Chapter 2 - Approval

            Paine sathappily on her bed, the beams of the early noon sun squirmed their way past her blinds to give the room an ambiance of early morning. She wore a smilepainted on her lips like the cherry lip cream she could still taste in hermouth. A small bundle was curled up by her side, warm and breathing gently. Thebundle resembled an able bodied young girl as well as Paine’s love. Painebrushed a braided lock of hair away from Rikku’s face revealing spiraling greeneyes and smiling lips. Only an hour ago had they shared their first kiss andalready it seemed they had been together forever.
            Rikku sat upon her elbow from where her head had been resting on Paine’s shoulder andleaned forward to kiss her lips gently. She leaned back and smiled at Paine whogrinned back.
            “You justcan’t get enough on me, can you?” She asked in false arrogance.
            Rikku widenedher eyes in mock sadness, “Oh no, Miss Paine! But do you want me to?” Shefinished the statement with a mischievous smile and a deep kiss. Needless tosay, Paine was practically unconscious by the time Rikku’s kiss had ended. Shecomposed herself and grinned fiercely at Rikku.
            “You’re goingto have to pay for that one, dear heart!” She sat up quickly and pinned Rikkuto the bed under her. Rikku was taken aback but nonetheless enjoying her‘punishment’.
Thedoor took this very inopportune moment to knock at them and call out in a voicesounding very much like Yuna’s, “Paine? Are you feeling okay?” The traitoroushunk of metal then slid open, revealing a first worried and then confused andshocked Yuna. She gaped for a split second before entering quickly and shuttingthe door behind her.
Bythis time Rikku and Paine had resumed normal sitting positions next to eachother on the bed. Both were looking guiltily at Yuna, eyes slightly downcast,faces directed towards the un-bias floor. Yuna stood in front of the door, herhands clasped before her anxiously. She wore an expression on her face that washard to read. After a few moments of silence she spoke up, “Although I probablydon’t need to ask, what exactly is going on between you two?”
Rikkutwisted her hands fiercely together like she was trying to tie her fingers intosquare knots. Paine was blushing slightly but looked up and replied so that herprecious and anxious little Rikku would be spared the torture. “Well, Yuna, Isuppose it would be of no use to lie to you, as you have just put in so manywords. Rikku and I are… Well, we are together, I suppose.” The last part of thesentence sounded slightly uncertain as she had not actually talked to Rikkuabout the matter. But she had decided that, hopefully, she didn’t really haveto.
Yunastill stood in the same place in front of the door. She didn’t reply to thestatement but instead asked another question. “And how long, exactly, has thisbeen going on?”
Painelooked over at her love who was practically in tears and looked back to Yuna,beginning to get angry. She replied sarcastically, “ I would say about one hourand ten minutes to be ‘exact’, sir.” She glared at Yuna and rested an armacross Rikku’s shoulders. Rikku leaned into Paine’s side and looked over atYuna, her dearest cousin.
“Yunie”Rikku whispered, barely audible, “are you… mad at me… at us?”
Yunasat down heavily in a chair and sighed, the tenseness draining from her figure.“No, I don’t suppose I am.” Rikku sighed in relief quietly and clutched Painearound the waist tightly, not wanting to ever let go. Paine held the girl,still in awe of how wonderful her embrace felt, her stomach still twisting withthe possibility of rejection. She looked at Yuna over the locks of golden hair.Yuna looked back serenely, her features as unreadable as they ever were. If itwas a plus; Pain didn’t think she saw a trace of disgust in the pristinefeatures. She did, however, see quite a bit of annoyance and… something else…
Painewondered what was wrong with Yuna if she truly wasn’t unhappy with thesituation. She did not have to wonder very long, though, for Yuna answered thequestion as if she could read Paine’s thoughts. That was alright though; Painehad suspected her thoughts as traitors for a while now.
“But,Rikku, what are you going to tell Cid and Brother? Have you even consideredwhat they or the rest of the crew is going to think about this? Certainly noteveryone will accept you being, uh… together” She chose her words carefully asso not to strike some hidden cord.
Rikkuemerged her head ever so slightly so she could speak without Paine’s torsogetting in the way. “Well, I suppose I had thought… to keep it quiet for awhile, you know? Just let things work out… But I know what you are going to sayto that. You are gonna’ say how it will make things worse aren’t you?” Rikkusmiled sadly at Yuna. Her expression would have stopped Sin in its’ tracks oreven made a heartless fiend rethink its’ actions.
Theface even seemed to have an effect on Yuna whose heart seemed to have softenedenough to come over and pat Rikku’s head. “You know me too well, cousin.” Sheattempted a cheerful smile but it refused to lighten the mood. Yuna sighedgently, peering fondly at her young (and quite adorable) cousin. She backedaway a little and spoke to both of them.
“Look,I know I am supposed to be the leader and give advice in all situations andthings of that nature, but, in this case, I have no say. This entire matter isbetween you two and you alone. I shouldn’t have even thought of trying to buttin on the matter. I want you to decide between the two of you what to do.” Shesighed. “I want you to know that you can come to me for advice on what to doand also that I think the best thing is to tell Cid soon… together. But I willrespect whatever it is you end up doing.” She came over and smiled, grabbingboth of the girls in a friendly hug. The two hugged back warmly, relieved thatthey need not worry about loosing their dearest friend. Yuna walked away slowlyand smiled once more, she stepped gracefully to the door, hesitated and turnedaround. A bright smile lit her face. “Also, I think you need to remember tolock your door.” With that she exited the room closing (and locking) the doorbehind her. She left a rather agape Rikku and Paine in her wake. Shortly afterthe door was closed Paine and Rikku broke into a fit of giggles and both girlscollapse next to each other on the bed.
Bothof them were stretched out and staring at the ceiling. Well, Paine was glaringat it because she had decided not to speak with her anymore and Rikku waslooking past it with a wry smile. Paine turned her face to the younger girl andraised an eyebrow. She turned back to the ceiling and stated resolutely, “don’tbelieve anything she says, she doesn’t give good advice.” She kept a straightface and continued giving the ceiling the evil eye as Rikku looked at herbewildered for a moment or two. She again broke into a fit of laughter and satup.
Itdidn’t take long for the bemused smile to leave her face as she continued herthoughts on the problem at hand. Paine could hardly resist the girl as shelooked towards the bathroom door with an appearance of frustratedconcentration, there seemed to be no emotion that Rikku could not make cute.Paine turned her head and did not think at all, her brain deserved a break fromits strenuous activity. Several minutes later she heard Rikku let out a veryfrustrated sigh and felt the girl collapse onto her, nuzzling into her chest.
Paintraced her hand along Rikku’s back and neck, trying to ease her frustration.Paine felt almost guilty for being the bringer of her love’s pain. Well, hername would hold true after all she supposed. When Rikku spoke her voice wasmuffled by Paine’s chest and shirt, Paine almost didn’t hear her anyway becausewith every word and movement of the thief’s mouth a ripple of pleasure cascadedover her body.
“Whatdo you think we should do? I don’t think daddy is going to take this very well.Brother wouldn’t understand either.” She chuckled, “not like he understandsmuch anyway…” Thankfully with the last word Rikku moved her head so that shewas no longer speaking into the rather sensitive area. She sent her sparklingemerald gaze from over Paine’s collarbone, her inquisitive expression beggingfor an answer.
Painemade a dismissive grunt as she growled out the words, “Well if Cid and Brotherdisapprove they can go pleasure a Shoopuf for all I care.”
Rikkusat up next to Paine with a hurt expression. “But, Cid and Brother are the onlyfamily I have! I couldn’t stand it if they were mad at me… or if you were madat them. Oh what did I do to deserve this?” She then proceeded to turn aroundand beat her head against the metal wall of the Celsius. Paine found thisrather irritating as she did not see the reason that the wall would need topunish Rikku or vice versa.
Shequickly grabbed a hold of Rikku’s head and placed it on her shoulder. Rikku beganweeping silently, letting the tears fall in tickling trails along Paine’s shoulder.Paine furrowed her brow in worry and kissed Rikku’s forehead where it was stilla bit red from the walls’ violent outburst. She leaned back and let Rikku sitcurled in her lap, her head draped across one shoulder and tears now streamingdown Paine’s neck. Paine whispered quietly to Rikku to calm her. She kissedRikku’s cheeks softly to dry them of the salty tears that were turning them redand sore. After a while Rikku calmed down and was just sniffling and wrappedaround Paine’s neck. Paine ran her fingers through the unbraided portions ofthe blonde down and held her as she would a child awoken form a nightmare.
“Weneed to tell them” she said very quietly, her voice almost cracking from thelump that was lodged in her throat. “Just, let’s wait a while, okay? I want toenjoy this as long as I can without threat of Brother or Daddy being unhappy. Ijust want to be… happ…” she didn’t finish the sentence and her voice broke offlike a tiny sapling in a hurricane.
Paineleaned Rikku back and looked into her swollen pinkish eyes. She smiled faintlyand said “Alright, love. You should know, right now, that I will do whatever ittakes to make you happy.”
Rikkugot a little of that spunk back in her and buried her semi-sad smile intoPaine’s neck. Paine’s face went through a paradoxical series of emotions andended up being a confused mixture between joy, fatigue, sadness andanticipation. It would seem that her facial muscle were having trouble decidingwhat her brain felt and her brain was having trouble deciding what she felt.
Painesat with a dozing Rikku collapsed on top of her, content with no train ofthought except for tracking each butterfly that fluttered across her chest andstomach. It would be several hours before either moved.
Severalhours came far too soon…
 
 

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