A Warrior and a Thief Ch2

Chapter Two: Approval

(Moonflow)

“Yo!” came an accented voice from Rikku’s right.
She looked away from Tidus to see a rather odd group of people heading towards her. She barely had a chance to get a good look at all of them, but she did notice that Yuna and Lulu were in the bunch, something that didn’t surprise since she had just tried to kidnap one of them. Before she could speak, the big guy who had first addressed them was now only a few feet away and speaking again, this time directly to Tidus.
“Friend o’ yours?” the nearly half-naked man asked.
Tidus scratched his head, a maneuver that Rikku had seen more than once in the short time she’d known him. “Uh, eh, you could say that,” he replied.
She smiled and put up her hand in a friendly wave, determined to get a word in. “Please to meet ya! I’m Rikku.”
“Yuna, Lulu,” Tidus began, “I told you about her, remember? She was the one who helped me before I was washed up on Besaid. She’s an Al Bhe…eyah…”
She didn’t know Tidus stoped in mid sentence, but big guy with the pointy hair didn’t seem to notice.
“Wow,” the guy said, “So you, like, owe her your life? What luck meeting here, ya? Praise be to Yevon.” When the guy went into the prayer motions, she realized why Tidus had cut himself off moments before, and was now very aware that revealing her Al Bhed background probably wasn’t the best idea. “So, uh, Rikku,” the guy continued, now facing her, “You look a little beat up. You okay?”
This guy was definitely not the brightest pyrefly on the Moonflow. She was relieved to hear Lulu step in.
“Uh…Wakka…” the black mage began.
“Huh,” Wakka answered, turning towards Lulu, “What?”
Yuna spoke up for the first time. “There’s something we need to discuss.”
“Oh,” he said, clearly not getting the hint, “Go ahead.”
Rikku decided to step in yet again, walking over to Yuna’s side. “Girls only! Boys, please wait over there.”
Lulu uncrossed her arms. “Right. Sorry, Wakka.”
“Huh? What?” Wakka said as they walked away.
When Lulu, Rikku, and Yuna were a safe distance away from the men, Rikku was the first to speak. “Whew, that Wakka guy needs to be hit over the head a few times, huh?”
“He has his moments,” Lulu admitted.
Rikku shrugged, “I guess I’ll have to get used to it.”
“What do you mean?” Yuna asked, finally chiming in.
“I wanna be your guardian,” Rikku announced, smiling widely and straightening her posture for a moment, “If I can’t keep you safe with the Al Bhed, the least I can do is protect you with these guys, ya know?”
“It’s harder than it sounds,” Lulu warned.
Rikku nodded vigorously, “I can take it. As long as I’m with Yunie, I’m fine.”
Yuna smiled at the mention of her nickname. “I’d love to have you with me on my pilgrimage.”
Rikku shot a triumphant fist into the air. “Then it’s all settled!”
“Just one thing,” said Lulu, “Let’s try to keep yours and Yuna’s lineage a little quiet. We don’t need Wakka’s overreaction.”
“I figured,” Rikku admitted.
Yuna softly spoke up once again, “And you must present yourself to Sir Auron. His approval is as important as mine. It would feel wrong to let you join if he had an issue with you being a full fledged Al Bhed.”
Rikku had heard of the legendary guardian before. “I guess that makes sense,” she replied.
“Since Sir Auron will most likely find out,” Lulu said, “You must also remember to not mention your relation to Yuna. That way, even if Wakka does find out about your lineage, he will still be in the dark about Yuna.”
“He’d still be in the dark about a lot of things,” Rikku quipped.
The all female huddle broke up at that point, with Yuna and Rikku making their way over to Auron, the latter hanging behind a step or two. Auron was standing quetly nearby with his back turned to the group, normal behavior for a man such as him.
“Sir Auron?” Yuna said, getting the warrior’s attention enough so that he turned to face her. “I would like Rikku to be my guardian.”
Auron looked from Yuna to Rikku, studying the new girl. Rikku looked down at the ground as he stepped over to her. She felt his shadow slide over her and, despite her outgoing personality, she couldn’t help but feel a bit insecure. This tall, able, strong, historical presence was looming over her, and it was all up to him as to whether or not she could guard Yuna. On one hand she didn’t care what he thought, she would guard Yuna no matter what this silly old man thought of her. One the other hand, his presence alone was a force to be reckoned with. The whole encounter made her feel off balance.
“Show me your face,” he lightly demanded in his rough voice.
“Huh?” she said, even though she knew exactly what he was looking for.
“Look at me.”
“Oh. Okay.” She tilted her head up, but kept her eyes closed in an admittedly lame attempt to keep him from finding out.
Obviously, he wasn’t fooled. “Open your eyes.”
Was that humor or condescension in his tone? She tried to figure out which one it had been as she reluctantly opened her left eye just enough so that he could get a look at her tell tale swirled irises.
“As I thought,” he said.
She gently clasped her hands in front of, her eyes still cast downward. “Um…no good?”
“Are you certain?”
Now he was sounding slightly concerned, but with that dry, coarse voice she couldn’t be sure. Looking up at him with both eyes open for the first time, she smiled and answered his question honestly. “One hundred percent.” He was silent after that, and she took that as a green light. “So, anyway,” she began, trying to break the silence and somehow take the edge off of his penetrating stare, “can I?”
He looked over at Yuna. “If Yuna wishes it.”
“Yes, I do,” Yuna answered confidently.
Auron walked away then, but she barely had time to notice since only a moment later Tidus had begun to speak. “Rikku’s a good girl. She helped me a bunch.”
“Mhm!” she agreed with an enthusiastic nod of the head.
“Well I’m for it,” Wakka said, “The more the merrier.”
“Right-o!” she chirped, raising her hand, “Then I’ll just have to be the merriest! Rikku, at your service!”