editing an old story

The Thunder Plains were absolute hell for Rikku. She had managed to keep her fear to herself during their approach (her father had taught her well! Never show your weakness!) but as soon as the toes on her right foot touched the grey plains, her control shattered (so much for her father’s lesssons). For the entire first day of travel she had tried endlessly to convince the party to turn back and try another way by means of begging, yelling, clinging, and, as a last desperate attempt, throwing bombs. Nothing worked, and all she got for her troubles were a series of frowns and a whack on the head, courtesy of the ever-so-helpful Tidus.

With each bolt of lightening she trembled, with each crash of thunder she cried. Rikku grew positively hysterical and not even the ever stoic Kimahri could hold his tongue. "Rikku need to be quiet. She will gather the attention of enemies." His observation was duly noted by his companions and Tidus tried his best to stuff a handkerchief into her mouth to shut her up.

"Bastards," she mumbled through chattering teeth. Why weren’t they running amuck in terror like her? They were strolling along like it was a walk in the park, all smiles and sunshine. It wasn’t her fault that they were incurably insane! "Um, hello? Do you guys want to be fried little splotches of guts on the ground? 'Cause that's what happens when you get struck by lightening. And yeah, that's generally not a good thing. Are you guys listening to me?"

The journey took hours; it seemed like ever five steps a monster would challenge them and force them into a battle that took practically a lifetime. At long last they reached an inn and after squeals of hope and fear from the blond, Auron agreed to a night under its roof. Only a night, he warned, not without anger and impatience in his voice, and not only moment longer.

---

"Eeeeah!" Rikku bolted up in her bed as another roll of thunder shook the inn. Her heart pounded like... well... Thunder in her chest and it took a moment for her to conquer the dread that had numbed her body senseless. In the bed next to her Yuna mumbled in her sleep and rolled over. Rikku flushed and bit her lip, feeling guilty that she had caused her cousin so many problems during her quest. Yuna gave so much and received so little, especially from her, Rikku thought sheepishly. She slipped out of bed determined to sleep elsewhere so that she would not wake the exhausted Summoner. As she left the room she glanced at the slumbering Kimahri who lay at the foot of Yuna’s bed, and, feeling a twinge of guilt for him too, pulled the blanket off her bed, covering the lionman with its warmth. His eyes opened, signaling that he had woken up even though his mistress had not, but closed after Rikku had pressed a finger to her lips and shushed any movement he may have planned to make.

As soon as Rikku stepped into the hallway she regretted her choice. Lightening flashed through the windows and thunder screamed in the sky and Rikku echoed it with her own moan of fright. She began to shiver out of fear and coldness and fought down the urge to cry. Lower lip trembling she headed towards Lulu's room - somehow Lulu’s displeasure at being awakened seemed favorable to Yuna’s sweet understanding. Rikku preferred a straight out argument to Yuna’s guilt-inducing sighs. Her bare feet padded on the cold wooden floor and she rubbed her hands over her arms to try to inspire warmth. "Cold. Lonely." She said out loud to herself, her voice quiet not to wake her friends but loud enough to block out far-off thunder.

Lightening flicked light into the hallway as Rikku pushed the door open that lead to Lulu's room. "Just me," she whispered to Lulu as she climbed in bed. "Couldn't sleep. I’m sorry to disturb you but I didn’t want to keep up Yunie. You know how she is. She'll make that sad face of hers and then I'll feel really bad and gouge my eyes or something." In the darkness she could only make out a general shape in the bed but she could tell that Lulu hadn't turned over yet. Relieved that she hadn't woken her up, Rikku snuggled into the bed's warmth, feeling completely better and for the first time since entering the Plains, safe. "'Night."

A particularly resounding thunder blast won a squeak from Rikku. She squeezed her eyes shut and pushed against her bedmate's back. It was then that she began to realize that something wasn't right about her situation; Lulu's back wasn't that hard was it? Or that large? Rikku sat up, confused and curious. "Damn, I didn't climb into bed with Tidus, did I? Tidus, move your big butt over, you're taking up the entire mattress. And you'd better not snore, 'cause if you do, you'd better believe that Yunie will hear all about it."

"Don't you ever shut up?"

Rikku’s blood froze. "Sir Auron?!"

oh god, the lack of an in-character auron...

"Nothing to be frightened of."

"I feel better now." Rikku’s voice was muffled but he could still make out her words, "You smell nice. Feel good, too. Kinda like cookies, you know? Awesomely warm cookies that just came out of the oven. Mmm," she fairly purred.

Auron’s back straightened and he shot back to attention. He pulled her off him as if she were a leach and held her up in the air and away from him. "What?"

The girl looked as surprised as he was. Her already enormous eyes were huge and the swirls were hypnotic in the flashes of lightening. When she gathered her wits she pushed out her lower lip and folded her arms across her petite chest. "Come on, I was just hugging you. Don’t look so shocked. There’s nothing wrong with some physical contact every now and again. You’re such a stuck-up prude. You're as bad as Yunie sometimes, actually, and damn can she get annoying. Not that I don't love her - she's awesome and way cooler than me. But anyway, she's getting hitched to this guy, right? And so I try to explain the birds and then bees because people should just know these things and then she practically burst into tears. And I hadn't even gotten past the kissing part."

"What do you know about these things?" Just how had the conversation gotten this far?

"I know lots of interesting stuff. I seen things... Things that no sane person should ever have to see. Like a naked Guado. See, Brother had this magazine - nevermind. Let's not go there." Rikku blushed and stared at him for a moment before wiggling out of his grasp. She tumbled onto the bed and stood up, hands on her hips and nose high in the air. "Besdies, it's not like I was born yesterday. As a matter of fact, I was born years ago. I've got a good sixteen years of experience behind me," she announced with a proud grin. "And don't you forget it."

He sighed, feeling older and greyer than ever before. What was he doing, blaming a teenager for his actions? She wasn’t capable of making decisions like he was. He should have left the room the minute she stepped into it. "Exactly. You’re sixteen years old and you don’t know what you want."

"I know what I want," she sniffed, "I know exactly what I want."

"What is it, then?"

"Er," her resolve left her and she played with the edge of her shirt instead of answering. "Well, it doesn’t matter." Looking up she poked a finger into his chest and jabbed him as she continued to talk. "And I don’t what got you into such a tizzy; all I wanted to do was get some sleep! You’ve got nothing to worry about, trust me. You’re my traveling companion, and that’s all. Me sleeping in here is just like me sleeping in Lulu’s room or Yuna’s room or even Tidus’ room. Not like I want to sleep with Tidus. A hundred gil says that he drools. Now, are you going to stand there and grumble or are you going to be mature and go to bed?"

She was accusing him of being immature? Slack jawed; Auron couldn’t find the words to express his jumbled feelings and settled instead for actions. He practically fell back into his bed, boots still on, and shook his head, disgusted with himself. She had made a point – the relationship between them was that of mutual dependence in regards to safety. By denying to share a sleeping space with her, he acknowledged that there was something else other than a professional bond between them. She had beaten him, and with logic, no less! He had been the one to get emotional, not her. "Damn."

Rikku, for her part, looked as happy as a moogle. Pleased to have had Auron bend to her demands, she patted him on the head as if he were a dog. "See? And you didn’t burst into flames or anything. Sometimes you just need to suck it up and give in." Rikku pulled the covers up again and closed her eyes. "At first I thought that you’d refuse on account of my race but I guess that I was wrong. I’m glad that you don’t dislike me for being an Al Bhed."

"No," Auron agreed, "For a completely differently reason."

It took a second for Rikku to digest the insult but when it hit home she made up for lost time by bonking him on the noggin with her pillow. She was all fire now, sitting up on her knees with her feathery weapon in hand, her eyes bright as sacred emeralds and hair whirling around her face. "You jerk!" She smacked him again, pillow landing satisfyingly in his face before it flew across the room. "You big, inconsiderate jerk!"

Rikku didn’t let the loss of her weapon slow her down however and with a curse in Al Bhed she tackled Auron. It was completely in vain; Rikku was like a fly trying to do battle with a horse. Auron caught her small fists and held them back with ease and, instead of looking injured by the attack, his lips actually quirked a smile. He sat up, spilling her from atop his chest to his lap.

"Yeah, okay, so you've won this round. But I always come back with a vengence. I'm just amazing like that. I'm like bam! totally in your face with an awesome attack." Rikku paused long enough to pant a few desperate breaths. "You think just because you're tall and have a big-ass sword that you're the leader of the group and can get away with murder. You got lucky, pal, so don't let it go to your head."

She climbed off and collapsed in the pile of blankets. "I'll still battle you for this bed," she said at last, "Loser has to sleep on the ground."

"Or you could just return to your room," he suggested in a voice that made it sound more like a demand than a helpful proposal.

"No dice," she said with a sigh, "I don't want to wake Yunie up and I'll bet you another hundred gil that Wakka's trying to sneak into Lulu's bed so I definately don't wanna go to her room. And I already told you about Tidus."

"I'll try my luck."

"Wait, no, Aur-"