
The other Al bhed who could be identified by their beams of light, spread out in similar pairs, so far no fiends, but as they dived deeper, a glint caught naruto's eye. Pointing over to the glint while tapping rikku, she saw it too and nodded, as they made their way over to it. Once there, the glint turned out to be a surprise. Not Machina, but Spheres, and lots of them. Rikku and naruto could only marvel at the number of spheres there, and if they were honest, it was a lot of them, and they seem to be of high quality as well. A mutual glance and understanding, they pulled out netted bags and started grabbing the spheres and bagging them, looking around every now and then to ensure they were not being targetted by fiends.
Once their bags were full, they made their way up to the surface and broke surface, taking a fresh breath as they climbed aboard the ship.
"Back so soon? What you find?" Asked Haiduke.
"Spheres, a treasure trove of spheres." Naruto have a face splitting grin as he held up his dive bag of spheres, rikku doing the same. "And there is plenty more where that came from." He spoke, as they both sat their bags down and retrieved a few more bags. "Send whoever comes back in that direction to help with the retrieval, this may spheres is just too big to pass up." He finished, ad with a nod from hai, Rikku and naruto dived again.
They were quick to find the spot again, and got back to work filling their bags. Others came to help soon after, and now even if they didn't find any machina, this trip was well worth it, these spheres would be of great use to all of them. But Naruto started to get a bad feeling as they kept collecting the spheres. One reason was that he noticed the surface under the spheres where they had been sitting. It wasn't like stone, in fact it felt like...
Panic didnt set it with his realization until there was movement, and immediately all the Al bhed back away. The surfaces the spheres had been attached to moved violently, but only the spheres, and then it rose before turning, showing it to be something alive. The Al bhed were all met with what appeared to be some sort of crab...but it's obvious features that spoke of inflictig pain made it obvious to be a fiend. All the al bhed drew their weapons, Rikku and naruto ding the same as they got ready for a fight.
The crab fiend shot bubbles from it's mouth, which they avoided, and realized he crab would be hard to take down with it's shell and ability to attack at range with it's bubble breath. So channeling chakra similarly to water walking, but around their entire bodies, they were able to move around the crab at speed the others weren't. They used this to keep the crab's attention on them, avoiding it's attacks and using their knifes for cuts at it where they could, but it was obvious their weapons didn't have the power to break through the armor, hence why they were distracting it. the other Al bhed used their weapons and skills to attack at the crab and deal the real damage, attacking between it's shell segments ad it's joints. Eventually naruto was able to get close and slashed along it's eyes, blinding it. With the crab blind, the follow up attacks were easier to make, and eventually, the crab fied was dead, it's body erupting into pyreflies. They all nodded to oen another and grabbed the spheres that dropped from it's body once it faded, plus the sphere generated from it's essence once it was defeated.
After all was gathered, they got back to the ship and breath as they dropped off their loot. "Success then?" Hai asked.
"Yeah we got them Hai! But the spheres as being used for jewelry by a big crab fiend. We all took it down though!" Rikku exclaimed excitedly, finally getting in some much needed exercise. Naruto nodded and once all the spheres were loaded onto a crate, they took break and reported on their findings. Like the other sectors they'd been mapping out and searching, still no sign of this eluvise machina that would change spira like it did in the past that cid was so adament on finding.
With their reports in, Haiduke congratulated everyone and called it a done deal. No machina, but they got a lot of high quality spheres that would go a long way. SO they ate a quick meal before they set off back for Bikanel. But this left rikku and narut back to their original problem. Their boredom.
"Well we swam, so wanna fly now?" Rikku offered again, and naruto smiled.
"Though you'd never ask." He went on and naruto formed two shadow clones, one who kaihen'd into rikku. Once they were done, rikku and nodded and they both formed the seal for the jutsu, kaihen'd into common seagulls and took off itno the air. After creating Kaihen, they had both fell in love with turning into birds and flying. it as a freedom no other could ever truly enjoy, to fly on your own power, no machina or magic doing it. They flew together, and soon had other gulls join them in flight, forming a formation between the lot of them. Naruto and rikku angled their wing tips and ever so slightly adjusted the plain of their wings into a corkscrew of one wing to the other, sending them into a log curve in flight, rounding back to the boat, the other gulls following them. While n Kaihen, their truly was no difference between them and the other gulls, which was astounding to them.
After about an hour of flight they returned to the ship and landed, where they dispelled and took a moment to smile and reminesce over the flight. It was always euphoric, and naruto wondered if he could have ever been this happy back in konoha. His gut immediately told him no, he couldn't.
"So, we'll be put back to work once we get Home. Think their might be something we can do at Home Port before we have to go back? Not too found of being stuck in the garage again. Can't only rebuild the same model of machina so many times before I start doing it i my sleep." Rikku whined, and naruto nodded. They were both quite sick of maintenance and improvement duties for their active duty machina they used. Was a little job variety so hard to find?
"Maybe they'll have a new batch of dive trainee's at home port we could help out with? I mean we do still hold the record for longest breath held at 8 minutes and 17 seconds. Surely they'll let us help. Or at least a few pick up games of blitz. We haven't played in the water for how long now?" He asked.
"Too damn long. Well it's worth checking out once we get back, that'll be a day or to depending on weather, and not much we can do for training on the ship aside from taijutsu." She spoke aloud, her voice tired. She really wanted to work on some of their more elaborate jutsu. They had learned so much from naruto's scrolls, completing one trial after the next until their was nothing left to learn, and just reviewed everything, making sure they had mastered everything they could. They then branched into more eclectic things found around spira that might be hlpful, but not everythng was successful. Sighing, they were both bored and at an impasse. They couldn't really advance until cid allowed them to move past their starter grids onto their class grids, but since they didn't fight fiends that often, thy did't advance quickly in their starter grids.
Naruto was having similar thoughts, though his took a different turn as his earlier thought sparked up memories of konoha and everything that led up to him coming to spira. "It's been 5 years now.."
"Huh?" She asked, looking at him.
"It's been 5 years since I first came to spira. I forget sometimes I wasn't born here and when I forget...nothing feels wrong." He stated, not really sure how to explain it.
"What brought this up naruto." She asked her best friend.
"When we were flying a thought came to me, wondering if I had stayed in konoha, would I be as happy as I am now. ANd truth, I now I wouldn't be. But I can't help but to think of the few people I left behind when I came here. Jiji, the Ichiraku's and my guards who honestly gave a damn about me. Weasel, neko, hebi and Inu." He spoke, and really, that was it, about 7 people. Though his anbu guard, who he still didn't know why they guarded him, didn't speak much, when one of those four were guarding him, he never had to worry about beatings or being chased, and if he did get hurt, they rushed him to the hospital personally.
"I can't rally say much about your birthplace naruto. But I'm glad you came here. Konoha might be where you was born, but this is your home. Where your family is." She said, wrapping anruto in a hug, something she learned early on meant nearly the world to naruto. Naruto set his hands on her to hold her close and reveled in the feel of contact and warmth. She was right, more than konoha, he considered The Al bhed and HOME as his family and home, He smiled at that, though he did intend to return to onoha when he was needed to by the fayth, he'd always come back here.
They separated and smiled, looking at each other, before they heard some chuckling and exaggerated kissing sounds. They snapped their heads to the side to see several of the guys leaning against the other railing with smug smirks, making physical gestures of hugging and kissing, even a cat call or two to try and encourage them. The two pre-teen instantly went scarlet, much to the older men's amusement as intended, but they cut their teasing short as they went back inside. Leaving them alone with a very awkward atmosphere. This had been happening for about a year now, and no mater how they talked to others about it, no one would believe either tham that they were just friends. Admitted best, and even close personal friends, a close as one could get considering.
It started when Rikku was still having nightmares about lighting during one of the few rare storms over bikanel, storms that dropped enough rain to flashflood parts of the desert and for a brief moment, turn parts of bikanel green after the rains. But in that storm there was lots of lightning and thunder. Rikku had wandered from her room into his and crawled into his bed, like she had done many times before during those rare desert rain thunder storms. However this time was different when one of the guys came to get naruto, an found rikku in his bed, holding onto naruto. Needless to say, cid wasn't happy when he found out. But when rikku explained, he calmed down, though that didn't stop the HOME rumor mill that instantly spread the news like spill't oil on the shop floor. Gets everywhere and it stays until you remove all traces of it ever being there.
When that had gotten around, of course Gippal just had to rear his head into the open and make a fight about it. Which naruto dealt with appropriately. Problem was, it only build up as everyone called it a fight for rikku, and since naruto won... Yeah, the rumor mill of the AL bhed is ruthless. But when you work on machines that don't talk, the time you have to talk and get juicy gossip tends to be another source of entertainment among the al bhed. And so now both rikku and Naruto were at the source of the ongoing rumors about them.
Sighing, both blonds looked to each other and nodded. They were definitely seeing what they could find in Home Port.
Once they were back o Bikanel sands, they helped with offloading all the cargo and were careful to keep an eye on the crates filled with spheres. While they were sure that they wouldn't be bothered, there was always the one or two people that always wanted to get a look at the haul or maybe get a small piece for themselves before the haul was distributed, not out of ill intent usually, but curiosity and al bhed just seem to go together. Once the cargo was unloaded and on sand crawlers, the largest of the land vehicle machina the Al bhed of bikanel have at their disposal, though comparably also the slowest hence the name, they were now waiting for the rest of the supply shipment coming from another ship to be loaded and taken with them to Home. But rikku and naruto had their own plans.
Walking around homeport, a town of thin metal buildings of reflective color and surfaces for their roofs to reflect away heat, but sand colored walls, it'd be hard to see it from a distance unless you had a high position or know what you're looking for. And like they had hoped as they walked, they could hear the shouts and calls of people going on about breathing. Smiling to one another, they knew immediately, so they made their way to the source of the noise and found in the water away from the ships a gathering of kids roughly around age 8 or so, about 10 of them, smallr than their group, in the water doing their breathing exercises and dunking themselves, holding their breaths.
"Hey guys! How's the resident psychopath torturing ya?" Naruto asked with a grin as all the kids turned to look at them with groans, being remided of their first day like rikku and naruto had experienced before.
"Oh I'm being gentle with this group, they're not quite as robust as your group was little naru." A feminie voice sounded out from behind the boy, who turned, only to be brought into a face mashing hug into a womanly chest, nestled between cleavage that her bikini did no effort to hide. Naruto was essentially a ragdoll, as the kids and rikku stared, most of the kids were boys and despite their youth, they all knew and know there was some jealousy going on. "Real shame too. I was looking forward to having more outstanding talents sch as yourselves that I could be proud of and brag about." She spoke sweetly as she continued to hug naruto to her chest, though now rikku who had been stepping away was quickly dragged into the hug as well.
Rikku had to be the one to tap their former trainers arm to get her to release them, needing to breath while naruto looked positively blue. How long had the hug lasted? But as Rikku turned around, she saw the boys of the class vigorously practicing, and rkku smirked once she realized. "Sneaky, very sneaky." She whispered to their former trainer who just smiled. Naruto having regained his color, nodded knowingly, though he couldn't outright suppress the blush on his face.
"So what's this I hear of my cute little students being involved with one another while so young." She didn't question, but stated, obviously the rumors had made their way out here too. Twin smacks as both blondes face palmed and their former trainer just smiled. "Not that I see anything wrong with knowing how you feel about each other. It's good to care fr anther so strongly, and you two are good together, you practically don't leave each other's side anyway. Never did while in training." She said with a knowing smile, making them blush harder. Psychopath she may be, but she was still a woman who loved to tease and play match maker.
"a-Anyway, we're here to see if there's anything you needed help with, trainig the new group of maybe a few pick up games of blitz. We're not quite ready to be subjected to full maintenance duty in the garage again, besides we could use the exercise." Naruto spoke, ready to get doing something more active, already lost the feeling from the fiend fight.
The woman hummed i thought, taking a seat in her chair she was in before to observe the kids as she crossed her bare legs. She wore only her bikini when doing the water training, which was always quite a sight, but naruto knew not to stare with, especially with rikku beside him. Hence why before reaching the water he had donned his goggles and kept his face to the side, using the glorious side glancing skill since his eyes were now covered. It was hard not to appreciate the view when most of the people you know dressed skimpily to cool off from heat, were always in the water, or just because they could, the al bhed didn't ha ve the heavy modesty restrictions like yevon did.
She loked back to them and nodded. "Take a quick swim to wam up, afterward we'll have a dry land game. The new kids aren't ready for a regulation game, though we can use rebreathers for the last game for a proper game to get them used to doing it all underwater. A bit head of schedule, but seeing what they're shooting for can help them see their goal." She spoke and they nodded, as she got up and the two blondes followed her, wading out into the water before diving. With a ball, they ran through a few drills and pass routes for about half an hour.
Once they were warmed up, their trainer had them al get out. "Alright children. I'd like t introduce you to two of my graduating students, Naruto and Rikku, who hold the current record for longest breath held of over 8 minutes." She stated, making the class look at them with a bit of awe, knowing how difficult it was to hold their breath, just to get to 5 minutes, 3 extra minutes was impressive. "they've come to see abut having a pick up game of blitz with all of you. So that's what we're going to do. There's enough of you kids here for even teams. So this is how we'll play. Rikku and Narut as captains, pick your teams and we'll have a dry land game."
With the orders given, they both quickly picked their teams and separated off to have a strategy session before they walked over to a square concrete field, their dry practice field. Playing in the sand was good training, but sometime you just need a solid, level field to play on. Their strategies made, the two teams came to the center with their goal keepers in place.
"Okay kiddies, regulation practice rules. Begin!" The woman called out, others having already come to the bleachers around the field to watch, already making bets of who'd win. They rushed for the ball and normally this would be a good game to watch since those who occupied home port played blitz regularly. But these were dive trainees, and riku and naruto were the only ones on the field who played very well. So it was chaos, and rather than be mad, both the blondes just had fun and did what came natural. Shouting out their commands and tossing the ball back and forth between team members. It was essentially a schoolyard toss up compared to pick up games with their trainers, with just some resemblence to blitz in their somewhere.
However before they could finish the game, there was a holler from Haiduke to get to the crawlers, they were leaving. Sighing, both blondes nodded, and tossed the ball to their trainer. "Thought it would take longer. Well, see ya next time, hopefully we can have another pick up game next time we come around." Naruto called out, leaving the others to their game as rikku and naruto went off to get going.
The trip was uneventful, utterly, so they took a nap while they made their way back. Though once they arrived a tap of their feet by another's foot woke them, much to the teasing grins of others to see rikku leaning up on naruto for her comfort. Brushing it off, they got out and helped with the unloading. "Rikku. Naruto. Leader cid wants see you. Says be there quick." Came Haiduke once more, returning from issuing their report and tally of their findings.
Both looked to one another before shrugging, walking with from the group heading for the central tower of Home to make their way to cids's office. On their way they passed up the Bazaar, with all kinds of merchants selling their wares. These were the merchants who tended to travel spira, and often supplied or resupplied at the travel agencies, or for the daring, set up outside the various towns for business. While looked down upon by the rest of spira, you couldn't deny the mercantile ability of the Al bhed people, especially the most well known of them, Rin. Man spoke the profit-loss language of gil better than he did his native tongue. They browsed the wares as they passed through the bazaar, seeing a few things here and there to catch their eyes.
Once inside the tower, they quickly ascended the floors and made their way into cid's office. The man had his hands steeple'd like Naruto saw his jiji do many times before. "Hey pop's what'cha need us for?" Came from rikku's mouth, pleased to not be in the garage at the moment. Cid looked at her then him a moment of silence. Which was unnerving, the man was usually vocal and expressive, though rough.
"You two said you finished all the training you could do with what you've got available here correct?" He asked, hey both glanced to each other, seeing he was being serious about something, and they nodded, remaining silent to allow the man to think and speak. "Then I can be sure you're strong enough to handle yourselves correct, like you did with that crab fiend." Not a question, a statement. They nodded again, but now they were confused, where was he going with this. "As you both know we've a plan in the works to save the summoners and to kill Sin, though you're not aware of all the details. But this plan was part of the reason why I had you two sneak into that temple using those ninja skills of yours to retrieve information for me."
"You two are strong enough, and I don't have anyone else I can trust so fully with this." He spoke, pulling a recording sphere from his desk, setting it on top of the desk. "I have a couple of jobs for you two. First, I need you to head to besaid, and deliver this sphere to a girl. Her name is Yuna." At the name's mention, Rikku suddenly gasped and naruto was confused.
"Naruto, yuna is my cousin. From...ugh-" She looked up t her father who nodded. "My aunt. My aunt married outside of Al Bhed, and the family grew distant. But my aunt married Braska, and well.." She trailed off, but naruto caught on.
"Yuna is High summoner Braska's daughter...and possibly has the summoner's talent like her father does." He finished, and both born al bhed nodded to their adopted al bhed fellow. Despite the yevon title, the Al bhed held nothing but respect for summoners and guardians just like the rest of spira. It was yevon they despise, not the people.
"That's right. Normally I wouldn't b able to send her anything without tipping anyone off, but since you two are strong enough, and Sin isn't back yet, I feel I can do this. However the pretense for this that everyone else will know is this. You're going to travel the Pilgrimage Path that summoners and guardians take, visiting all the sights and temples along the way, creating a detailed sphere and journal of the path and find anything of interest to take with you. This is your mission after you deliver the sphere. You're basic excuse if that you're world traveling while sin is still dormant, easily believable. All Al Bhed will know to assist you, including Rin. However you're to go no further than Mt. Gagazet. However I want you two back alive, so no fighting fiends if you don't have to, with sin still dormant the fiend population may be more docile, but they remain a threat, am I clear?" He spoke to them both who nodded.
"Good. Now, Naruto, unfortunately we have no way of knowing when they fayth may come for you, as you yourself said before. So pack as if they will. If they come for you before you come back, find some way to let me know. If that happens, rikku you are to immediately come back, I don't care if you have to change into a bird and fly all the way back yourself. Clear?" He asked, his tone dead serious. Which got vigorous nods from both of them. That was something else, cid was well aware of their abilities, though not the extent of them.
"Good. Now get packed then come back." He shoo'd them off as they left the office They stood in the hall a moment, before rikku jumped and squealed.
"Finally! We can go do stuff!" She hollered out, pumping a fist victoriously.
"Easy there, we're not out of the sand box yet." He told her, causing rikku to laugh sheepishly, before they made their way to their rooms. Using the Storage scrolls they had, they started to pack. Naruto packed up, well everything, though he separated what was what by the different seals inside his storage scroll, such as supplies to furniture, then to learning materials, spheres and other stuff. He included some blank recording spheres, manuals he and rikku made up on various machina and bits of technology that would be useful back in his birth world. Sealing away all of his food, he'd have to visit the mess hall to get proper provisions and rations.
Once he was done, the room was as barren as it was when he first got into it. It was a little disheartening, feeling like he was leaving doing all f this, but he knew he'd be back. Sighing, he left and locked the room, where rikku was already in the hall with her own storage scroll in hand, showing she was packed and ready. They pocketed their scrolls in their gear pouches before heading off to meet back with cid. Looking out the window along the way, Naruto could see all the people working on ongoing projects within Home, to keep bettering Home in anyway they could.
Once back in the office, Cid nodded to them both. "Good, now before you leave, I have some things to give you." He stated, motioning over to a box on a side table. They looked inside and awed. "Both of you were the ones to find the spheres and start harvest and did the lion's share of the fighting with the crab, so I figure you deserve the largest share of spheres for your trouble. Not only that, but the spheres will help you when you progress in your grids." He said, which made rikku remember.
"Speaking of Old man, when are we gonna be allowed to go past the starter grids." She whined, pouting at her father. Naruto just snickered but Cid crossed his arms.
"Not till you finish out your grids. I know you're both strong enough right now without an advanced class grid to do this. But this journey should more than help you finish out your grids, so if they're finished when you get back, we'll see about doing that." He finished, and got a nod from rikku.
"Now naruto, you on the other hand, I have more for you. Here." He said, handing him a recording sphere of his own. "That is from me, to your hokage if the fayth should come for you. It's a private conversation for him only to hear, and it will play only once before it destroys itself, so don't thin to watch it before you give it to him should you be taken." He ordered.
"Now they're ain't really much else I can give except my wishes and good luck. Go finish what you need to finish and make your way down to the garage. You're ride will be waiting for you when you get there." He shoo'd them off again, but when they were gone, he smiled, though the smiled was filled with too many emotions to properly judge it.
Getting everything else they needed was a simple affair, the mess hall was empty, so getting enough food, water and other provisions was easy, and a trip through the bazaar ended their supply run before they made their way to the garage."Still hard to believe that we're really leaving." He said aloud, and rikku nodded.
"I know...it feels weird now. Especially since it'll be just us." She spoke quietly.
"It's not like anyone else really could go with us, given what we're doing and how the old man want's it secret. Besides, their aren't that many here who are more skilled than us. Stronger and faster maybe, but not more skilled." He said confidently, gettin a firm nod from rikku.
"Too true. Though we should still be careful." She finished as they got inside the garage. Getting in one of the Dune buggies, ther driver took off heading for home port. "So we're taking one of our ships to luca and slipping off unnoticed, where we can board a ship headed for besaid from there. Easy enough, though a lot of time spent on the water at first." She commented.
"Better on water than in sand for while. It'll be refreshing to get away from our big sand box for a while." Naruto counter comments. The ride was a wild one once naruto insisted to their driver to have some fun, which rikku was all for. How often do you just get to cut loose in the buggy and not be scolded for it? However once they reached home port, they visited with the others and explained they were leaving for a while, but not why. Saying their goodbyes and a finally breasted hug from the lovable psychopath, they were both released to the ship who was waiting for them before shoving off.
Out at sea, they stretched and went through a few training sessions to stay limber and ready, doing what they could to pass the time, this trip would take longer than most others they'd been on before.
After several days of sheer boredom, Luca was finally coming into sight. Like usual, when their ship started docking, all eyes people and guards alike, were on them like hawks. Rikku and naruto slipped int the water, swimming around the docks to another ship, where they pulled themselves up and disembarked, looking around the docks. After asking a dock worker for the Besaid bound ship, they made their way over and paid for their passage, not really bothering to stay in luca since there wasn't any games for the moment. It'd be another few boring days before theyd get to besaid, though they took their time to walk around and shop around when they stopped in kilika. However the temple visit would have to wait on the return trip.
After days and days of sailing from bikanel, they were finally at besaid. Landing on the dock, the two Al bhed looked around, it was a pleasant enough little island, some old machina ruins littered the land. The two were walking up the dock to the beach, rikku was using a henge to turn her eyes as blue as Naruto's to avoid trouble, and their manner of dress was far enough away from Al bhed styles to not be construed as Al bhed. Walking up the shoreline, they could hear shouting and looking to see a group of men in yellow overalls, running through Blitz drills. Naruto and rikku just glanced to each other with knowing smirks. The Besaid Aurochs, eternal losers. The Al bhed Psyches had to face them a few times in the first road, though that was probably to see if they were weaker that the aurochs. Obviously, they weren't. But they held smiles, since they couldn't brag on their team here.
"Hey! You them Aurochs!" Naruto Shouted, getting the attention of the men, one of whom with bright orange hair, already a god guy in naruto's book, came forward to them.
"Yah that's us. Name's Wakka, Coach and Captain of the Aurochs. What can I do for ya?" The tanned man spoe, his island accent thick as he observed both pre-teens.
"We were hoping to get to the village and temple. We're doing some world travelling while we can before..well, ya know. Wouldn't happen to be able to show us the way to the village would ya?" Asked Rikku, smiling up at the older man.
Wakka nodded, that wasn't so far fetched, if he'd hadn't traveled with father zuke, he might have done some travelling himself when the calm arrived. "Yeah I can take you to the village. Though why you two alone. Fiends might be docile in the calm, but they still a problem ya?" He questioned the two.
"Our family made sure we were prepared, taught us plenty of ways to stay away from fiends. Better to avoid the fight than to win it sometimes." Naruto commented, which wakka nodded. He could see that. "Besides, they're all so busy now getting things ready so we're prepared when it comes back, we wanted to do this while we still had the chance." He finished and rikku nodded. They made their way from the beach up the paths, taking their time. Only a few weaker fiends attacked, and the two blondes showed their skill they did have, taking on the weaker fiend, much to wakka's pleasant surprise.
"You two do good work. Blitz training?" He asked.
"Yep. We pretty much got ran through the grinder in training." Rikku pointed out.
"that explains a lot. Blitz training is tough after all. Maybe one day when it comes back, you two can find a summoner to be good guardians for ya?" The man spoke, though his eyes shadowed over, knowing he was in line for such a thing himself given a few more years. The two blondes grimaced, not particularly fond of the idea, since they were looking to rescue the summoners, nt send them to their deaths, but the compliment to their skill and ability was well received none the less.
"So here it is. Besaid village. Might not be a lot to look at, but it's comfortable, and we got a few local wares we sell off." He spoke aloud. The two blonds looked around and smiled, it was peaceful, and quiet, not like the hustle and bustle of Home.
"Thanks wakka, we're gonna check in with the lodge, though we'll talk with you later when we can." Rikku waved to wakka as he left back down for the beach, while she turned to her best friend and nodded. "Now to find yunie." She whispered. They went to the lodge first to check in and rent some beds for a few nights. Once done, they walked up to the temple, where they quickly entered and made a half assed prayer, for appearance's sake, and struck up a conversation with some of the people in the temple. They quickly learned that Yuna as already a Summoner in training, much to their sadness, but once they knew who to look for, what she looked like, they settled in to besaid to just hang around and enjoy what they island had to offer. They might be suspicious if the first thing they did was head straight for the summoner in training.
Rikku was poking around the old ruins, seeing what she could discretely salvage, while Naruto was looking in on the weavers the island boasted. besaid textiles was one of their major exports and quite nice. Naruto ended up buying a few rolls of differently patterned material, if for nothing else they looked nice, gave him some plausible cause, and he might be able to do something with them...rikku's birthday was coming up after all.
While around the village, they noticed a few...out of place, individuals. First was obviously a huge Ronso. Naruo had never met any up close, just the few times he saw their team play or just in passing. But he didn't dare approach him carelessly. Another was a dark haired woman in heavy dark garments held with belts, her hair in a bun with several free tails of braids hanging loose. Naruto didn't need much of a glance to know they were strong, so he stayed wary, but kept up his carefree mask. Problem was, they stayed with a brown haired girl that was identified as the summoned in training Yuna, rikku's cousin. That would make approaching her difficult.
However he had a plan and rather stupidly, decided to tumble off the old ruins he and rikku were climbing to get hurt. Needless to say, Rikku was chewing him out as she helped him hobble to the temple, where they were directed to a room for healing. The healers and Yuna came in, tending to his injuries. Rikku started distracted the older healers and naruto leaned forward.
"I have a sphere from Cid for you. Meet at the woods tonight behind the crusader's lodge to get it. Sorry for all the secrecy, but we didn't want to risk anyone getting hurt over this." He stated, much to yuna's surprise, her eyes like plates, before she calmed and nodded. She continued with her healing spell, and once healed, he stood and smiled. "Feels liek I was ever hurt. Thanks!" He spoke happily, catching the attention of the older healers who inspected the wound before congratulating Yuna on her success.
Naruto and rikku left the temple after that, the lingering gaze of yuna on them, curious about the two of them, though she had every intention to get this sphere from cid from them. They bought anything else they might need, storing it away, before they waited for nightfall. Once it was dark, they slipped from under the canvas tent's edge behind the crusader's lodge and waited. Soon enough they heard rustling and found the brown haired girl, with blue and green eyes were yevon robes making her way to them.
"Here ya go. One sphere all ready from my old man." Rikku exclaimed, and yuna as blank for a few moments before she realized it. "Yep, that makes you my cousin yunie!" She excitedly whispered, pulling her cousin in for a hug, which was gladly returned. Though Yuna had a questioning look at naruto.
"Nah, I was adopted into the Al bhed. Seriously, when's the last time you saw an Al bed with such dashing whisker marks like mine." He boasted a bit with a smirk.
"Dashing huh? More like adorable. Especially when you pet them he purrs." She snickered, getting an indignant huff from naruto, and yuna started giggling. But the girl couldn't resist and id just that. Naruto was taken off guard that the apparently meek summoner in training would be forward, so caught off guard that he wasn't prepared to stop himself from purring and leaning into her hand reflexively. Then he came to realize and pushed her hand away, blushing and huffing, much tot he two girls amused giggles.
"Um..thank you. I wasn't sure how to get in contact with him. Mother said if I ever needed anything, to reach out to him. So this means a lot. and to see I have family, means more." She smiled as she looked to rikku, who smiled sheepishly in fake embarrassment, but a smile none the less.
"No problem... I'll ugh, leave you two alone then." Naruto stated, looking to rikku who had an expression of wanting to say something. He knew it was about yuna being a summoner, so he quickly retreated away and back into the lodge. That wasn't part of his business right now. And it was more of a family matter if he was being honest with himself. people all make their own choices, and he wouldn't interfere if he could help it. Though right now she was only in training, she still might fail, so until she was a full summoner, he relented to not doing much.
After a while, he walked out of the lodge and stretched, before he heard something and looked around to see the dark haired woman from before walking past the lodge to the woods behind it. Panicking, he rushed to catch up to her, but stopped silently when she stopped, close enough to listen in. From some of the sniffles he could hear as rikku's, he guessed that yuna had rejected her plea to leave the summoner's path. The woman and naruto were about t move forward when they heard yuna talking.
"So that boy...naruto. What's the story with him." She said with a lighthearted tone, with a teasing undertone. Naruo's stomach dropped and from a few sputtering words from rikku, her's too.
"w-w-what, what are you talking about it?" She said, confused but guarded now.
"Oh, just that you two are travelling alone apparently, comfortable with one another. Close. He's nice too, or so he seems. Lulu wouldn't let me anywhere near any of the boys around the village, but I know enough. So how long you know him." Yuna had a teasing grin on her face. Naruto wanted to smash his head into the dirt, and rikku, who was still emotional from their prior conversation and thus weak to yuna's prodding now, was helpless.
"About 5 years. But that doesn't mean anything I mean sure we've trained and worked together and..." She trailed off nto a little tangent about their time tgether and hearing it from her mouth, he realized they really did sped almost all of their time together. Yuna still had her teasing grin on. So she was milking this for all she could. He could she didn't get chances like this so she was taking a league when given a foot. "But even all that, I mean we're only friends..." Sh responded weakly.
"Sounds like more than just friends. Like best friends. Close friends, even maybe more." She whispered lowly and slowly, to stretch out her point. "You did say you crawled into his bed when you get scared. Sounds like more than just any friend you could have. He's special." Her words were reward with a heavy blush and naruto couldn't help his own blush. Lulu, the woman in black, seemed quite amused, so when she turned away to lave the girls to have their time, Naruto quickly kaihen'd into a litle forest animal and scampered away. Barely having escaped from that. He couldn't hear the rest of the conversation, but when he snuck back into the lodge, he quickly got into bed and tried to sleep.
However his mind was dictating him to think on all of what was said and honestly, he just wanted to bury himself. Thinking of rikku in that way...and even a complete stranger made those same remarks the others did, when they assumed they were just teasing them. Did they really seem that close in that way? A while later Rikku came back and she sighed as she got into her own bed. However through out the night a storm rolled in, and like usual, rikku crawled into his bed, snuggling against him. He held her purely on reflex, but as he did, he couldn't help but to think about what they meant t one another now. His mind kept thinking ad so, very little sleep came to him.
The next day, they were gearing up ready to lave when Yuna came to the lodge and invited them to a meal. They looked to each other a moment before they shrugged. Naruto was doing his best to act normal, so when they entered another tent and sat down around a table, they could see all who was gathered. Yuna was there, beside her was the ronso with the broken horn, whom yuna introduced as Khimarhi. Naruto and Rikku bowed respectively. They had already Met Wakka, and finally Lulu, who naruto saw the night before, unknown to her.
"I ugh, don't get many chances to talk to others my age, and you two are traveling, so I wanted to talk to you over a meal before you have to leave." The apprentice summoner spoke, though casting a glance to lulu, the two blue eyed blondes could likely guess it was because of lulu probably, who had the hint of a smile on her lips. The same red eyed dark haired beauty was appraising naruto, looking for the things the girls had talked about the night before in him no doubt. Great.
"It's no problem. We appreciate it. We usually eat by ourselves so this is nice." Naruto spoke, making his gratitude known. They all started to eat, but right in the middle of it, lulu spoke up.
"So are you two promised to each other?" Immediately both blondes were choking, trying to dislodge food from their throats before drinking down the block and breathing. The others were chuckling, grinning, snickering or giggling, even the ronso, at their reaction. Great, more people who enjoyed the past time of teasing apparently.
"What in spira gave you that idea?" Rikku came back, first to recover.
"Oh little things. Like how you keep glancing at each other. Little touches. Even how you share food. Really it's quite endearing how two so young can be so close." She said with a gentle smile that promised so much more embarrassment for the two. It came upon them that she was right and looked to each, before a maroon blush took over their faces as they looked away. Why was this happening!?
"Oh, so you two like that ya? No wonder you together then, who better to trust at your back than the one you want at your side huh?" Wakka interjected, and naruto put his forehead to the table, trying to bury his head into the wood to escape. Yuna was giggling, holding her stomach to try and keep from straight up laughing at their plight as the others had their fun. However both blondes were well aware that moments like these would be rare for a summoner, so they didn't make much of a hassle.
"Hmm, well, whatever the case, I hope you two well in your travels. Now how about we finish our meal so these two can make their boat on time. I'm sure they'll get all the privacy they want then." Lulu spoke with a wink at her final words, as her final bit of teasing. Yuna let out a full giggle, the ronso chuckled lightly while wakka let out a good laugh. The two blondes sighed and kept eating, the conversation that followed was much tamer in comparison, talking about where they planned to go. Following the summoners Pilgrimage path since it hit most every place possible, and would make them some good memories. Yuna requested a prayer at the temple, despite knowing their belief, more for their sake to hope them good travels, and finally a prayer at the idol on the pah out of the village.
At the docks, Yuna and lulu were the ones mainly seeing them off, Waka was with his team againa nd khimarhi was...somewhere. However as tey were about to board, they were stopped. "I'm aware of Yuna's Half Al bhed lineage. She told me what you did yesterday. I'd like to say thank you for bring that to her and bring her family to see her. It means a lot that she can have this. Tell cid I hope we can receive more spheres in the future, if possible. Otherwise, we wish to know a way to contact him." She spoke to the two, who were stunned a first, but smiled. Rikku pulled out something she'd been intending to give anyway, and handed it over.
"That's a complete manual for learning Al Bhed. I'd suggest learning it. Speak to any Al bhed you meet in our language and pass along whatever message or sphere you want to get to him, with directions to be taken to Leader Cid, like that, and they will see to it. No Al bhed will oppose their leader, or hinder a message meant for him. Other than that, there's not much else way to get a hold of him. But since you know Lulu." Rikku suddenly pulled yuna into a hug. "I'm gonna miss you yunie! Please just try to be careful and remember what I said okay?" Rikku asked, pleading to her cousin.
"I'll try. Just so long as you remember what I said." Yuna countered with a kind smile as rikku blushed ever so slightly before shaking it off.
They all said their farewells before their ship left port and were on their way back to kilika. The ride their was pleasant at first, but then it became awkward as they remembered everything that was said about them to them. They were leaning against the railing of the, looking out at the ocean. "So... um, yeah. Total strangers." Naruto remarked first.
"Yeah, they were...and they did." Rikku continued, her face growing warm. They didn't even need to say everything they were thinking, a few words was enough, which only further hammered in everything that was said to make the point that seemed obvious, but was hard as hell to approach. Both sighed and stole a glance at each other, but instead of looking away, they kept their eyes on each other's for a moment longer. They started to lean in, getting closer and not really thinking of what they were doing.
"Um...this a bad time Naruto?" Came a child's voice, which freaked both anruto and rikku so bad that they jumped and nearly fell overboard. Once bac on their feet, they turned to see a dark skinned boy in dark torn pants, wearing a pruple cest with good. He was smiling at the two of them knowingly, and he could sear if he could see his eyes they'd have an amused expression too.
"Bahamut, what are you doing here, I mean, what do you mean this is a bad time, No that's not important, well t is important but, I what I mean is..." Naruto started, flustered and rambling all to hell, but then came to realize what his being there meant. "Now?" He asked, once he calmed down. The boy nodded.
"Sin is getting closer and closer to awakening. Whatever your business in your homeworld, you need to see to it." The fayth spoke, his words barren of it's earler amusement.
"I am in my home world." He said with a note of finality. "But I will go to where I was born to settle everything. I will still have to come through on what we agreed yes?" He looked t the fayth who nodded. "Good, then I can safely come back home then." He finished, and the fayth smiled. Happy that naruto saw spira as his home.
"Wait, you're leaving now. But we just started on our journey together. I'm not ready for you to leave yet!" Rikku said, getting frantic over the thought of naruto leaving her. Naruto's expression became conflicted, not sure what to do, he didn't want to leave rikku either, but...
"Well, it's not as if I can only take one person with me you know." The fayth stated with an air of amusement. "We'll handle informing your father. But the time is now, Naruto, if you're to settle your business in the other world, it must be now." The fayth spoke once again. Hand extended out. Now that he was looking, he was aware that everything had stopped and it was just them talking. Naruto looked over to rikku.
Rikku was torn, going to another world was honestly scary, given naruto's childhood she learned off, she wasn't so sure about going to this konoha. But if they went, they could get stronger, and naruto could settle everything he needs to to come back home with her. Then there was that thought, even in another world, she'd be with Naruto. While it made her flush, she took comfort and security with that thought. So when she looked to naruto, she nodded and looked over to the fayth, giving him a firm nod as she held onto naruto.
Naruto smiled, eased he didn't have t be separated from rikku. Once all was in agreeance, he reached out and took Bahamut's hand. They disappeared from the S.S. Liki, from spira entirely as spira went on about it's business.
Back in Home, Cid was working on paperwork when he felt a presence and looked up to see a transparent person standing in front of him, of a beautiful woman garbed in a loose fabric with long braids affixed with metal ring ornaments. "Cid. My name is Shiva and I am to inform you that we have come for Naruto. It's time. However, there has been a slight change in plans." The female aeon spoke, much to the awed and confused man's interest, however, before the woman could continue, the old man sighed, leaning back in his chair.
"She went with him, didn't she?" Cid asked the aeon. Who nodded.
"You knew she would?" She questioned.
"Figured she would. I may be old but I can see how the two have grown on each other. Doesn't mean I'm just gonna take it easy on them though. Just do me a favor and look after them for me best as ya can. That's my little girl...and I'll never admit this to the brat, but he's become something of a son to me. Hard not to after looking after him for 5 years. So watch him too. Do that for me, and I'll be ?" he asked of the aeon before him.
She looked at him for a moment before nodding and vanishing. Cid sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he got back to work. Silently praying to whatever greater being thee was for Rikku's and naruto's safety.
So there's the chapter. Thoughts?