"Time and Limbs."
Disclaimer: I don't own FFX. I don't own any of the characters of FFX. Do I own to make Tidus flirt with Rikku like he just invented it in FFX? Heck yes.
A/N: So…this was…random. I just kinda wrote it. I was supposed to be working one of my other stories and gave birth to this puppy. 0o I've been on a weird FFX/X-2 plan this last few days, so I guess this is a side effect. Anyway, this was supposed to be a Rikku-Tidus Platonic Friendship drabble, but it turned into a semi-one-shot Tuna with Rikku-Tidus Platonic Friendship heavily hinted.
I don't think it'll be very good…as it just kind of…splurted out of my muse but…hey, Tuna!
Yuna found it difficult to get to sleep at night. Her thoughts were much too filled with the beauty of the night, the sweetness of air, her fear of time and the feelings she didn't know how to face. Summoners were never taught how to deal with the emotions she was having now. Summoners were not expected to feel this way. Yet every swing of a blue sword, ever swipe of blond hair left her feeling beautiful, breathless and afraid. And she never had enough time.
Perhaps a companion in which to share her feelings with would help…but it was only Auron who took watching shifts so late at night. And if her father's old friend noticed her insomnia, he didn't say anything. Perhaps he understood. Had her father suffered the same?
She supposed it didn't really matter…she couldn't imagine herself speaking of her feelings out loud to anyone, especially Auron. Indeed, her other Guardians continued to slumber peacefully as if totally oblivious to the cold air and sparkling trees. Totally unaware of the time slipping by so quickly.
And so she sat, staring into the dying embers of a once-fire, a stoic warrior, sitting in a tree above her, her friends and family lying around her. She shivered in the night air, pulling the blanket tighter around her shoulders. The hardship of their travel through the woods had left them with only three blankets. One was given to her, one to who ever watched over them, and one to whoever else had taken watching shift that night. That left four people needing to share, and they all took turns accordingly. Except her. She knew she should appreciate being given a blanket all to herself. But she couldn't help but think that shared body heat was something that would cure her of her wounded thoughts. The empty space between her and the ends of the blanket felt very lonely.
She looked around; smiled at the sight of Wakka and Kimahri attempting to share and failing quite miserably, a tanned Blitzer leg and arm and a furry chest completely vulnerable to the cold. Her smile grew, and stuck, though, when she glanced to her left and saw Rikku and Tidus attempting to do the same. If there were a contest, Rikku and Tidus would win without a doubt at blanket sharing. Although Yuna wasn't sure anyone else would be fully willing to share with either of them, if given the choice. The two blonds were all limbs and elbows, it seemed, and it couldn't be possible that they could be comfortable sleeping near another person. But Rikku and Tidus sprawled their hands and feet and legs and arms over and around each other and slept sound through the night, always seeming to have had the best of sleeps in the morning.
Yuna envied her cousin. Not because she suspected there were feelings between them that rivalled her own, or that she thought that Rikku was trying to be with him or anything like that. Only…she wondered how it would be to be in such proximity to him and not feel the intimacy as if it were scorching. Yuna had often imagined herself in her cousin's current position, but she knew every bit of contact they made would have her flinch and twitch and tremble. She would not be able to tangle limbs the way her cousin appeared to do so easily. But Yuna wished she could.
Suddenly, a stomach growled loudly, and Yuna was snapped out of her thoughts. She heard Auron shift above, alert for the sounds of bandits and fiends. But once the initial shock had worn off and they could identify the sound for what it was, they both relaxed, Auron chuckling softly to himself. Yuna turned to continue her deeply thought analysis, and was surprised to meet startling blue eyes looking back at her own.
"Eat dinner, would ya?" Tidus muttered grumpily to his sleeping companion, struggling to untangle himself from her and sit up.
"Ugh..." Rikku whined as she was forced to move, yanking the blanket completely off his form and over her own shoulders. "crid ib, sayhea."
Yuna giggled as Tidus was left half sprawled on the cold forest floor with no blanket, hair in his face, glaring sleepily at the Al Bhed. But she'd already turned and gone back to sleep, and the blond turned to Yuna with a small, sheepish smile.
"Hey…" He said softly, standing up. He stretched, swiped his hair from his face, and came over to where she sat. "Shouldn't the Lady Summoner be sleeping?"
Yuna sat, paralysed with herself. This was the first time they'd spoken directly since they'd kissed. He'd said…he'd promised always. What was she supposed to say now? How to act?
"You're probably right." She said finally, pulling the blanket tighter around herself.
He paused, hesitated, before sitting down beside her. "Can't sleep?"
"Yes." She nodded, looking up at the sky. "It's too pretty here. I don't want to sleep."
"Uh-huh." He replied doubtfully, raising an eyebrow. She giggled, and they sat in silence for minutes that seemed like hours. Tidus shifted, sniffed, then spoke quietly, as if afraid of what she might say.
"You…uh…got room in there for one more?" He asked, tugging lightly on her blanket. "I hate sleeping beside Rikku."
It was a lie, she knew. The only time Tidus woke up happy and on time was when he slept next to the Al Bhed. But she smiled.
"Lulu won't be happy." She warned, but opened the blanket for him anyway. He scooted next to her and wrapped an arm quickly around her waist. The warmth shot up her spine, leaving her drowsed and sleepy like she had just thought it would. Her head dropped to his shoulder, and he lowered them carefully to the ground when she dozed, and it was not like she had imagined at all. Tidus' limbs and elbows remained suspiciously behaved, and she wondered vaguely if the two of them used their limbs so only to annoy other people and each other. But…it didn't matter. His arm wrapped around her waist and his head rested against her neck as he slept, and she didn't twitch or tremble like she so feared she would.
She wanted to stay awake to relish this, knowing time was flying by and she only had one more night to even consider this again. But somehow his warmth and his smell and the sound of his breathing lulled her away from her thoughts, and she fell asleep, the first time she'd slept before sunrise in almost three months.
Had she stayed awake, she would have witnessed Rikku's foot kicking out from her own blanket and smacking into Tidus', would have heard Tidus mutter threats of a Thunder spell under his breath in Al Bhed. But she slept soundly, thought free, and in the morning she rather thought she might have had a good a sleep as Tidus and Rikku could only accomplish.
owari
Holk-kay. 0o Random.
Uh…please review the sudden splurt of Tuna!