Chapter One
"Headache"
"Rikku!!" Brother searched for his eccentric, 19 year old sister. Him, Paine and Buddy have been talking about an idea for a little while, trying to figure out the best way to lay this out on Rikku. Rikku was busy in the engine room, ducked under some pipes and wires humming to herself.
"RIKKU!" Brother yelled loudly. Surprised, Rikku's instinct was to stand up quickly, causing her to hit her head on some pipes. The impact caused her to fall down again.
"Owie!" She rubbed the back of head and backed out slowly to stand up.
"What do you want?" She asked, annoyed. By this time, Paine was entering the room.
"There you are." She walked down the stairs and stood next to Rikku. "You okay?"
"I figured out why it smells in the bridge."
"You mean it's not Brother?" Paine asked.
Brother grunted and frowned. "Hmph."
Rikku giggled and said, "One of the wires burned out that connects to a pipe and..."
"ENOUGH!" Brother said. "My head hurts." He covered his ears with his hands and ducked his head. Paine rolled her eyes. Rikku punched him in the arm. Brother dramatically threw himself onto the floor and clutched his arm. "RIKKUUU!!" he groaned.
"Shut up, unless you don't value your other arm." Paine glared at him. He stopped and sat up, legs crossed, pinching his thumb and forefinger together and resting his wrists on his knees. Pretending to meditate. Rikku rolled her eyes.
"So, what's up?" Rikku asked while she cleaned off her hands with an already dirty rag.
"Brother and I had an idea..."
"You're camping out in the Thunder Plains." Brother said, eyes still shut, sitting perfectly still. A grin crept across his face.
Silence. Awkward, too. Rikku froze, staring off into space.
"Make me," she said cheerfully and strolled down the stairs to grab some more tools.
Paine hurried to catch up to her, smacking Brother upside the head along the way. Brother attempted to grab her ankles, but Paine hopped up just in time and turned around to glare at Brother while she tried to catch up with Rikku.
"Rikku, just think about it."
"Nope." Rikku said just as cheerfully as she searched the cabinets for the extra wires and wire-cutters.
"But there are lightening-towers there and they work. Besides you're going to have to face your fears of thun-"
"I do, do I?" Rikku asked rhetorically as she looked through the bottom cabinets for gloves. She muttered something about people fooling around with her stuff.
"Rikku! Just listen!" Paine said angrily and grabbed Rikky by the wrist and pulled her up. Realizing how she over-reacted, she apologized and let go.
"Sorry, instinct." Rikku gave her a "hmph" and started cursing to herself in Al Bhed.
Suddenly, an idea came across Paine's mind. "We can ask Auron to watch over you." At this, Rikku froze on the spot. Paine grinned. 'Just mentioning him causes her heart to skip a beat.' She thought to herself.
"Lies." Rikku finally said and picked up her box of tools to set them on the counter. "And anyway, how do you know about Auron?"
"Buddy told me about two years ago, when you were on Cid's ship." Paine replied, with an after-thought, 'And your constant staring at this 'Auron.'
At this, Rikku blushed and turned away to continue her search for gloves. At least now she was thinking about considering the idea. It would help her face her only fear, after all.
Rikku's whole upper body, starting with her shoulders, were now in the cabinet, searching in the back for rubber gloves.
"AHA!" Brother jumped down the stairs and nearly landed on Paine. Rikku's instincts betrayed her again and she hit her head on the top of the cabinet ceiling. She angrily pulled herself out of the cabinet, marched over to Brother and kneed him in the stomach, causing him to gasp for air. Seeing him holding her black rubber gloves, she grabbed them while Paine smacked him on the head.
Rikku walked over to the countertop, grabbed her box of tools and strolled past them both to the burnt out wire and clogged up pipe. 'I haven't seen tall, dark and handsome brooding-man in a while, though.' She thought to herself as she set her tools down and cautiously ducked under the obstacle pipes, keeping her instincts in check.
Suddenly, Paine appeared standing over Rikku, grinning. It was silent, so Rikku didn't even notice her. Until...
"I know what you're thinking."
Rikku hit her head again.
"TIME TO DIE!" Rikku crawled out and shot up. Paine and Brother began to scramble away, almost tripping over themselves as they scurried up the stairs and dashed out of the door. Rikku chased after them, threatening and cursing them in Al Bhed the whole way, while Paine yelled out "Sorry! Sorry!" over and over and Brother laughed and giggled away.
After about 10 minutes of this it turned into hide-and-go-seek, and Rikku was definitely not in the mood. She whirled around and stormed off angrily back to the engine room to fix the wires.
After about an hour or so, the pipes and wires were all fixed. Rikku somehow managed to convince herself that it wouldn't be that bad, as long as Auron was there. She stepped out of the elevator, walked down the hall, and hopped over the railings of the small platform. 'Besides, the lightening-towers work now, and as long as Auron's there... Yeah, I'll camp out in the Thunder Plains to "get over my fear of thunder." And anyway, sphere waves are often picked up from around that area and...
"Hi kiddies!" she said loudly as she skipped over to her little "station." The other members of the Gullwings stared after her, confused at her mood swing. Rikku typed away on her computer, pretending to search for sphere waves and other treasures. She also noticed the lack of stench, and was quite satisfied. After a few minutes, Paine walked over to stand next to Rikku's station.
"So...are you going t-"
"Did you talk to Auron?" Rikku said, trying to sound as casual as possible and never taking her eyes of the computer screen.
"Yes," Paine grinned.
"Well?"
"He'll be here tomorrow."
Rikku continued to pretend to be busy on the computer, going through everything in her head. The very thought of Auron made her smile even bigger than it usually is, if possible. A tingly-sensation crept over her, and she tried hard as she could not to shiver or get goosebumps, and not to show her grin. That tingly-sensation filled her head to toe, and then concentrated a little south of her belly-button.
"Okay," Rikku said, casually, and went back to doing actual work.
Paine walked away satisfied, giving a quiet high-five to Buddy as they peered over Shinra's shoulder, examining past spheres.
I'm new at fanfiction/smut writing, so criticism is ALWAYS appreciated :)