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Six Days

By: Clunkety



In the fading evening light, before the street lights triggered, Auron waited idle on the front stoop, surveying the local children as they played freeze-tag in the street. Across the road, one of the neighbors was watering his garden and another neighbor was at her mailbox, sorting through magazines and bills. Limping down the sidewalk in front of the house, an old man with his grey-muzzled dog raised his hand in amiable greeting and Auron nodded back, wishing Raine would hurry up. 

Behind him, the door finally unlatched and Auron faced Raine. She was still in her cheerleading uniform as she summoned him inside. "They said it was okay."

"You said they wouldn't mind," Auron said.

"They don't," she said with a simper. "I asked them."

Auron braced himself and stepped over the threshold, into the entryway of the split-level home belonging to Raine's great aunt and uncle, the first time he had been inside. It was humid and smelled of roasting meat. The game was on upstairs and it was intermingled with the general sounds of cooking: running water, a spoon beating the side of a sauce pan and the heavy, muffled boil of something thick. Downstairs was dark, below ground and faintly dank.

"You can take your boots off here," Raine said, pointing down to the rug with a pile of shoes in an array of sizes. Her sneakers were already at the top of the pile.

Auron didn't usually like taking his boots off for any reason so that he was always battle ready, but he doubted a fiend would come tearing through sleepy C-South. Leaning his katana on the wall next to a brass coat rack, he bent down to loosen the laces, then propped against the door to kick off his boots. Considering his gauntlet for a moment, he snapped it off and hung it from one of the coat rack's hooks.

"Can I take your coat?" she asked eagerly. 

"No. Thanks."

Her eyes were dancing. "Do you want to see my room?" 

"I've seen it."

"From the inside?"

Auron hesitated, wondering the harm in humoring her, but was instantly suspicious of his own judgment to be alone with her in her room. Most likely it was to prolong the inevitable first meeting of her aunt and uncle. 

"I'm going to show Auron my room," Raine called up the stairs.

Auron shook his head, disapproving, but she just smiled at him. What made Raine believe her aunt would think that was anything but a bad idea?

"I'll call you when dinner's ready," the older woman answered and Auron glared up the steps at someone invisible. 

"Come on," Raine said. 

She grabbed his hand, flicked on the downstairs light, and Auron's head whipped sideways from the combination of her sharp tug and his reluctance to follow. At the foot of the stairs, they maneuvered through a cramped family room, between dusty boxes and mismatched furniture. Raine brought him to a dim hallway with a few doors, dropping his hand as she disappeared into the first dark room on the right. 

Auron stood blind in the doorway while she shuffled around the familiar room and a click later, she was bent by the lamp next her unmade bed. She snatched up a few intimate items off the floor on her way to her cluttered desk where she turned on another lamp. Auron drifted in slowly. Her bedroom smelled so sweet it was almost dizzying and he noticed a molten cluster of scented candles on top of her dresser, next to several boxes of matches. Her walls were a collage of posters, mostly punk bands, kittens and a diagram of a water molecule behind her door, but Auron halted his attention on the poster over her headboard: the center for the Zanarkand Duggles, half-nude and dripping wet.

"That's for appearances," Raine explained, while she inconspicuously shoved the dirty underwear from the floor into the top desk drawer. "I'm a Duggle now. You can thank peer pressure for that."

"Hmph."

"So what do you think?"

Auron nodded listlessly at the rest of the room. "It looks suitable."

"Oh, I want to show you something," she said. She kneeled by her bed, lifting the dust ruffle to rummage underneath. Her short little umbrella skirt hiked up, revealing a sliver of white underwear and his shoulders shook in silent chuckle at the print of red hearts. He was looking at the undergarment of a girl, but his eye meandered a little too long at the milky white thighs of a woman. Darkening, Auron spun around to face the mirror over her dresser, quietly chastising himself.

For distraction, he glanced over the photos tucked into the frame of her mirror, group photos of her friends, of the other cheerleaders, a couple old pictures with her brother Tidus and some older ones of her mother and father, discolored and worn, as if folded many times. Jecht's arm draped coolly over his wife's reedy shoulders and his face was rounder and more clean-shaven than when Auron knew him on the pilgrimage to defeat Sin. Jecht and Tidus were both gone now and it was up to Auron to be guardian to the final living member of Jecht's family, Raine. Tidus made Auron promise before yielding as Yuna's Final Aeon.

Moving on, Auron's focus wandered over to the picture of Raine with Jory, captured in a spontaneous pose when Raine had jumped on Jory's back and he was carrying her piggy-back for the camera. 

How sweet, Auron thought with a deep glare. Brainy Rainy and the boy she was having sex with. 

Where did the time go? It felt like just yesterday she was reprimanding him for stepping on sidewalk cracks, frantically upset about the condition of his mother's back. Today, he was having demonstrative fantasies of her in her cheerleading uniform.

"Here they are," Raine said behind him. She had three white tubes, all different lengths, and when she handed him one, he realized it was a rolled up poster.

"What are these?"

"Tidus' old prints."

Auron snapped off the rubber band and unrolled it partway. It was a group photo of Tidus' old team, the Zanarkand Abes, signed by all the players in black permanent marker.

"Those are actually all their signatures. It's actually worth a lot." She handed him another one and Auron traded her.

"Why don't you hang them on your wall?" Auron asked rolling off another rubber band.

Her grimace was loosely disgusted. "I used to, but they made me uncomfortable, so I took them down."

"Uncomfortable?"

"His bedroom eyes freak me out."

Auron unrolled the poster and realized what she was talking about. The second picture was a close-up of Tidus, the lighting filtered and dreamy, and he was as undressed as his Duggle equivalent over Raine's bed, with a very unbrotherly look on his face. Auron smirked and rolled the poster back up. "I see." 

He wasn't particularly interested the last one, but she had worked so hard to find them under her bed. It was an action shot they used to sell at the stadium vendors. 

"I've been trying to find some of my father, but those are a little harder to find." 

When she replaced the rubber bands on them all, she tossed them on her desk, then bounced on her bed and leaned back on her hands, crossing her legs by the ankles. Their eyes met for an instant before skimming to other parts of the room. He was becoming delirious from the suffocating scents of all those candles and the air vibrated as their separate chemicals mingled in the space between them, agitating in an unstable reaction. 

"Dinner!"

Aunt Naya's supper call startled them both. Auron nudged himself away from the desk and waited to follow her upstairs. She got up with a vaguely irritated look on her face, but it didn't seem completely directed at him. The air outside her bedroom was noticeably cooler.

Raine stopped at the landing by the front door, where his katana was still leaned up against the wall, and inclined conspiratorially towards him. "Whatever you do, don't mention anything about the Duggles' losing streak. It will set off my uncle."

"I'll try to hold back," Auron said blandly and mounted the stairs two at a time after her.

Straight ahead on the main floor, the dining table had four settings and in the steamy kitchen, Raine's aunt Naya was reaching into one of the cupboards for a stack of four plates. She spun around, her smile genuine and beaming until her eyes rested on Auron. He tried not to notice as the woman's expression swiftly altered into something phony and remotely maniacal. 

"Aunt Naya, this is Auron," Raine introduced, apparently oblivious to the immediate shift in her aunt's nature.

"Hello Auron," the older woman said stiffly, glancing with aggravation into the living room, where her husband was busy with the game. From where Auron stood, Raine's uncle was just a helmet of white hair over the back of his rocking armchair. 

Auron's head bobbed once in respect. "Good evening." He stopped himself before he called her "ma'am." She couldn't be that many years older than him.

A wild grin still pasted on her face, Aunt Naya stared intensely into the living room. "Cete, come meet Raine's friend."

"In a min—dammit! Get him!"

Every one of Auron's muscles seized, until he foolishly realized Uncle Cetan was screaming at the screen, swelling with cheers. Cetan was sitting forward in his chair, hostile from an undesirable turn-around in the game.

There was an uncomfortable moment as the three of them stood looking at each other, and eventually Aunt Naya gestured toward the table. "Auron, why don't you have a seat?"

Raine dragged out one of the chairs. "Sit here. This is where I usually eat," she said and skipped to the chair opposite him, against the wall. 

Slowly sitting, Auron was content to wait for the elder man, but Aunt Naya lifted a bowl of mashed potatoes and handed it to Auron. "Why don't you get us started?"

Auron let his cloak sleeve fall back so he could hold the bowl with both hands and flopped a generous spoonful onto his plate, passing it across the table to Raine, who was eying his uncovered arm with a deep blush as she flicked open her napkin and laid it on her lap.

"Son of a—" Uncle Cetan muttered from the living room, as the horn on the television announced the final score. Auron assumed the Duggles had lost, one game of many, apparently. Hastily scooting in his chair, Auron gave the patriarch room to stomp by. At the head of the table, across from Raine's aunt, Uncle Cetan whipped his chair out and slumped into his seat, grumbling something about a worthless defense and Auron got his first real look at Uncle Cetan. His hair was not all white, as he previously thought, but marbled black and gray, deep grooves frowning around his eyes and forehead as he offered Auron a curt nod and reached for the mashed potatoes. 

"You look familiar, Auron," Aunt Naya said. "Do I know your parents?"

Auron opened his mouth, but Raine spoke up. "Auron's an orphan, Aunt Naya."

"Over at St. Dolam's?" Uncle Cetan asked, jutting his thumb, apparently in the direction of St. Dolam's.

A local orphanage, Auron assumed.

"Bevelle, actually," Raine said, lips twitching as she met Auron's eye. Auron slanted his head formidably at her, but she was unruffled at his reproach, almost giddy, her eyes bright and gleaming with mischief. Raine waved her fork in the air and seemed to dot an imaginary "i" with it as she pointed slightly to Auron's right. Aunt Naya was holding a bowl of buttered peas in Auron's blind spot. 

Cetan reached across the table to spear a few slabs of roast. "Never heard of it."

Auron spilled a handful of peas onto his plate, passed the bowl to Uncle Cetan and as he hooked a thumb over the edge of the bowl, and provided Auron with an intense double take, initially fixated with Auron's scar until he shot his wife a quizzical look. 

"What did you say you're name was?" Raine's uncle asked.

"Auron," he said and Naya passed him a plate of hot rolls under a cloth napkin. 

A few silent minutes went by as the rest of the food was distributed and Auron tried to ignore the crimson fume in Uncle Cetan's pressed lips as the room's gravity plummeted. When everyone began to eat, Aunt Naya asked, "How do you know Raine, Auron?"

"I'm a friend of her father's," Auron said quickly, before Raine could answer for him.

"Jecht?" Uncle Cetan said and his expression looked as if he'd found a dead roach in one of his rolls.

"Auron was my father's sponsor," Raine said.

Flashing Raine a hard look, Auron nearly set the record straight, denying her statement, but then he couldn't think of anything to say in its place, so he let it go.

"You must have had your work cut out for you," Aunt Naya said.

"It wasn't easy," Auron said through his teeth. Was Raine trying to make this meeting difficult?

"I wasn't aware he quit," Uncle Cetan said.

"He did," Auron said without hesitation because this part was truthful. "Before he died."

Raine dimmed, chewing her food thoughtfully. Auron avoided her gaze and concentrated on his meal, navigating forkfuls over his high collar. There was a gap in the dialogue, filled with clinking silverware, the crepitus in Uncle Cetan's jaw as he ate, and the wooden squeak when someone shifted uneasily in their chair.

Quietly, feigning sincere interest, Aunt Naya asked, "Do you go to school...or do you work...?" 

"Neither," Auron said and left it at that.

Naya didn't have a response and quickly took a tiny bite of potatoes, chewing quickly.

"Do you live in C-South?" Uncle Cetan asked.

Live? "No." 

Uncle Cetan started to question further when Raine spoke up. "My aunt and uncle both went to C-South High."

The constant tension, which had plateaued shortly after they began to eat, sharply escalated at Raine's seemingly innocent comment. Uncle Cetan and Aunt Naya exchanged anxious glances and Auron met Raine's eyes in confusion, but she just smiled down at her plate. 

"The year my uncle graduated, my aunt was...." Raine's head lifted to look her aunt in the eye. "How old were you, Aunt Naya?"

Someone's fork dropped firmly to a plate with a startling clank. 

"Raine," Aunt Naya said, shaking her head in quick shakes, her face rigid, as though this was rude conversation. With a sheepish glimpse at Auron, the older woman lifted her fork and picked at her roast.

"That was different," Uncle Cetan said, low and pithily in his great niece's direction.

Auron's good eye came deliberately over the top of his sunglasses to look over the dinner table at Raine, who had, with one question, simultaneously warned her caretakers of their hypocrisy and gave Auron a not-so-subtle hint on the direction she thought their relationship should be going.

After absorbing a table full of glares, Raine rolled her eyes in defeat and said, "Not that it matters. Auron and I are just friends."

Another long moment followed and Auron couldn't seem to eat fast enough.

"Now I know where I've seen you," Aunt Naya said. "You were at my niece's funeral, weren't you?"

"I went to make sure the children were safe," Auron said after a rather uncouth swallow of roast. "As a favor to Jecht."

Raine rolled her eyes again when Auron said "children."

"Oh," Cetan said, thoughtfully frowning with new understanding, his posture reproving as he leaned to Raine. "Why didn't you say that?"

"I forgot," she said insipidly, giving Auron a dull look and slumped back in her chair, moody teen.

Safely smirking safely behind his collar, Auron was pleased how rapidly he had gone from potential suitor to guardian in her folks' eyes.

"Are you a Duggles fan, Auron?" Cetan asked and the strain of the situation immediately dissolved.

Auron gazed across the table at Raine, who was picking at her dinner with her fork, and a spark of pity penetrated through his normally obdurate shield. "I am," he said. "They play dirty, but I think that's their appeal."

Raine's eyes flicked up from her plate to Auron and then glanced obliquely at her custodians to make sure they didn't notice her shy smile.

When dinner was over, Auron declined the offer of coffee and pie from Aunt Naya and stood to leave. Raine dropped her napkin on her plate and jumped up as well. "I'll see Auron out." 

Auron descended the stairs to the landing by the front door, lugged on his boots and collected his equipment. Raine slipped into her shoes and grabbed a sweater from the coat rack before flicking on the porch light. It had gotten dark outside during the meal. When they were alone on the front stoop, Auron swung around to chide her for the position she'd cornered him in during dinner, but she was pulling on his bare arm, leading him further into the yard.

"Where do you stand?" she asked.

"On what?"

She grinned. "Where do you stand when you watch me?"

He considered her, debating.

"The yard is only half an acre, Auron. If I want to know, I'm going to find out."

He nodded upwardly. "Back here." He led her around the side of the house, to the copse of landscaping junipers by the privacy fence separating their yard from the neighbors. He slid in between two bushy trees, tramping back to the spot he found to have the most cover. 

"Cozy," she said looking around, although they were shrouded in darkness. She faced the lit house. Aunt Naya was in the window where the sink was and Uncle Cetan was carrying over dishes. "My aunt can't see you?"

"If she can, she's never shown it."

Raine was quiet for a few moments, stepping close to him so she could study the house. "You really can see right into my room."

"When the curtains are open." Usually she closed the blinds on the weekends when she didn't have to wake up as early.

"Of course." She glanced up at him carefully. "How much can you see?"

He glowered. "My vision is better than you think," he said sharply.

Raine flashed him a contrite look. "I didn't mean—" She shook her head and didn't finish. "Nothing. Nevermind."

Auron realized what she meant and felt like an asshole. He inwardly sighed and relaxed his tone. "I'm familiar enough with your routine to know when to look away."

Her nod was unreadable. A warm breeze rustled the scaly evergreen leaves around them as they watched Aunt Naya wash the dishes and Uncle Cetan wipe down the table and push it back against the wall. 

Recalling something that had been bothering him, he smiled curiously down at Raine. "So how old was your aunt Naya?"

"Huh?" she asked, unable to peel her eyes off the mundane activities in her own house.

"When your uncle graduated from C-South. How old was your aunt?" He ventured a guess out loud. "Three or four years old?"

With a sidetracked glimpse, Raine said, "Thirty-three."

Auron had never gaped in his life, but his jaw dropped like a weight was tied to his chin. "You're lying."

She giggled. "You thought my uncle was the older one?"

"Isn't he?"

"Chestnut 51," she said, shrugging carelessly, gazing back over to her house. She said it as if that was the answer to all questions.

Auron frowned. "I don't understand."

"It's her color dye. For her hair. It makes her look 20 years younger."

"I'll say," Auron said, slightly beside himself as he pondered this. His eye was pulled to the sliding glass door by the deck as her Uncle Cetan's full frame became a forbidding silhouette against the light in the kitchen as he searched the back yard, arms folded sinisterly.

"I think that's my cue," Raine said. "Thanks for today. You're a good listener."

A hug followed. It was unexpected, clumsy and over too soon. Without another word, she was ducking out of the trees, running back to the house. Uncle Cetan floated away from the patio door, back to the living room to watch the Blitzball highlights. Auron faintly heard the slide of the door on its rollers as she went inside. She said something to her aunt, who looked up from her dishes. The older woman nodded, picked up a towel to dry her hands, and Raine took her place in the window above the sink as she took over dish-duty. Her aunt joined her uncle in front of the holographic screen. Auron speculated this was done to impress him somehow, since Raine had never volunteered to do dishes before.


Six Days



When the dishes were done, Raine shut off the kitchen light and passed by the patio window. She paused at the top of the stairs to say something to her custodians and headed downstairs, out of sight. Auron's eye traveled diagonal across the back of the house to her bedroom window, still lit from when they were there earlier, and a moment later, the door opened wider and she strode into her room. She avoided looking out the window and headed to the corner where her bed couldn't be seen and Auron waited patiently for her to come into view again. There were times she was on her bed for hours, reading or chatting with a friend on a commsphere, so this was not uncommon. But she was visible again a few minutes later, at the window, closing the curtains. 

Hmph. That didn't take long.

To entertain himself, he glanced back to the living room. Her aunt and uncle were still watching a recap of the Blitzball game, quiescent in their chairs. Auron leaned against the fence, brooding over the consequences of showing her his usual post, until her curtains split open again. She had changed into loungewear, a pink tank top and purple running shorts. She opened her closet door, which blocked nearly half the window, and busied herself inside for another few minutes. When she approached the window again, her hand came up to fiddle with the locks and release the window.

"Auron!" she hissed across the yard.

Auron came quickly, only so she didn't say his name again and risk her parental guardians hearing. As soon as she saw him, she delved into her closet again and Auron immediately grew wary. He lowered down to one knee at her open window. There was music playing low in her room and he could hear commotion in the closet.

"Raine?" he whispered.

"One sec."

Auron checked the dark yard for nosy neighbors. Raine came out of the closet, covered neck to ankle in a shimmering blue gown and a perfectly square graduation cap with a blue and white fringe swinging against the side her face. She made a showy "ta-da!" gesture, her hands shaking like tambourines, and he snorted.

"Graduation's in two months," she said, leaning her arms on the chest-height windowsill. "You're coming, right?"

He tilted his head, evincing an ironic look. Did he not already follow her everywhere?

"You can't miss my valedictorian speech."

"I won't," he promised.

"Every student gets four seats, I think. You can sit next to my aunt and uncle. You can talk to my uncle about Blitzball."

Auron didn't say anything. He was sure a decline would diminish her upbeat mood.

"Do you want to come in?" she asked, swinging the window wider.

Badly.

"I'll be fine out here."

"Are you sure? My uncle and aunt never come down here, not since the laundry was moved to the main floor."

She misinterpreted his hesitation as a silent scolding.

"Okay, okay. Look, I'll leave the window unlocked. In case it ever starts to rain or if you just want to talk."

"Lock your window," Auron said. 

"But—"

"Don't argue. You'll be safe from—"

Me.

"—prowlers."

"I thought you kept me safe from prowlers," she said with a light in her eye.

"Do your homework," he said sternly and walked back to his spot in the trees before she could respond. He heard the windows shut after a while.

Back in his thicket of junipers, Auron situated to run on idle for the remainder of the night. Raine sat dutifully at her desk, working on homework. 

Auron had to remind himself it wouldn't always be like this. Her crush on him would eventually disappear. Right now, school was slowing down to give her time to apply to colleges, but life would pick up again when her higher education commenced. 

His thoughts were interrupted as the house began to darken. Aunt Naya and Uncle Cetan had turned off the lights and gone to bed. Soon, Raine put away her homework and started her nightly routine, disappearing into the bathroom across the hall and returning with a freshly washed face and brushed hair. A new move had been added to her routine, however, a short wave in Auron's direction, before the lights blinked off. He smiled without humor at her good-night gesture, suddenly losing himself in contemplation, considering the open invitation he now had to her room....

Day One

It was well after midnight when Auron sidestepped between the tugging branches of the junipers, knelt by his reflection in Raine's window and pushed it open with his gauntlet. The sweet and spicy scents of her candles reached his nostrils immediately. Round and full as a silver gil coin, the moon illuminated everything but for the darkest corners of her room in a steely hue. It seemed like he was waiting for something. Another invite, perhaps, but when one didn't come, Auron knew she was deep in sleep. His boots landed on the carpet with a muffled thud and he leaned his sword in the corner by the closet before silently latching the window. 

She was sleeping to his left, laying on her side, facing away from him, her blonde hair spilling across her pillow. Auron maneuvered her bedroom carefully, stepping over stacks of books and magazines and heaps of clothes to find safe patches of carpet. Boots didn't tip-toe well, but he managed to approach her bed without awakening her. There was nothing he wanted to say and to take her out of slumber just to prove how easy it was for prowlers to get to her was a weak excuse. Anyway, she was right. Auron was there to keep her safe, from prowlers, from Sin-spawn, from anything that posed a threat. 

So who was keeping her safe from him?

Making his way back through the obstacles, Auron settled in the arm chair between her closet and desk, opposite the wall her bed was on so he could watch her. He could tell the rickety way the chair shifted under his weight that it was old, but she had repurposed it with a rose colored sheet as a slipcover to hide any stains or holes it might have underneath and accessorized it with a silk heart pillow frilled with white lace, which Auron adjusted at his lower back for the most comfort, but ended up removing it completely. He noticed the white stitching on the back: Luv Sux. With a silent snort, he tossed it to the floor.

Raine hadn't moved a muscle since he had come in. He didn't know what he was doing there, but after a few minutes he was content with not knowing. He should have known better than to get comfortable; it made it harder to leave. Apart from the occasional sleepover at a friend's house, Raine slept at home and Auron had spent every night for the last three years in those junipers. He was enjoying the novelty of being inside for once and the rare, guilt-free opportunity to close his eye for a moment. Soon, the candles' pungency was making him sleepy. He didn't need sleep to function, but he enjoyed a nap once in a while for meditation. His eyelid felt heavy behind his sunglasses and he began dozing off in short intervals, his head dropping forward. At least he only woke himself when his breath began grating on the back of his throat.

A few hours passed before Auron came out of one of his catnaps, apparently woken by Raine's stirring. Her back was still to him, but she had shaped her pillow differently. With very good intensions to wake up and stay up, Auron situated in the chair, winking his eye in determination, but then he slouched forward and rested again. 

He was roused a second time, this time by Raine's soft breathing. Since her blankets were pulled up to her shoulder, the only visible part of her body was her head, but she was fidgeting under the covers, slightly hunched as if she was situating her pajamas or scratching her leg. After so many hours of perfect stillness, her activity, even in sleep was a welcome diversion. He was suddenly wide awake, rapt by her simple actions of listless scratching, adjusting her bedding or changing positions. As she languidly rolled on her back, Auron noticed she was trembling strangely under the covers and Auron watched her with rigid alarm until it occurred to him she was dreaming. He smiled faintly, fondly, and rested his elbow on the arm of the chair so he could lean his cheek on the knuckles of his gauntlet, idly wondering what sorts of things Raine dreamed about. He was realistic enough to know her dreams were not all puppies, rainbows and candy (or whatever girls her age dreamed about), but judging from her low whimper, Auron realized not even little Raine was immune to nightmares.

However, something in the rhythm of her breathing jerked his cock. Suddenly, her head came off the pillow, suspended under the blankets, curled in what looked like a stomach crunch. She relaxed, her legs straightening, lying back on her pillow, and then something was deposited out the side of the blankets, landing in a small heap on the floor. Auron had to squint to focus on it, but when he saw her white-with-red-hearts underwear, he knew she wasn't dreaming. 

Auron arched his eyebrow. 

Slowly shrinking into the chair, Auron didn't dare make a sound. While unanticipated, it was suddenly glaringly obvious to Auron why grown men didn't enter the rooms of young women unannounced, but it was too late to broadcast his presence now. It would mortify her and he couldn't imagine it would be pleasant for him, either. Studying the window, Auron knew he was stealthy in his boots, but not enough for this kind of escape. His only option was to keep still, hope her eyes remained shut and pray she finished quickly. After, when she was asleep, he would sneak out, saving him from ever acknowledging this.

Raine's lips parted as her light pants turned to breathy moans, and Auron had to imagine the place where the blankets shivered was where her hand was feverishly rubbing between her legs. The faint squelch of her fingers inside her made Auron very aware of how insufferably hot it was in the room and Auron felt the first crack of his composure as a cold sweat developed under his arms. He wanted to open his cloak for air. As a durable, stoic man, Auron could fight the urge to fidget restlessly, but his first instinct to close his eye only brought images to his mind that were even more lecherous than what was actually happening. 

Although the shame of his reluctant erection was excruciating, he found her compelling to watch. He had never asked a woman to pleasure herself for him, but he suspected it would not have been as satisfying as this. Raine's body undulated under the covers with practiced poise, an air of routine that let Auron know this wasn't exploratory for her. Eyelid softening, Auron leaned his head back on the chair, releasing a channel of stimulation inside him as he allowed his blood to boil. He had to force himself to breathe controlled sips of air through his nostrils.

His gauntlet crept to the drawstrings of his trousers, but he wavered. The tension inside him was almost painful, but the commotion of his own release would certainly alert her of his uninvited company. 

"Oh, Auron," she groaned.

Auron started, his boot inadvertently knocking over a stack of books. His first thought was she had finally opened her eyes and saw him, but it quickly became apparent she was only seeing him behind her eyelids as she touched herself. The books slumped and a quiet rustle of pages and creaking of new spines was all it took for Raine to know she wasn't alone.

As her limbs flailed wildly under the covers, Auron heard the inhale of her scream and flew out of his chair, pouncing to subdue her. Quickly, he wrestled his arm out of his sleeve. The last thing he needed now was for her aunt or uncle to hear and his hand smashed her face to smother her mouth, one knee coming up to hold her down. She gave him a good fight, he realized later, when he had time to examine the battle scars: a single bloody scratch on his forearm and teeth marks on his palm. But during their tussle, the only sound was the soft rustle of flannel sheets, muted slaps and the gentle clicking of a string of beads hanging from her headboard.

It was the most physical they had ever been and Auron found the brawl exhilarating, but when he had the opportunity, he leaned close to her face, emphatically touching his lips with one finger. She watched him with wide eyes, her fingers curling around his forearms, not really pulling or fighting. Just holding on. Her eyes darted around in the moonlight, slightly frazzled, but unafraid. Auron's gloved thumb was absently stroking her forehead in effort to calm her and after a few moments, he felt her relax minutely. It only took Auron a moment to realize why. Her eyes were bubbling with tears and both her hands clapped over her eyes to hide herself. He heard the whine of humiliation right before the vibration of her adorable weeping against his hand. Waves of heat came off her face like the flu, but he was reluctant to let her mouth go. Once he released her mouth, talking would inevitably follow. And he didn't think he was ready to talk about...this. 

Maybe it was the tension of the moment or the excitement of their wrestle or how her embarrassment was as endearing as it was heartbreaking, but it seemed wholly out of his control when he asked, "Would you like my help?"

Her fingers opened like scissors so she could peer out between them and Auron couldn't help chuckling. Her nod was eager under his hand, but she was also trembling. Slowly, Auron let her face go and she repositioned herself against the pillow.

"How did you get in?" she whispered.

"The window," he said and almost added, "I told you to lock it," but he didn't want her to think she brought this on herself. 

Auron lifted the blankets out from under him and tossed them aside to shield an audience of lime-green tonberries, creamy white moogles, and fiery orange moombas, all stuffed and judging with their plastic googly-eyes. 

Raine was naked from the waist down and she only wore a thin tank top. He could see the peaks of her nipples through the fabric, but her legs were together, held at an awkward angle as though purposely trying to hide her nakedness. "How long were you watching me?"

"Long enough." Auron removed his robe, draped it at the end of the bed and began unsnapping the buckles of his collar. Raine watched his every move carefully. "This will go better if you remember to breathe." 

With a great exhale, she smiled in chagrin and made an exaggerated effort to take in air, her chest heaving nervously. At one point, her swallow sounded like a gulp.

Kneeling up on the bed, Auron positioned himself between her quivering knees and dropped down on his belly. He wrapped his arms around her thighs, easing them open. She smelled ready. He nudged her, feeling the tickle of damp pubic hair on his upper lip and wondered if her young boyfriend could do this as well as Auron could. He was feeling a massive boost in ego as he thought of all the things he could do to her. 

"I—I haven't showered since this morning," she rushed to say.

Somewhat disgruntled with her interruption, he felt like he was in a pool of fantasy and every time she talked brought him closer to the surface of reality. "You smell good," he murmured and kissed the inside of her thigh. Like a tug to the deep end. The moonlight made her skin look like stone, gray and smooth. Auron leaned in to kiss her pubic lips, already imagining her taste, her warmth, all just within reach of his outstretched tongue.

"Wait," she said and shifted suddenly. "Wait, wait."

Like a bubble popping, Auron surfaced to reality. He looked up. She had sat up a little on her elbows, looking down at him. What was he doing? Kneeling in a twin bed covered in stuffed animals, face down against the wet genitalia of Jecht's daughter? Disgraceful. He nodded and rose to his knees. "I understand." His cock didn't, but he did.

Even in moonlight, it was hard to see what she was doing. He felt the balmy heat of her sex on the back of his hand as she scooted towards him and her fingers as they combed tenderly through the hair on his temple. After that, he hardly needed any coaxing to kiss her open mouth. His lucidity had been brief, permitting her to drag him back down into the murky depths of debauchery with one long, captivating kiss. 

She was a better kisser than he was, little wonder with a boyfriend with a backseat, but her tongue was surprisingly hesitant as it dipped searchingly between his lips. She tasted sweetly sour, like green apple, and once he tasted her he couldn't get enough of it and demanded more from her, invading her mouth with his tongue, losing himself in her kiss. This was new. Kissing women had always been like signing a contract. Sealing the deal. Just business. No one had ever kissed him and meant it before. He leaned into her, one hand flared against the small of her back, the other propped on the mattress by her hip. He was careful not to let his groin touch her. If it did, his tongue would not be the only thing thrusting inside her.

Her lips fell away from his as she dropped her head back, but he didn't want the kiss to end. Stubbornly, Auron bumped his mouth against hers, as if to provoke her, and felt the twist of a faint smile on her lips right before she lied back.

"I'm ready now," she said.

Raising an eyebrow at her, he made a noise that was something between a subtle scoff and a snort. He was completely beside himself, marveling at her. "How did you do that?"

She was settling back into her pillows. "Do what?" 

Something had changed. Auron felt it, but Raine was too innocent to notice. 

She was no longer fulfilling his fantasy. He was fulfilling hers. 

Auron lowered to his stomach and sunk his tongue between her pubic lips, familiarizing himself with the sensitivities of her anatomy; her smell, her taste, the way her juices chilled on his whiskers. Her breath was ragged, but quiet. Stiffening his tongue, he slowly circled the tough kernel of her clitoris and he felt her tense, her pelvis pressing into him slightly. Over the top of his sunglasses, Auron saw her white knuckles clutching the front of her tank top, exposing the writhing muscles of her stomach, her marble skin glistening as tracks of sweat pooled in her belly button. 

A long, low moan came out of her mouth, and it increased his hunger. He devoured her with gluttonous enthusiasm, valiantly pushing through the ache rising in his jaw, and he was compensated rather unceremoniously with a vice to his skull as she came. His glasses shifted on his face, but didn't break. While he fought to hold her bucking thighs apart, Auron was progressively aware of Raine's cries as they gained authority. He climbed over her body to stifle her with one hand, the wind of her rough breaths fast and focused on the back of his knuckles, the vibrating hum of her muffled hollers on his palm. His other hand twitched fitfully between her legs, chasing the glorious aftershocks of her climax, watching the beautiful sight with smug satisfaction. He didn't let it end until she physically pulled his hand free of her loins.

Kneeling back, Auron admired his work. She was breathing quickly through a lazy smile, making no attempt to cover herself as her legs splayed lewdly. Her tank top had hiked up during her delightful ordeal and he stared at the tender swell of side-breast. He wanted to expose it. Squeeze it. Suck the nipple. Instead, he glanced down at the erection in his pants.

Raine saw it too. She reached over and grappled with his drawstrings.

"No, Raine," he grumbled and pushed her hands away. Of all the lines he'd crossed tonight, this was the one he couldn't intersect.

"It's okay," she whispered.

"I can't."

"I want you to."

"No," he barked. Before this, their voices had been hushed, never exceeding some invisible threshold of hearing, until now. Auron did it to startle her into listening, but she only grinned conceitedly, pluckier now in the afterglow of orgasm. 




Six Days



"If you're worried about defiling me, someone already beat you to it."

Auron scowled. 

"At least let me return the favor," she said, doing her best to ooze pity. Her hands came inching back to his belt, but he swatted her away.

"Forget it." He pushed off the bed and found his cloak at the end of the bed. He threw it over his shoulder.

She sat up to watch him leave, but he wouldn't look her in the face. He swung the strap of his scabbard over his shoulder and opened the window.

"At least think of me when you're handling yourself tonight."

Auron stopped and looked over at her. He saw the glint in her eye before she rolled away, fluffed her pillow and settled in. She flipped the covers over her, tucking herself into bed. 

"Lock your window," he muttered and hurdled over the window sill. 

But as far as he could tell from his post in the junipers, she didn't get up to lock it. Securing the belt of his great coat, he arranged his arm sling-style at the front of it and adjusted the strap of his scabbard on his shoulder, comforted by the sword's weight. His boots fell into the usual ruts in the ground, his shoulder blades leaning on the same worn spot on the fence. But his mind wouldn't stop. While he waited for dawn, he didn't—in Raine's words—"handle himself," but he did think of her, fighting back a grin every time he repeated her words in his head. And for now, it made him forget to feel guilty. But it bothered him the way she rolled over and went to bed, as if it didn't matter, as if nothing fundamental had changed; her vain confidence was unexpected.

The next day was drearily typical. He waited in the sun dappled alley until her friends came to walk her to school, gave them plenty of head start and followed behind. After last night, he didn't expect to see much difference in her appearance, but he anticipated she would be wrought with the shame and indignity of it all. Somehow he figured her disposition would change, whether she would be slow to smile or contribute in conversations, but she seemed her regular self—the self she presented to her friends, at least. She participated quite willingly to the gossip her friends found interesting and Auron felt intensely relieved when her giggles reached his ears. 

She only lived a few blocks from the school. Before long, they joined the current of babbling students, flowing up the stark white sidewalk that divided a sprawling, green front lawn. The walkway bulged midway to the main entrance to accommodate a large stone fountain, like an island in a stream of pupils, with bronzed representations of Aeons dancing in the jets and sprays. Raine's school was a historic building made of maintained red brick with bleached columns, gabled rooflines and a steeple over the belfry. The windows were narrow and paned, arranged in groups of two and three and, according to Raine, were drafty in the monsoon season. 

Today, Auron remained in plain view, sitting on a concrete bench across the street on the southern main entrance. As usual, the school yard became a deserted wasteland after the second bell and he began to mark the time by the number of bells sounded. He was used to emptying his mind during these long expanses of time where nothing was happening. Auron had spent the better part of the last couple years thinking cold about Spira, Sin and pilgrimages—past and future, but now he realized those sorts of ruminations were futile. Overthinking events he could no longer do anything about made him miserable and he still had a solid 7 years with Raine in Zanarkand. 

But as much as he tried to keep his mind a blank slate, today Auron was afflicted with random flashes of last night: the quick tempo of Raine's breathing, the natural settle of her breasts under her shirt, the dark mound of her pubic area. Spontaneous strobes of salacious images, accompanied with an upswing of elation, followed by little stabs of dread that stripped his dignity and made him distrust his effectiveness as a guardian. 

It wasn't until lunchtime when Auron began to genuinely relax. The school yard was teeming with students and Raine was sitting cross-legged on the wide fountain ledge with her friends, eating the cold lunch she brought from home. He had half expected a hassling from the school counselor along with a few Zanarkand authorities, but when he saw Raine thriving with her usual temperament, he knew she was handling this better than he was. She was fine. Better than fine. Auron dared to say...glowing.

Suddenly, Auron felt intensely irritated with her. He had purposely sat in the open so she would see him, why didn't she give him some sort of sign? A nod, a thumbs-up, a secret wave, anything trademark to her personality to show him she was doing fine or at least to remind him he wasn't invisible. It was like last night hadn't happened for her and it deeply vexed him. 

After school, Raine met at the field on the north side for cheerleading practice. Auron had already moved to a wooden slatted bench with iron arm rests, facing the train station across the street with his back to the field. He hated to admit he knew all the cheers, but he did; a consequence of attending all her rehearsals and games. For most of the practice, he was able to tune out the drills, but he could tell they were trying something new today from the change in rhythm. Auron glanced around the empty street before extending his arm over the backrest and shifting in his seat to watch over his shoulder. 

It was a complicated pyramid with a lot of technical aspects that not all the girls could grasp right away. The late afternoon sun stretched the shadow of their wobbly human pyramid half the length of the field. Auron's eye automatically trained on Raine during every routine and she was playing her part perfectly at the bottom as far as Auron could tell. But it wasn't enough to avoid the wrath of the head cheerleader, a brunette who was too slim for her head, wore too much make-up and wasn't happy unless all eyes were on her. She called the end of practice soon after their pyramid attempt.

Raine left school from the south entrance, waving or smiling to her friends in farewell as they forked off in different directions towards their respectable streets. Most days, one or two of her friends stayed linked to Raine's hip on the way to her neighborhood and this day was no different. Auron knew to stay back. Part of him hoped she might make an excuse to her friends and meet him on his bench. It was rare, but she had done it before. As much as he dreaded a conversation about last night, apparently not discussing it was making him just as uneasy. 

Home again, Auron found his place within the junipers and as it got dark, the windows got bright and he was able to watch them eat as a family. Dinner seemed a little more low-key tonight than last night. Their gestures of conversation were infrequent and looked polite in nature. When it was over, Raine went downstairs to her room, where she would talk on a sphere cam, watch a show or do a little homework.

At some point a few hours later, Raine closed her curtains and it relieved Auron to know she wouldn't tease him. After last night, he was sure she would try to ruffle his feathers again now that she knew she could. On the same note, it disappointed him she didn't trust him to look away at the appropriate times anymore. She was probably right not to. 

The curtains parted again and Auron was pleased she was wearing a thick white robe. Maybe this was the start of a new, more maintained relationship. She would be more aware of how she presented herself and Auron would work on subduing his attraction.

With the curtains pulled all the way back, Raine tugged the windows open and Auron raised his chin alertly. She wanted to talk. He supposed it was time. Auron started to step out of the trees, but Raine moved out of the window to the bed where he couldn't see. His eye flicked up to the second floor window. Her custodians were watching the late evening news. They would be retiring to bed soon. 

Was she inviting him, or did she just need a little fresh air? It was a brisk night and a basement room like hers was already chilly enough. What was she doing? Feeling a trick, Auron stepped back into the trees. She was luring him, he realized. Forget it. He wouldn't go.

Soon, Raine's aunt and uncle turned out the lights and went to their bedroom on the far side of the upper level where Auron couldn't see. Raine's light was still on, the window still open. Still waiting for him to come. Crossing his arms, he settled back against the fence and became idle. He struggled to hollow out his mind to prepare for a long night of playing guardian, but clips of her self-pleasure blinked unbidden into his mind and he speculated if that was what she was doing now. Was she naked under her robe? Was she touching herself? Was she thinking of him? Whispering his name?

Fuck it.

Adjusting the strap of his scabbard, he glided out of the trees and strode across the yard. He crouched by her window and looked inside. She was sitting on her bed, reading under the covers, looking very snug in her thick white robe. He rapped his knuckles on the side of the window to get her attention. She only turned the page in response. With an inward sigh, Auron dropped down into the room and closed the windows, vowing to only stay a minute. 

"It's freezing out there," he said.

Her nose still buried in the book, she answered with a lift of her finger. In a moment, she seemed to say.

Auron rolled his eye and waited, but she was taking her sweet time. "Would you like me to leave?"

"I have a quiz tomorrow. I'll be done in a moment."

Oh she was very good. Smirking, Auron leaned his katana on the wall. From the arm chair, he lifted her open book bag and moved it to the floor so he could sink into it. He tried to get comfortable, twisted, and plucked that little "Luv Sux" pillow out from under him and tossed it on the floor with the rest of the clutter. Although, as Auron glanced around, it seemed he could see more of the carpeting now, enough to realize it was a beige shag. Maybe she had picked up a little. In any case, it was much more comfortable inside than standing in the trees. He rested his head back and shut his eye, listening to the dry slide of paper as she turned the pages. 

A few minutes later, Auron heard the soft thump of the book closing and he opened his eye. She was looking at him with a soft gaze. He shouldn't have gotten so comfortable. It would be easier to deflect her charms if he was standing.

"I saw you at lunch today," she said. Her knee came up and she placed a fist on top of it to prop up her chin, tilting her head sweetly. 

"I wasn't sure that you did," Auron said impassively.

"Why?"

Auron sat still as stone and didn't answer right away. He wasn't sure he had a reply.

Her eyes turned bright, but wary. "Because I didn't come over and talk to you?"

"You have nothing to say?" Answering a question with a question was usually a good way to take the heat off.

"There's nothing more unattractive than a clingy girl."

"How would you know what I find attractive?" 

Her cheeks stained red, but she wasn't about to be sidetracked and flashed him a hard look. "Nobody likes clingy."

Auron wondered if he was the clingy one. After all, he was the one sitting in her bedroom and had come inside without a proper invite. He didn't push the topic and was glad when she changed the subject.

"Did you see me on the field today?"

"I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't."

"How did you like our pyramid?" she asked with a roll of her eyes.

"You did well," Auron said, skirting the question.

"Yeah," she said with grim sarcasm. "I'm so great at the bottom."

"If you want to prove yourself, first you must complete the tasks you're given," he said.

She sighed through her nose, annoyed. "You've never been a cheerleader before, have you?"

"No," he laughed. He figured she might not buy that. "In my world, the pyramid is a symbol for ascension."

"Well, in the real world, it just means Lindsey gets all the attention at the top." She sipped air and looked at him contritely. "Not that your world isn't real."

Affecting mild surprise, Auron said, "You want to be at the top of the pyramid?"

She shrugged. "Everybody does, so why shouldn't I?"

Auron mulled that over for a minute. "I didn't realize you craved that kind of attention."

"Everybody deserves to be at the top of the pyramid if they want to." 

He nodded on that for a few beats, considering her, but didn't say anything.

With a flirty quirk of her lips, she said, "Did you think of me today?" 

"No more than usual." He wasn't lying. Lately, it was typical to think of Raine squirming on his lap in her cheerleading uniform.

"Well," she sighed, "I thought of you a lot." She got up on her knees and removed her robe, draping it over her footboard. She was wearing her usual sleeping attire, a tank top and underwear. The top was burgundy with spaghetti straps and her panties were lavender, printed with fruit shapes: red apples, yellow bananas, oranges, violet grapes. She lied on her belly and rested her head on her folded arms, a drowsy smile on her face. Knees bent, she kicked her legs lazily in the air and Auron's eye lingered over the soft bump of her ass.

"Platonic thoughts, I hope."

"Oh yes," she said, her eye glinting.

"Good," he said. It was easy to sound stern, but it wasn't easy to mean it. She was often playful with him, but it was always guarded, as if she wasn't quite sure how he would take it. Now she treated him with an ease he didn't recognize. Sometimes he suspected she feared him; not from harm, but the humiliation of being scolded. He didn't necessarily like being feared by her, but it did suit his needs to keep her at a distance. But now, she had penetrated a weak spot on him and it wouldn't take much to exploit it. "You realize that can't happen again."

"Goodness no," she said, head rising in simulated horror. "There's plenty of stuff we can do before we do that again."

"That's not what I mean."

"No?" she asked with a sweetly pitiful look. 

"There's a name for people who are attracted to children."

"What, pedophiles?" Her eyebrows raised in mock-surprise. "Then why are you here? I don't see any children."

"Your window was open. It's freezing."

"I'm well aware of the temperature outside and I assure you its above freezing. And you can go whenever you want. I haven't tied you up," she said and gave him a sly look. "Yet."

He couldn't help smirking, but pursed his lips to restrict it and deepened his voice slightly. "You can't talk to me like that, either."

"It's called flirting. I've been doing it with you since I was 7 years old."

He raised an eyebrow in condemnation. "I find that hard to believe."

"Really?" she asked, with a challenge in her tone. She got up on her knees and clapped her hands on her cheeks, gazing wistfully up at the ceiling. "Owen, weed me this story while I sit on your lap. Owen, I'm supposed to hold someone's hand when I cwoss the street. Owen, will you tie my shoe for me?"

Auron rolled his eye. "None of that counts."

"Please. I was reading at an 8th grade level at 7, I had been crossing the street alone since I was 5 and I had plenty of dexterity to tie my own shoes."

"Acting inferior for attention? Who taught you to do that?"

"Well, since it worked on you, I guess...you did." She smiled. "Look, I'm perfectly capable of delivering my own orgasms, too, but it was more fun when you did it."

To cover a grin, he jutted his chin and quickly glared. "I apologize for invading your privacy last night. When I realized what was happening, I didn't want to embarrass you by announcing myself."

"Thank you for that," she said insipidly, tipping her head, giving him a level look. "Moaning your name was so much less humiliating."

"It was an awkward situation and I made the wrong choice. " He hesitated. "You understand you didn't do anything wrong, don't you?"

"Stop it. You sound like an afterschool special. Look, I can see this makes you uncomfortable. I'm willing to forget about it."

Finally. She was being reasonable. "It's best if we do."

"I'll forget about it for exactly 6 days."

Auron frowned. "Why 6 days?"

"I turn 19 in 6 days. Well, 5 after tonight."

"Raine—"

"I thought we were supposed to be real friends? Like you and TIdus."

Auron sighed. "We are—"

"Well, real friends should be able to talk about this. I'll agree not to talk about it for 6 days if you promise to talk about it openly when those 6 days are up."

He considered her deal. With her attention span, she would likely forget about it by then. He nodded. "I'll agree to that."

"Good," she said spritely, jumping off the bed. She approached him with a sideways smile and crawled into his lap.

Auron tensed. "This isn't part of the agreement."

"Friends do this," she assured.

"Believe me, my friends have never done this." 

He was already missing the days when she used to fear him—his efforts to repel her were ineffective. The chair springs were squeaking as Auron squirmed to deter, but she managed to raise her knees like a fetus and cuddle against him. Disgruntled, Auron allowed it and situated in his seat to accommodate her. The weight of her against him was as comfortable as the sword on his back and his hand betrayed him almost immediately as his gauntlet cupped around her shoulder. His other arm was still tucked into his coat and Auron doubted it would have wasted little time finding its way to bare skin if unhampered. He closed his eye and his high collar bent forward as he leaned his cheek on the top of her head. 

There was something innocently familial about sitting like that with her, an intimacy they were both unaccustomed to, since Jecht was lost at sea before Raine turned 5 and the only life Auron knew as a boy was inside a monastery. Although it was like huddling for warmth, he wasn't foolish enough to believe that made it permissible. And yet, his heart was thrumming behind his armor and his excitement was persistent on the side of her hip.

She busied her fingers by tracing the seams around his chest armor and even though he couldn't see her eyes, he could tell her mind was working. "How well does this armor protect you?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Just curious," she giggled. "Jeez. It's not like I'm trying to learn your weak spot."

"I think you're closer to knowing than you think."

Her arm came across his chest to touch the small medallions, hanging like ornaments from the corner of his shoulder guard. Auron cast his eye down to simply watch, reminiscent of when she would play with them as a little girl, as if she liked the sound of them tinkling together. 

"These are for beating Sin," she said and Auron couldn't tell if it was a question or not. It must have been a statement because a moment later, she asked, "Is this all you get for doing it?"

"And reputation."

"Nothing else physical? Money? Treasure?"

Auron shook his head.

"Is it worth it?"

"No. The Calm makes it worth it."

Pushing back the shoulder guard, Raine released his arm. Just as Auron thought, his freed hand went straight for her thigh, sliding around the outside of her leg. Hearing the clicks of his collar buttons, Auron felt the delicate yanks as Raine unsnapped them and the material split apart, away from his mouth, weighed down by the heavy buckles. 

"Why don't you face the field while I'm at practice?" Raine softly asked.

Auron almost smiled. He began rubbing his whiskers in her hair, stroking the outside of her leg. "Why do you think?"

"Do you think it's creepy for a man to watch girls through a school yard fence?"

"I wouldn't trust me," he chuckled.