A/N: I gues I could've put this in the X-2 section, but I think there are more AuronXRikku fans over here. Anyway, this is just a silly little one-shot. Probably OOC. Ask me if I care :P
I don't own it.
Elbows
Leaning on her elbows, she reached out and took his shades from the nightstand and slipped them on. Over her shoulder and the top of the frames, she shot a glance at him. She pulled the glasses down over her nose, lifted them up to rest on her head. Her hair was all loose, blonde and braids and beads. She swept it to one side then, exposing her bare skin. The sheet was pooled deliciously at her waist.
"What was it like?" she asked after a while, fingers plucking, plucking at the pillow case.
He didn't know how to answer.
"It was like… nothing. I thought that I was dreaming." He paused, wet his lips, trying to recall a time that was outside of memory.
"Tell me more... like, um… What did it look like?"
"What did it look like?" he repeated in consternation.
"Mm," she murmured, rolling over. She flung her arms over her head. When she glanced at him, a smile stole over her face. He was sitting up in bed. There had been a newsprint placed thoughtfully on the table when they checked into the room. Neither of them was entirely sure how long ago that had been. He had the newsprint open now, and was looking at it, but not really paying attention.
"You look really domesticated," she said, with a little thrill passing through her that she was the only one to see it. "I like it."
He folded the paper, and turned to look at her.
"Come here," he sighed.
Grinning, she scooted closer. He wrapped his arms around her and pressed a firm kiss into her hair. She leaned her cheek on his shoulder, then squirmed violently away again when his fingers traveled down her side and began to tickle her.
He chuckled. She loved the sound of it, deep and vibrating like a drum.
"Meanie," she said, from the safety of the other side of the bed. She yawned hugely into her hand.
"Mm," he replied.
A moment passed. His memories were fluid, slipping through his grasping fingers. Light. Pyreflies and light. Colors dashing across a vast expanse of sky. He did not know.
"…I don't think it looked like anything," he said eventually. "Nothing I can… put into words."
She turned to look at him with interest.
"Was Tidus there? And Braska and Jecht?"
"I think so. Sometimes, I thought they were, at least."
"Well, did they say anything?"
"Not exactly. No. I… felt things from them. There were no words there."
"What sorts of things?"
"I think they were mostly proud of – everything. Content. I can't remember anything else."
"And how did you feel…?"
Pause. With his eyes, he searched the ceiling.
"I felt… alone."
She scooted close to him again, hiding her face against his shoulder. Her legs grazed his, bare skin and the coverlet. It was like slipping back into the rut of habit, to feel her again, a mixture of the fresh and familiar. She threw an arm over his chest and he was glad.
"Poor baby," she sighed after a moment.
"Hm."
"I felt alone, too," she whispered.
Again, he pressed a kiss to her hair, then lower, at her temple. She turned to capture his lips. There was a quiet burning within each of them that leapt up as they pressed their bodies closer and closer. The first few times, they had been frenzied, delirious, asking 'are you there?' without the words. Now their lovemaking was slow, full of sighs and drowsy kisses. Neither of them spoke.
Afterward, she could not drift to sleep. She was sticky, and although her skin stuck to his where they touched, she stayed close. Her body was mush, boneless, hot and melted muscles. She curled her toes and it was so good.
But she had never been one to sit still for long. She realized his sunglasses had fallen off her head, and were digging into her hip. She pulled them out, and tossed them carelessly to the other side of the bed. Her hands found the long queue of hair that was tied back at the base of his neck. Earlier, she had teased him about how long it was. Now she threaded her fingers through it, made a little braid, undid it, started over. A little smile worked its way over her face.
"What are you doing?" he said. His voice was heavy, gruff with sleep, and she felt the rumble of it in his chest.
"Nothing," she answered, innocently.
"Somehow, I don't believe that."
She giggled. "What, don't you trust me?"
"One can never trust a thief."
"Oh, ha ha. Very funny. You know, I think you missed your calling in life. Warrior? Nah, you should have been a comic. Everybody loves a comedian."
"…Being a guardian is not without its benefits."
"Like what?" she asked. She raised her head from his chest to look at him. His eyes were closed. One corner of his mouth lifted. "Fame and glory…" she guessed.
"Mm," he agreed. "Beautiful women falling at your feet…"
She laughed, and then raised her hand and smacked him flat on the shoulder. It didn't hurt. "Should I be jealous?"
"No," he said simply, opening his eye to look at her directly. She blushed and he saw that it went all the way down to her chest.
"You think I'm beautiful," she grinned. Then her brows drew together. "But, hey, who says I fell at your feet?"
"You fell at everybody's feet. Multiple times."
"I wasn't that clumsy," she grumbled into his collarbone. "You know, they say that memory is the first thing to go."
Suddenly, he was leaning over her, and she was the one on her back. She looked up at him with wide eyes. He told himself that this was something he would remember.
"Who says that?" he murmured by her ear.
"Not me," she said, wrapping her arms around him, twining around his neck, hands splayed across his back and shoulders.
His mouth was hot. After a moment, she unwrapped herself and twisted coyly away, giggling. She rolled over onto his sunglasses, winced, and then pulled them out from under her and slipped them on. She looked at him over the frames, as before.
"I'm in love with you," she said abruptly, as if she had decided it just then. She smiled. "Are you in love with me, too?"
Both of them knew already that he was.
"I suppose that I am," he sighed, giving in. "Of course I am."
"Well, good. I would hate to think that you would do this with just about any girl."
When he kissed her, she felt it all the way down to her toes. In the middle of it, he took his shades off of her, and dropped them blindly and fumblingly back on the nightstand where they would not get in the way. His rough hand traveled from shoulder to hip and gripped her there.
They didn't hear the knock the first few times. The third time, she opened her eyes and pulled away. They looked at each other, dazed. The knock came again.
"Rikku! Are you there?"
She blinked.
"It's Tidus," she said, surprised. He gave a long-suffering sigh as he sat up, but he was smiling in his way.
She scrambled from the tangle of sheets and off the bed. Hastily, she picked up his great coat from where it had landed on the floor some time ago and wrapped it around her like a robe. It was too big, and some of it dragged on the ground behind her as she crossed the room to the door. She looked over her shoulder, and stuck her tongue out at him at the theft of his coat. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he shook his head as hecompleted the tie on the waist of his pants.
Making sure the red coat was closed enough that nothing was exposed, she opened the door a crack and peered out.
"Hi there. Yes, I'm here," she said. Tidus was standing in front of her, then Yunie behind him, and Paine, too. They looked at her, incredulous. She blushed and tried to lighten the moment, "Um, did you guys not see the 'do not disturb' sign, or what?"
"You said you would be back in an hour," Yuna reminded her. "When you never returned, we were worried. We finally started asking around at the inns…"
"Oh." The truth was, she had forgotten the rest of the world was out there. Now she felt a stab of guilt.
"But you've been here all this time?" asked Tidus.
"Just out of curiosity…" she tapped a finger against her cheek. "What exactly do you mean by 'all this time'?"
Yuna and Tidus exchanged glances.
"Well, you went out to collect that sphere that Brother detected…" Yuna began, thinking back.
"It's been three days," Paine interjected shortly, one hand on a jutting hip.
"It has?" she said, surprised. Her eyes darted back into the room where he was still sitting on the edge of the bed. He raised an eyebrow at her. She turned back to the others. "Gee, sorry. I was… er, distracted."
There came a muffled snort from within the room.
"Okay," she continued, "well, as you can see, I'm just fine, so…"
"I guess the rumors are true, then," said Paine coolly, in her usual manner. "Sir Auron has returned to Spira."
Yuna's and Tidus's eyes went wide, zeroing in on the red coat she was wearing. She blushed until she was the exact same shade.
Yuna was the first to recover.She laughed out loud. Then she turned to Tidus and tugged him away. "I think we ought to let them be for now. Rikku will contact us later." She winked. "Way to go, Rikku! I'm glad."
Tidus kept looking over his shoulder. "So, Auron is… alive?"
In reply, she grinned at Tidus and gleefully shut the door in his face. That done, she whirled around to look at the spot where he was sitting on the edge of the bed. He smiled softly at her, and the grin would not leave her face.
It was another day and half before they left the inn.
Rikku knew the sphere was somewhere on the Mi'hen High Road, but she had asked to be dropped off in Luca. The High Road was hardly dangerous, and the sphere wouldn't be difficult to find.
She had business in Luca first, though, and that business was that new pair of knives in the weapon shop window and a date with the potions seller. She decided to stock up on potions first, just to warm up her haggling skills.
Rikku stood in front of the potions display, but the vender was busy with another customer. She rocked back and forth on her heels as she waited, brushed her hands over the tops of the bottles absently.
"I hope you're not thinking of slipping one of those into your inventory without paying."
"I am not –" she whirled around, insulted, and at first all she could see was a black breastplate. Her eyes went up to the face, and she forgot to breathe. Her mouth was open, but no sound came out.
"Are you alright?" he asked, when she had not moved for too long.
"You're… are you…" here she had to stop to sniffle wetly. "…are you alive?"
"Yes," he said gently. "I don't know how… yes."
"Good." she scrubbed a hand across her eyes. She forgot about the potions, the new knives, the sphere. "If you weren't, it probably wouldn't be a healthy thing, in the long run, for me to do this."
With that, Rikku hooked an arm around Auron's neck and pulled him down for a kiss.
A/N: Because I was tired of reading about Auron and Jecht and Braska all hanging out at the local Farplane bar and chatting it up with the fayth. I don't think that's really how it works /
And because I wanted to give them a happy ending, and I thought the best way to do that was to bring Auron mysteriously back to life, so that he and Rikku could have marathon sex :D
And I was dying to write that ending line. So there ya go.
That said, I think it's pretty amazing that I got four full pages out of this.
I'd love to know what you all think.