Chasing Yuna

-
Fact #1: Fairies are made out of light, and light doesn't touch darkness.

Therefore, fairies: cannot get hurt by traveling through dark corridors.

Which leads to Fact #2: They can travel wherever they want.

Even other worlds.

Even other worlds off the Farplane they're born in.

Which is very far away.

From anything.

-

Rikku sighs and flops down into her seat, sipping on a soda with glee. Blitzball game--good players only come once a hundred years, and great players? Once in a thousand!

"Oh, Yunie, I love being human!"

Yuna jitters and starts at the sound, probably still getting used to her new human ears.

They can really only do this at night. No one knows why. They are beings of light, who can transform into bigger beings only in the darkness.

Logic? Please. They're fairies--they can bypass logic.

Somewhat.

Rikku hasn't been human for centuries--sure, she's got no wings and she feels naked, but the colors! Everything stands out to these little human eyes, especially colors. She doesn't know why. Orange is a shocker on her skin, which is weird because when they were fairies Rikku didn't notice much of anything, she just sort of drifted through aimlessly while Yuna and Paine did all the work.

Yuna is sort of really super-nice, especially in human form--all polite and out of the way. She probably feels trapped in this body.

Paine doesn't seem to care about the colors or the sounds, but even for a fairy she was pretty aloof and didn't notice anything.

So this is why, when something bad happens and a blitzer kicks his teammate in the face, Yuna is the first to react, hands fluttering nervously at her mouth while she and the rest of the audience sort of crowds down into the first row seats to see what's happened.

Humans are weird.

Rikku stays behind curiously and sees a spurt of red engulf the blitzer's head, then spread slowly around the big sphere of pyreflies till there's a bright pinkish tinge to everything.

Paine says nothing, all gloomy and dressed in black, like she usually is.

"Ohh, I hope it's not serious," Yuna mumbles through her fists. She sort of takes half a step down into the aisle and then stops as a rush of more people brings her along with them. "Agh...!"

"Um, Yu-naaa..." Rikku points to the big blitzball sphere, not noticing that her cousin is literally going with the flow. "Should it really be turning more red? Yuna? The blood? Pyreflies? It's turning red as we speak, and the--we should be doing something right now, right? I--"

Paine takes a more initiative approach. "Yuna!" she snaps, grabbing Yuna's arm with a black leather gloved hand and stopping her in the empty aisle while the bloody pyreflies start casting an eerie red glow over the arena. "Emergency sending! Now! The blitzers are going berserk!"

Indeed they are, Rikku takes in, as most of the remaining blitzers are fleeing the glowing red orb out of fear for their lives.

Yuna takes one good look at the glowy red sphere that's swallowing several of the blitzers whole hungrily and then nods decisively.

"I'm on it, Paine--thanks."

Her staff snaps into existance and she just starts, right there, no preparation or anything. Just panicked screams were all she needed to hear and soon the happy little pyreflies are actually chugging their way to the Farplane, where they are sort of... born?

And soon, the only thing that's left of the blitzball game is a mass of red water that slops all over the seats and some very unhappy blitzers. They file out of the entrances slumping dejectedly, one of them holding his hand to his face with a wet, gloopy mess streaming out of it. He's cute with spiky brown hair and Rikku would totally go for him if his face wasn't so messy right now.

"Oh, ew ew ew!!" Rikku dances nervously, trying to avoid getting the red water stains on her bright orange clothes. "What, was that from the blitzer who got kicked?! In the face?! How much blood can come out of one human, anyway, and whoa! Yuna! Where are you going?"

Yuna's just zapped into fairy form with a little squeak of fear and she's squealing and running away right now, but Rikku doesn't know what's happening until she turns around and sees this young, hot, wet, hot blitzer staring after Yuna with this look on his face. Like he's just fallen in love.

And suddenly Rikku gets this really weird feeling in her stomach like something big is going to happen, and not just a mass panic from bloody pyreflies.

The blitzer (who Rikku has labeled 'The. Hottest. Blitzer. EVER.') stares after her cousin for one more second before taking off in a whoosh of lukewarm air, and Rikku is like whoa because she thought people could only move that fast underwater--well, blitzers, anyway--and is that blonde hair Rikku spied on his head? Because she really likes blondes and if Yuna's freaked out by him Rikku will totally take him and--

"Wait!" the blitzer yells. "I just wanted to talk to you!"

Then Paine steps up in human form and smacks her. "Move, bitch! You can't see your cousin's in trouble?!"

'Cousin' and 'trouble' are the only words Rikku really hears and she goes, "I'm on it, Paine! Hang on, Yunie, one Rikku-style rescue coming right up!"

Rikku shrinks to fairy size and flies after the blitzer and Yuna and then Rikku goes kind of nuts--because the first two? They've gotten a head start on Paine and Rikku, and the gap is not getting any smaller. "Oh my god, what do we do?! What do we do?!"

And Paine smacks her again, on the back of the head, and snaps, "Teleport!"

Fairies can teleport. Right! Suddenly everything makes sense because... well, Paine wasn't next to her before.

"Okay!" Rikku takes a deep breath and concentrates on the fading blot of pink and blue in front of the hot, wet, blitzer. "I want to be where Yuna is! Right now!"

And then suddenly there she is, in front of Yuna. Who is mad-crazy and flapping around because she doesn't know what to do in this situation.

"Hang on, Yunie, I'll take care of it!"

And just as the three foot gap Yuna had on him shrinks rapidly, Rikku explodes to human form and pulls her arm back in a fist.

Wait for it--wait for it--

Pow!

Right in his suntanned face!

"Ha!" Rikku laughs triumphantly as the blitzer stops in his tracks, clutching his face. "Betcha didn't know we could do that, huh Yunie's stalker?!"

He jerks back in slow motion and his free hand windmills in an attempt to keep him from falling backwards--which fails miserably as he tilts back really, really far.

Rikku winds up for another one, but before she can do it Yuna's in human form and pulling the arm away.

"Wait--stop! Rikku, stop!"

So she stops, dumbfounded, as the blitzer lands on the ground with a weird sort of whimpering noise and Paine drifts in nonchalantly.

Yuna goes to his side and props him up gently. "Look... you made him cry..."

This would have been enough to stop anyone, and even Paine looks kind of weirded out as Rikku's face works into an expression she hopes isn't embarrassing, because when did she ever see a human boy cry?

One look at him and Rikku's done being a protective younger cousin.

"Aww, nuts, Yunie, I didn't mean to make him cry!"

"I'm not crying!" he sobs through his arm.

"I just wanted to smack him around a little!" Rikku continues, in a completely justified manner. "You know, scare him off you!"

"It's reflex tears!" he snarls, before letting out this hiccupy wail and Paine just sort of stands there uncomfortably.

When have they ever seen a human boy cry?

The blitzer takes a struggling breath and then finishes weakly, "I'm not crying..."

"Yes... you are..." Yuna is done being self-conscious as there is someone that needs to be helped. And being the super-nice person that she is, she conjures up a handkerchief with one hand and starts wiping his tears away. Like magic.

And if that wasn't enough bloody red waterworks for today, the kid starts crying even harder at this one touch of kindness and it is downright...

Oh god this is uncomfortable.

"Look. I'm..." Yuna thinks for a second and then asks gently, "What's your name?"

"T-tidus..." He sniffles to a stop and scrubs at his eyes himself.

"Okay..." Yuna sighs while she gets rid of the handkerchief (which is bloody and red and disgusting). "My name is Yuna... Tidus... and I feel really bad for letting Rikku beat you up, so I'm going to grant you one wish, okay?"

"This is a bad idea," Paine mutters under her breath. But since she's actually directing it to Rikku while they're three feet away, chances are Yuna hasn't heard.

Rikku thinks this is a bad idea, too, but she also feels they have to do something for making him cry like that.

She skims around the word 'I' because this is totally not her fault, and if--

"Really?" He gets this kicked-puppy-full-of-hope-for-a-warm-and-caring-home sort of look and explodes, "Will you go out with me?!"

"Ugh!" Paine smacks her forehead disgustedly as Yuna looks startled and confused.

"Well... yes..." Yuna nods slowly. "If that's what you want..."

"Yes!!" And he pumps a fist in the air like nothing ever happened--then he gets up quickly. "Hang on--I have to go tell my friend I'm sorry for kicking him in the face. See you later, Yuna!"

And he runs off looking much better, like he hadn't been crying his eyes out two seconds earlier.

Paine whips over to Yuna's side and looks angry enough to yank at Yuna's hair tail. "That. Was. Dumb. Luck."

"I didn't know he was going to ask me for a date," Yuna reasons half-heartedly.

"Now you're stuck with it both ways," Paine tells her bluntly. "I blame Rikku entirely."

"Hey!" Rikku thinks for a moment about telling Paine off for something that was totally not her fault, then gives it up for something more pressing. "You know, Yuna, that guy looked really in love with you. Seriously!"

Rikku jumps to Yuna's side and babbles on relentlessly. "I bet he saw you dance to send the pyreflies back. You look so pretty when you dance, Yuna, and it's not just the hair or the flippy beads in the wind sort of thing, it is you! All you! Although if I were you I'd go for someone a little... less..."

"Someone who's less of a crybaby," Paine drawls.

"...You stop it!" Yuna turns her back on them and walks off, before remembering she's a fairy and she can fly. She pops back into fairy form and hovers, at the same time lecturing them. "Paine, that was completely uncalled for, and... and you were already mean enough to him, Rikku! So stop it!"

"Er... okay..."

Confused at this sudden change in Yuna, Rikku and Paine both shrink back to their usual size and get their colorful selves back to the Farplane, where they will fabricate stories about having just moved to the Destiny Islands and fake backgrounds and all sorts of things.

-

If this hadn't started out so weirdly (bloody pyreflies?), then this might have been a good thing coming, Rikku thinks. I wonder if Yuna will sort of toughen him up since she's older than him by a few centuries or... something...

But really, Rikku knows that Yuna isn't that sort of person and she would probably do what she just did tonight--grant a wish for Tidus every time he cries in hopes that it will make him feel better. And maybe Yuna will get a little tougher and not get walked all over because she has someone to look after, and she won't say please and thank you so very often and make Rikku feel like a complete idiot about manners, and... and...

It. Is. Gonna. Be. Great! Rikku thinks. I get to spend more time with my best buddy Paine!

Yuna is flying ahead of them, with her chin a little higher than usual.

Rikku is already seeing the effects.

It is awesome!

Her cousin is gaining more self-esteem!

Paine glares as Rikku clutches her arm contentedly and hums a little song.

"Best friends forever, best friends forever--hey! Why you gotta be like that, Paine?!"

Because Paine just shoved her off and Rikku doesn't know why.

-
Author's Notes: Well, Paine seemed to get a lot of the best one-liners in this chapter.

I don't know. Maybe I will keep writing this or maybe I will stop it right here, because it can really go either way. The chapters will alternate between being entirely dramatic and entirely crack, as is the usual with my writing.

The next chapter will also be somewhat clearer.