Everything Looks Better Ch. 04

"Why didn't you tell me about Tidus before?"

"You don't take bad news well."

"Would you rather I made a scene?"

"Making a scene is not your way, I've realized," he said, eye flicking over. "You are more...internal than Tidus."

"It's no excuse not to talk to me."

"We were talking. Calling me an asshole was especially productive." There was a gentle curve in his voice, veering between the borders of tenderness and mild ribbing.

"What about my father? Was he Sin, too?"

Auron nodded, leaning to wash his hands in the sink. She could see over the top of his collar his jaw was habitually flexing. She wasn't even sure he was aware he was doing it.

"So my father sent you to my world to mentor Tidus. After, Tidus asked you to come back and watch me?"

"Yes."

"Lucky for you, there's no one left to look after," Raine said dryly, a hollow vacancy spiking in her at the blank legacy she left behind. She always thought there would be time for kids.

"I'm not done looking after you, yet."

Even though she knew this was a statement of his duty to Tidus, he said it like a dark promise and everything south of her hips turned to flan. "Did you wait until Tidus was in Spira before telling him about our father, too?"

"Hm," he said affirmatively.

"You were afraid he wouldn't go if you told him beforehand?"

His eye slid to her warily. "I didn't want Tidus to change or hold back the way he lived; same with you."

Raine closed her eyes briefly, recalling how much she held back in Zanarkand. Waiting for Auron. "This isn't the life I envisioned when I got married."

They had been ignoring the topic since this morning, except for Rin's meddlesome observations. Auron straightened, genuine regret flashing across his brows, his shoulders sinking. "Humor an old man a little longer, Raine. If you still want to return to Zanarkand, I promise I'll find a way to get you back."

A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth when he referred to himself as an old man. "If you are anything, you are a man of your word. How long is a little longer?"

Aiming his glasses down at the drain, he thoughtfully opened the soap. "Attain your first Aeon. I will not take any complaints of homesickness seriously until after that."

She wondered why he'd chosen that of all things, if he knew something she didn't about mythical Aeons, if having one somehow prevented her from leaving Spira. But it wasn't like Auron to resort to deceitful trickery.

"Deal," Raine said.

Shaking his head at her, his eye gleamed. "Pity, though, if you decided to leave before meeting a certain stolen Aeon. I think you might get along famously."

"My first Aeon comes from...Besaid...is that right?"

Over his sunglasses, he looked at her, loosely pleased. "You were listening."

"I listen to you more than you think."

Nodding sideways in yielding agreement, he said, "You were a better listener than Tidus. He remembered nothing I taught him, running temple to temple without a single clue."

Raine grinned, but had a hard time imagining her brother in Spira. He was always self-assured in Zanarkand, almost cocky. "I don't think you've ever explained how a Summoner gets an Aeon, though."

"We'll go to the temple in Besaid and complete the cloister of trials. You shouldn't have a problem navigating that."

"Then I get the Aeon?"

"No, then you get access to the Chamber of the Fayth."

She nodded. "And that's where I get the Aeon?"

"Eventually. You'll have to go in alone and then you'll p—" Auron looked up suddenly, the water still running in the sink, but he'd stopped washing his hands. His face went uncharacteristically white.

Her eyes widened. "What? Then I'll what?"

"...pray."

Oh.

"Auron, I've never prayed."

Lowering his attention back to his hands, Auron's face was tense with thought. The soap lather darkened as he scraped the dirt out of his fingernails. "You'll be fine."

Tidus might have been gullible to believe the crazy religious zealots of this world, but Raine needed a little more proof. "How long until the Fayth realize I'm faking?"

"You'll be fine," he said with resounding emphasis, convincing himself, harshly so she would drop the subject.

Had anyone tried to defeat Sin without Aeons? It obviously wasn't successful. Maybe if she knew more about it, she could think of something, but Auron was more of a learn-as-you-go kind of tutor, so she would have to figure it out during the pilgrimage. Ending her brother's suffering took priority, even if she had to find a way to do it without Aeons.

But in the end, it wouldn't matter: Raine would never get that first Aeon; she wouldn't even get to Besaid to see inside her first temple.

Coming out of her thoughts, it occurred to Raine she was standing on the side of Auron's scar and she took advantage of his eye cast down to examine it, down the top of his sunglasses. She had never known him without it. Floating her hand into his blind spot, she managed a light caress over the bumpy, keratinized skin, before he dodged her like a fly.

"Don't."

Inhaling sharply, she stiffened, expecting reprimand, but his expression was more puzzled than stern, before he dropped his face again to finish rinsing the suds off his hands.

Crossing her arms, she leaned her head on the door trim. "When I passed out, did you have to...carry me?"

Auron dried his hands, faintly smiling. "Do you know of a better way?"

Shaking her head, Raine wondered if he carried her threshold-style or over his shoulder.

"Do you have to go?" He angled his head to the toilet.

"Shower, actually."

"There are clothes for sleeping in the drawer. I'll bring them to you." Yanking down his cloak from the shower rod, Auron leaned into the tub for his boots, which had also been offensively sluiced. Was there anything left that didn't have her puke on it?

Standing in the wrong spot, Raine found she was blocking Auron from the door and they danced briefly before they could coordinate themselves in the tight quarters. She had to hunch her shoulders to keep her breasts from grazing his arm.

Bending into the tub to turn on the water, Raine could hear the sounds of the drawers sliding open and close in the main room. Taking a moment to swipe the dirt from Auron's boots down the drain, she activated the shower head and slid the curtain across the rod to keep the spray contained. Auron returned with a set of heavy flannel clothes, folded, and pushed them towards her.

"Auron, I'll die in these."

His brows knit together.

She reddened, realizing the carelessness of her words. "I mean, these are too warm. I usually just wear a tee-shirt."

"I know," he said with a strict look of disapproval and pointedly set them on the side of sink before spinning around to leave.

Oh.

Petulantly pondering his expectation she sacrifice her comfort for the sake of his, Raine went to the bathroom door to shut it. In the next room, Auron was sitting at the end of the bed taking a knot out of his boot lace and when he looked up to study her, the yellow vanity light in the bathroom bounced off his sunglasses.

Dropping her hand from the knob, she left the door wide open. Why shouldn't she? He had left the door open when he was shirtless. Back to him, she peeled off her blouse, feeling the prickle of his eyes on her and an instant later he was behind her. Gripping the frame of the door, he leaned into the bathroom, his good eye burning crossly over the top of his sunglasses.

Her heart leapt into her throat and something made her hug the removed shirt closer to her body.

With a slow, warning shake of his head, he grasped the door handle and slammed the door on her.

Zanarkand Marina

Surfacing the marina bay, Raine peeled off her snorkel and goggles and tossed them up on the deck of her houseboat, followed by her hammer and chisel, which clattered together noisily. They were rusty and the end of the chisel was coated in black mud and pieces of exoskeleton from the Sinscale spines she'd been chipping off the boat's underbelly. It was too late and too dark to get them all, but it was also too humid to sit inside, so she made a little progress on the upkeep while simultaneously cooling off.

"He's still living here?"

Raine yelped, dipping underwater as her legs thrashed unproductively beneath her, gulping in a mouthful of sea.

Jory was standing in the doorway of her houseboat, his thumb jutted accusingly inside. "His katana. It's still in the spare room."

Grappling for the ladder, she said, "Jory! You scared the life out of me."

"Why is his sword here?"

Raine sighed, climbing up the ladder, the rungs slippery from slimy build up and sea weeds. "Because the clerks get nervous when he brings it into the store with him."

"Why's he at the store?"

"We're out of beer," Raine said, as though it should have been apparent. Dripping a track of ocean water across the deck, she approached Jory for a kiss, but he kept her at bay with his outstretched hand.

"Don't get me wet."

Inwardly sighing, she sat in one of the worn, faded patio chairs to drip dry. The outdoor furniture had been left behind from when Jecht used the houseboat to drink the day away.

A streak of moonlight glittered on the marina bay and the hot, moist air was alleviated only by an infrequent ocean breeze. The air conditioning was broken, despite Auron's efforts to keep it running, and some nights Raine spent on the deck with only a pillow and a blanket to pad herself.

Jory sat in the chair next to her. He had doused himself in expensive cologne and the heavy scent was suspended in the damp air without a wind to carry it away. He was in flip-flops and shorts and his tank top was draped over his shoulder. Except for an occasional exhibition game, it was the off-season and Jory was letting his chest hair fill in. It was patchy and slick with sweat. "You said he was leaving soon."

"He is."

"When?"

"Whenever he decides to."

"Dammit, Raine." He slumped back in his chair, bristling. "You let some old beer buddy of your dad's live with you for this long and you think he's going to leave? The asshole has it made here."

"What do you care?" Raine muttered. "You don't have to live with him."

"I do if I want to see you. You never come to my house anymore."

"Because your parents are in the next room." Under her chair, Raine found a folded sports magazine, Let's Blitz!, and used it to fan herself.

"My parents are a lot less creepy than the guy with one eye who lives with a woman half his age."

"I'm not half his age," she sighed, but she knew it was probably close.

She often entered conversation with Jory with bland indifference, never really engaging him or advancing the conversation, thwarting his grievances of the future with empty promises. It wasn't like he listened to her anyway. They'd had this fight before and Raine was growing bored of it.

Jory suddenly twisted in his chair, sparked with a new idea. "You're sleeping with him."

That got her attention. She stopped fanning herself and glared at him. "You're being ridiculous."

"All this time and never once-"

"No." She had the eye contact, but lacked the conviction. Raine had alluded to Auron she would be a willing participant if he ever got restless, but he had never taken her offer.

Guarded, he settled back in his chair. "I'm not sure I believe you."

Raine shrugged.

Jory would never break off things with her; she was too big an asset for his career. Raine had been promoted to sports anchor last month. Combine that with her legendary Blitzball ancestry and Jory's opportunities to get out of the minors and into the Blitzball majors was doubled. Already, there were rumors the Duggles were interested in him.

She also suspected Jory was still holding out for a Jecht Shot tutorial, but her father never showed Raine how to do it. In fact, he barely showed Tidus how to do it, lacing the instruction with criticism and bragging about how "I'm the best" and how "No one else can do it." Once, when Raine was about 4, she asked her father to teach her, but he scoffed and went on a tangent about the pros going co-ed and how in his day women played on their own teams.

Hearing the familiar weight of Auron's boots on the deck, Raine knew he was coming before Jory did. A small smile was on her face to greet him before he even turned the corner. A brown bag of groceries crinkled as he situated it in his exposed arm, the sleeve of his cloak hanging at his back.

"Hey," Raine said with a drowsy smile. She picked up her magazine to use it as a fan again.

"I thought I heard voices back here." Auron nodded once. "Good evening, Jory."

Jory gave Auron a sullen look, hunching in his chair. He looked like a scolded child.

Looking over his sunglasses at her, Auron very slightly tilted his head, discreetly inquiring about Jory, if he had interrupted something.

With a roll of her eyes, she shook her head and mouthed, "Tell you later."

Furtively inclining his forehead in understanding, Auron opened the door to go inside through her bedroom. "I'll leave the change on the counter."

Jory lowered his voice. "So is he your errand boy now?"

"Shut up," she said monotonously. "It's too hot to fight."

"You're different around him."

"You're different around your friends, too."

He shook his head. "Not like that. You hang on his every word."

"Then I'm lucky he doesn't say much."

"Do you love him?"

She paused before answering and decided to go with the truth. "Of course I do. He's my best friend."

"Well, what am I?"

The door creaked as Auron came out, and Raine heard the jangle of a bottle and glass together as he poured the beer.

"A pain in the ass," Raine answered Jory first, then grinned up at Auron as he handed the glass to her.

Clink, toast, sip.

"You two are annoying," Jory muttered.

Fetching her colorful striped beach towel, hanging on a hook by the door, Auron walked it over to Raine with a depreciative lift of his eyebrow. She was content to let her wet bikini drip dry, but Raine took the hint and arranged the towel to cover what her bikini didn't.

Auron dragged over another chair to sit with the group. "Something bothering you, Jory?"

"Raine says you'll be moving on, soon. Any idea when that will be?"

"Jory..." Raine warned, but she felt peculiarly exhilarated whenever Auron and Jory were together. Their piss-contests never disappointed her, even if neither of them loved her the way she wanted.

Taking a drink, Auron rested the bottle on his thigh and swallowed. The moon picked up the silver in his hair and reflected off his sunglasses. To Raine, he was sexy as hell. "I can leave anytime. Raine knows this."

Raine scowled.

"That's not what she tells me," Jory said. "I mean, this has gone on long enough, don't you think?"

"What has?" Auron asked, utterly composed.

"Mooching off my girlfriend."

Auron's only response was a smug chuckle.

Raine smothered a grin and then yawned. With the heat, it was hard to get a good night's rest.

"Are we boring you?" Jory snapped at her.

"Indubitably," Raine quipped and sipped her beer. She looked into the dark sunglasses that abruptly swung her way and she felt the slack of their connection tighten and tug. She smiled and Auron softly laughed.

"What the hell does that mean?" Jory asked.

She knew she should really be nicer to her boyfriend, especially around Auron, when Jory was already so insecure about him. She felt bad for teasing him and with a guilty grimace, Raine said, "I'm sorry, I'm just kidding."

"What does it mean? You have your own made up language or something?"

Disbelief widened Raine's eyes, first at Auron and then at Jory. "Jory, indubitably is a real word."

Auron let go a hearty laugh, throwing back his head, one of the few times Raine had ever seen his teeth. They were surprisingly straight.

"Whatever. I'm outta here." Jory struggled into his tank top and stamped down the side deck to the docks.

Raine felt better with Jory gone. A tension released, but alone with Auron, it was replaced with another kind of strain, an ache.

"Thanks for throwing me under the train," Raine said.

"Is that what that look was for?" Auron asked. Casually, he pushed out of his chair and moved to the one Jory had just vacated, next to Raine. "You must keep me more informed of your lies to your boyfriend, especially when I'm involved."

"Sorry. He asks a lot of questions."

"Irritating, isn't it?"

Raine smiled impishly. "I ran out of things to tell him."

"I usually keep to the truth."

"I appreciate that." Unfortunately, for her the truth was a little complex.

"Do I dare ask?"

Raine hesitated, but she was curious how Auron might react. "He thinks we're sleeping together."

Without reaction, Auron lifted the bottle to his lips as he gazed at the water. His arm was still out of his sleeve and she noticed a smattering of freckles on the curve of his shoulder. "What gave him that idea?"

"I don't know," she said lamely. She felt a little under attack, that it was somehow her fault Jory had such scandalous notions. "He's just acting crazy."

"Hmmm," he said in the affirmative. "He wants you to himself."

Raine's laugh was hard, sardonic and cut viciously across the bay. "Me and Lindsey Seawell."

Auron's glasses swung around to face her. "Jory's not been faithful?"

Raine was flaccid as a lifeless sloth in her chair, her towel suffocating in the wet heat. "Oh Auron, have you not been paying attention all these years?"

"Only to you," he said gruffly. "How long?"

Jory had been screwing Lindsey Seawell since their senior year in high school. "Remember the day you found me crying by the swings?"

"Eight years? Why do you stay with him?"

Because you don't love me back, she thought.

"Habit, I guess," she said and the words lingered, resting on the humidity.

Unrequited love happened every day, but it wasn't easy to get over with Auron, not when it was his job to watch her. What was he protecting her from, anyway? Maybe his world was dangerous, but this was Zanarkand. Nothing was dangerous here. Except for the occasional Sin attack, she realized, but that had been almost eleven years ago now and Sin wasn't coming back.

Anyway, there was very little motivation to break it off with Jory. He would fight too hard to keep her, harder than Raine cared to match at this point. She had already put off having children this long and she wasn't getting any younger. Jory wanted them, too. At least, he wanted first claim to children with Blitzball already in their blood, to continue the legacy of her brother and father.

For once, Auron broke the silence. "I have news."

"Oh?" He never had news.