Crowd

By Karu Leonnese

Notes: My first attempt at a FFIX ficceh, and yet another BOATS (Based On A True Story). Figures I'd have to fall in love with the oddest pairing I can find. So we begin a collection of ficlets, the 'C' Series. All based on a few choice song lyrics and a rather unconventional couple -mutters- tho not in doujin… -coughs- Anyway, a little bit of one-sided fluff in this one, completely harmless, but rated 13 just cuz I don't rate anything lower. Long story.

Oh, and if anyone else has something on this couple, don't hesitate to contact meh. Meh and my Vivi plushie (homemade!) Will love you forever!

This ficlet's song is 'If You're Not the One' by Daniel Bedingfield, and it's in Vivi's POV.

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I don't wanna run away

but I can't take it , I don't understand

if I'm not made for you then

why does my heart tell me that I am?

I think it was about mid-evening when I started feeling bad. It's kind of hard to explain, like someone hit me real hard in the stomach. No doubt I'd taken my share of hits that day, but it wasn't quite the same. It had been a long day, with random monster attacks and Zidane and Garnet being all…weird. Nothing really out of the ordinary, so I didn't know what was causing it. Like I said, it's hard to explain.

All I could think of at the time was to go to bed early. At least if I was asleep, I couldn't feel my insides twisting. I walked into the room only to realize immediately that I wasn't alone. Being the small village that it was, the inn only had one available room for us, so the whole party was sharing. On one of the four beds in the room, Zidane and Garnet—I never really got the idea to call her Dagger. I suppose it just never came up with me, seeing as though I never called her by name anyway—were lounging. The princess had found some sort of book lying around and was leafing through it. Zidane, however, was merely staring blankly at the wall, chin resting on his fists and tail swishing idly.

"Hey Vivi…" his gaze flickered to me momentarily, before returning to whatever was so interesting about the wall. I waved a greeting before laying a bit unceremoniously on the bed furthest from the two.

Garnet paused her reading to look at me. "Are you okay?"

"'M fine," I muttered, laying on my back. Apparently whatever was on the wall was on the ceiling as well, because I found myself staring at it. "Sleepy…"

She seemed to want to say something else, but decided against it. An unknown amount of time passed where none of us said anything. After awhile I guess they thought I was asleep.

"Hey Dagger…" Zidane spoke up.

"Hmm?"

"Whatcha reading?"

She looked up. "It's a book on the importance of education among leaders of society. I found it on the shelf and thought it would pass the time."

"Can I see it?"

I guess Garnet either didn't hear the tone Zidane had in his voice, or she hadn't been around him long enough to know it. The tone that meant he was talking while smirking, which meant he was up to something. I found this odd, because we'd all known each other the same amount of time. Why did I know this and she didn't?

Either way, she handed him the book without a second thought. And Zidane, without a second thought, tossed the book across the room. It landed near the door, which was only a couple of feet from where I was laying.

"Zidane!" Garnet admonished, crossing her arms.

"What?" He grinned as innocently as he could, which wasn't very convincing.

"For one thing, you shouldn't treat books that way. They're important pieces of history that should be cared for. And secondly, you should be more careful. You almost hit Vivi."

I closed my eyes before the pair looked my way. I don't know why, but I wanted to hear them talk.

"Whoops. Sorry Vivi."

"He's asleep. I think you're working him too hard. He always looks so tired."

"That's not tired. At least not physically. He's thinking a lot harder than he should be. It wears him out. Not that I blame him."

"That's awfully philosophical of you," Garnet was impressed.

I was a bit surprised as well. Zidane was the first to understand anything about me. While I admit, walking around all day battling monsters isn't exactly something I'm used to, I'd been doing a lot of thinking lately, and feeling more and more tired as a result.

Zidane shrugged, flushing a bit under the scrutiny. "Well, y'know. I'm trying to look out for him. But I can't stop him from thinking, can I?"

"I suppose not…" Garnet trailed off, her anger at the blond disappearing.

My insides twisted again. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried not to move. After a moment it passed. I was beginning to worry. Though for some reason, the thought that Zidane was watching out for me made me happy.

"Zidane…?" The princess spoke up again.

"Yeah?"

"Why exactly did you throw my book?"

He grinned again. "Because it was distracting you."

She tilted her head curiously. "Distracting? From what?"

"From me!"

With a long-suffering sigh, the princess shook her head. "Attention starved, are we?"

"Of course!"

"What exactly am I to do with you?" She muttered a bit indignantly.

Zidane sat up cross-legged on the bed. His grin grew wider, if that was possible. "As long as it doesn't involve murder I'm pretty much up for anything."

The statement resulted in a laugh from Garnet. I was being ignored. Of course, that was a bit expected, since I'd led them to believe I was asleep. But it was interesting to hear them talk about me. What they really thought when they weren't just saying things to make me feel better.

For some reason, this made my stomach feel better. I considered actually going to sleep, or maybe even going back outside to look around. My thoughts were interrupted by a surprised high-pitched squeal. Garnet's face flushed bright pink, and she turned on Zidane.

"Don't DO that!" she hissed.

Zidane looked a bit confused. "Do what?"

"Your tail just brushed across my shoulder."

Zidane smirked. "Really? Why, are you ticklish or something?"

He moved toward her and she backed up an equal distance. "Zidane, don't. I'm warning you…"

"I consider myself warned," he replied, before jumping on her. She squealed again, trying uselessly to squirm away.

The pain returned, along with a feeling of annoyance. Were they always this loud while I was asleep? Was I that heavy a sleeper? What else could they get away with me not hearing?

Err…forget I thought that.

Zidane was laughing so hard he was having trouble breathing. Garnet was squealing and laughing at the same time, still trying to wiggle her way out of the situation. She flailed her arms around, trying to push the monkey off her. She finally succeeded in knocking him in the head, causing him to fall back. Unfortunately for him, this resulted in him falling entirely off the bed. He crashed to the floor with a bang.

Garnet gasped, immediately leaning over to check on him. "Are you okay?"

Zidane rubbed the sore spot on his hip where the majority of the fall had been absorbed. "That wasn't fun."

"Well, I did warn you."

He stuck his tongue out at her. "You suck."

She laughed again. Zidane stood, brushing himself off. He didn't move for a moment, just still in place, looking around the room.

"What're you doing now?" Garnet asked suspiciously. Finally, she had the right idea. Zidane was in one of his moods where he liked to mess with people.

The monkey shrugged. "Nothing in particular…"

"Then why are you just standing there?"

Arms clasped behind his back, he leaned over until he was inches from her face. He smiled sweetly. "Why princess, are you accusing me of being up to something?"

Yes.

"Maybe I am," she replied. "But I do have past records to back me up."

"Yeah?"

The twisting feeling came back. For some reason, I knew exactly what was going to happen next. I sat up suddenly, hoping he'd see me and stop. But I was too late, and only managed to have a great view as Zidane leaned in and kissed Garnet.

It felt like my entire stomach had just sank to my legs. I couldn't stand it anymore. Almost falling off the bed myself, I got to my feet and ran out the door.

Behind me, I heard Garnet gasp. Then Zidane muttered a curse.

I was too far gone to pay attention to them anymore. I managed to get outside the inn before I tripped as usual. I didn't get up. I just lay there on the stone sidewalk, cringing as my stomach flipped around like an acrobat circus.

"Vivi?" Zidane's head popped out of the doorway, looking around. He saw me on the ground. "Oh Vivi…"

I didn't want to talk to him. My stomach hurt too much.

He walked over to where I was and pulled me up. With a sigh, I fixed my hat, sitting down instead. Zidane sat down next to me.

"You okay?"

Was I? I didn't feel okay. I felt like my insides were trying to become my outsides. It wasn't a good feeling at all. "…Hurts."

He leaned down worriedly. "What? Where? Are you hurt somewhere?"

I shook my head, my gloved hands clamped around my middle. "My stomach hurts. Like it's doing flips. It's been doing it all day."

Zidane was quiet for a moment. Then, hesitantly, he asked, "Does this have anything to do with me and Dagger?"

I knew he meant what had gone on in the room. I tilted my head, thinking. "It made it hurt worse. So I came out here."

The blond let out a sigh of his own. "I'm sorry."

I was taken aback. "For what?"

He smiled wryly. "I'm pretty sure I know why your stomach hurts. And if I'm right, I'll bet it's my fault."

I didn't understand what he meant. "What are you talking about? How could it be your fault?"

"I'll explain it to you later. For right now, the most important thing is getting you cured. There's only one way to cure this, and that's to sleep."

I looked up at him. "But…I don't think I can sleep with my stomach hurting like this."

"Well, I'll help. It's a magic spell, so you have to lay on me."

I'd never heard of this kind of spell before. But Zidane obviously knew what he was doing, so I let my head lean on his shoulder.

"Okay, now I'm going to finish the spell, and your stomach should feel better. You ready?"

I nodded, closing my eyes. Then he wrapped his arms around me. I turned and looked at him quickly, but he just grinned at me.

"This is how the spell works, okay? Does it feel better?"

Blinking a few times, I found that it did. While there was still some traces of the awful feeling, it was slowly being replaced with a warm, comforting feeling. I closed my eyes again, snuggling up to him. "Yeah."

He rested his chin on my head, not letting go. He started rocking us back and forth slowly. "Good. You just go to sleep, okay? You'll feel better tomorrow. And if not, I'll just have to do this again."

I stifled a yawn, smiling at him. "Thanks."

"No problem."

He might have said something else, but I didn't hear it. I woke up the next morning in my bed. I sat up, looking around. Garnet and Zidane were still asleep, Garnet in the bed she had been reading on, and Zidane in the bed across from mine.

He was right. My stomach did feel better.

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Notes: Whee! Everyone's either going to love this or burn meh alive! -grins- Don't worry, I'm not up for all THAT, it's just a little cute stuff. I wouldn't pull all Zidane's tricks on the poor little guy. This just proves that he's still too gullible. But he's so cute! -spazzes, hugging her Vivi plushie- Anyway, comments of any kind are appreciated, including constructive criticism. I'm only on disc 2, so I might screw some things up. Next up is Zidane's POV!