Ruby and Emerald (part 6 of 9)

A blush quickly rose to her cheeks as she found herself looking directly at leather clad cleavage, the unmistakable silver cross clasp quickly identifying her 'pillow' as Paine. Rikku briefly let herself be a little mesmerized by the slow rise and fall of Paine's breathing, her eyes eventually slowly traveling upwards. Granted, she had been this close to the warrior yesterday on the island, but she was also in a lot of pain, and didn't have the opportunity to enjoy the view, so to speak, and was taking the opportunity to do so now as her eyes took in little details. The curve of her shoulder, the line of her neck and jaw, and finally, Rikku's emerald eyes settled on Paine's face. She smiled at the peaceful expression of the sleeping warrior, marveling at how gentle she appeared. Rikku knew that under the battle hardened exterior was a kind, gentle soul, and she was determined to work her way through and expose it back to the light of day so it could be seen other than just when Paine was asleep.

Rikku shifted her head to gently rest it on Paine's shoulder, watching the slow pulse of her relaxed heartbeat, admiring Paine's pale skin. She brought her arm up, her hand shaking a little as her arm was still rather sore, glancing at her wrist and arm as she realized that it was healed, for the most part. Flexing a little, she nodded in approval and turned her eyes back to Paine, bringing her hand down to softly rest on the warrior's breastbone, eying the different skin tones. Her skin was always tanned, naturally darker like the rest of her tribe, a little moreso from time spent outside. Paine, by comparison, was paler than Yuna, but still a healthy color. Rikku idly wondered if it was connected to her silvery hair and red eyes, but decided that she didn't care, liking it either way. She furrowed her brow slightly as she noticed the bit of redness at Paine's collarbone and neck, glancing up at the woman's face, a blush quickly coating her cheeks as her eyes met Paine's wide open ones, she blushing as well. Both women looked initially like they wanted to move away and pretend nothing happened, but the longer neither moved, the less of an urge that became.

Paine was the first to find her voice, her tone soft. "Uh, hey...how's your arm feeling?"

Rikku reflexively glanced down at her arm still resting across Paine's chest, her blush growing a little darker and heating her ears. Shaking slightly, she gently clenched her hand into a fist. "Still sore, and kind of shaky, but a thousand times better." A thought struck her, and she quickly looked up again. "You set it, didn't you?"

Paine arched an eyebrow smoothly. "Yes, but why did you think that?"

"Because Barkeep wouldn't have thought to have someone cast Sleep on me first."

"You noticed that, huh?"

Rikku laughed lightly, a sound that made Paine get a little thrill inside, so happy to hear it again, though she kept it from her expression. "I've been running around Spira for a while, Paine, I've had all manner of things cast on me. You get to learn what a few are just from the first touch of magic before they take affect."

Turning her gaze upwards for a few moments, Paine considered this, then nodded lightly. "Yes, I suppose that's true."

Faintly biting her lower lip, Rikku fell silent for a moment, then leaned up and softly kissed Paine's cheek, smiling inwardly as she felt the shiver it sent through Paine, who managed to not show too much of a reaction to this, despite her cheeks blushing a little darker. "Thank you."

Paine shifted about, suddenly having lost most of her earlier resolve. "Eh, you'd do the same for me afterall."

Rikku shrugged slightly, faintly grimacing at the motion, and lightly, reluctantly, moved from Paine's side, feeling the woman's discomfort and not wishing to be the cause of it. "Maybe, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't thank you anyway..."

Paine sat up and adjusted her shawl a little, the blush still on her cheeks, but slowly fading. She lightly cleared her throat, and looked back to Rikku. Her thoughts were in turmoil, Rikku able to see this in the shine of Paine's eyes. Glancing away again as she stood from the bed to stand next to it, she cleared her throat lightly once more. "You're welcome."

Flexing her arm again to work out the stiffness, Rikku nodded lightly, her eyes trained down on her hand as she flexed it into a fist and relaxed it again. "..I knew you'd search for me."

"Well of course, Yuna's your cousin afterall..." Paine trailed off as Rikku shook her head vehemently and looked up, her eyes briefly flashing.

"Not Yuna. You, Paine. I knew that you'd search for me." The conviction in her voice was strong, her gaze unwavering as she focused on the warrior.

Paine paused, her first words caught in her throat. She cursed inwardly as her instincts told her to turn and run, to not say anything, to just go. But she had to admit to herself, that if she did such a thing, she'd hate herself forever for letting the opportunity pass. So instead, she simply nodded lightly, trying to relax her tense muscles. "Yes."

Rikku, an expert in running away from dangerous situations, could tell that Paine wanted to go, a little triumphant moment for her as she watched the warrior decide it was better to stay. She pushed back her own nervousness as she glanced over at the door to the bathroom, shifting forward on the bed to sit on the edge of it in front of Paine. Reaching up, she gently took Paine's hand in both of hers, looking down at the glove that covered it. Faintly biting her lower lip, she slid the glove away, Paine's hand shaking faintly before she lightly clenched it into a fist. Rikku slipped her fingers between Paine's and gently squeezed, closing her eyes for a few moments. Hoping almost beyond reason that she knew the answer already, she rested her forehead to the back of the warriors strong hand before asking. "Why?"

For the second time in as many days, Paine felt the world slow to nearly a stop, this time triggered by Rikku's words instead of the sight of her falling. She reflexively squeezed Rikku's hand tightly, using the girl as an anchor, as a reason to not run. "I...I couldn't bear the thought of having to let you go." She raised her other hand up and gently touched Rikku's lips as she looked up, silencing the question she could see in the shining emerald eyes. "I...fayth, this isn't easy for me, Rikku..." Paine knelt down next to the bed, keeping Rikku's hands held in hers.

Rikku nodded lightly, softly kissing the back of Paine's bare hand. "I know.." She dared not move or do anything further, a part of her feeling like she was approaching a wounded animal that might snap at any moment and bite her.

Paine glanced up as she heard Yuna shuffling around a bit more in the bathroom, and the door to the cabin open, Buddy speaking with Oaka and Barkeep. She faintly bit her lower lip for a moment before regaining her stoic appearance, her voice low. "Buddy said we were going to stop in Besaid so he and Brother can take a boat to Luca and get other items to fix the airship, and we can recuperate from all...this. Can..can we talk there?" She took a deep breath. "Please, Rikku.."

Softly pressing her lips to the back of Paine's knuckles again, Rikku closed her eyes, then nodded, glancing over towards the railing and glaring at Buddy's voice. "Yeah. This isn't going to be a short conversation, is it?"

Paine offered a soft smile as she stood, taking her glove and slipping it back on, shaking her head. "No, I don't think so." She smirked, and Rikku knew things were alright. "If you weren't so lazy..."

"Hey! You cast -Sleep- on me!"

"You complain as much as Brother sometimes, you think I wanted to hear you?" Paine's eyes shone with dual relief and a tiny bit of worry over what was to come, but she wasn't about to pass over an opportunity to tease Rikku.

"What? Why you..." Rikku grabbed a pillow and tossed it at Paine, the tall woman chuckling as she easily dodged the soft projectile, and turned to head down the stairs.

"I'm glad you're okay, Rikku. Don't be so clumsy next time." Paine smirked as she got hit in the back with another pillow, and kept going down into the bar. Buddy looked up towards her as she descended the stairs, opening his mouth to say something before Yuna's excited squeal caught both of their attention as the Gunner ran across the top level of the cabin and over to Rikku, Paine shaking her head as the cousins started to babble to each other, Yuna crying as she expressed her relief at seeing Rikku awake and okay, Rikku trying to get her cousin to relax.

Buddy shook his head and smiled, offering Paine a piece of the bread he had. "That's a nice sound to hear again, huh?"

Paine waved off the offering, her face having switched back to her usual stoic and unemotional state, though Buddy could see the difference in her eyes. "Yeah, it is, though now we'll all get headaches again..." She turned and walked out of the cabin, leaving the navigator wondering.

Paine would quietly watch, as she was wont to do, her attention shifting between Rikku, and Yuna. It struck her that perhaps she should talk to Yuna about things of the more...romanic side, knowing that love really was the main reason she was on the airship in the first place, and Paine was woefully inexperienced in this particular realm. But the more she thought about it, the more she realized that she likely shouldn't, since there was no way that she could talk about her dilemma in a vague enough way that wouldn't clue Yuna in to the fact that Paine was enamored with her cousin. She didn't know how Yuna felt about two women pairing, despite the very brief conversation on the island, let alone her cousin, one of the few family members that she had left, and she also didn't know how Rikku would feel about her talking about it.

With a faint sigh, Paine turned and walked from the Bridge, pushing the button and waiting for the lift to arrive, crossing her arms over her chest as she resisted the urge to be irritated with the machinia's slowness. She knew that everything on the ship was working a little slow due to the engine trouble, making the already sluggish lift even more so. When it arrived, she pushed the button for the Deck, leaning back against the lift wall and closing her eyes, clearing her mind of thought as well as she could as the lift brought her to the Deck.

Stepping out into the cool afternoon air, Paine walked slowly out into the smooth deck surface. She couldn't help but look down at the deep wound her sword had inflicted on the metal that day that Rikku fell, her eyes trailing over to the two shallow marks where Rikku's daggers caused the metal to scream. Crouching down, she reached out and softly touched the marks from the daggers. Almost every day since getting Rikku back, she came up to the deck, trying to see if there was anything she could have done differently, to see if it really was out of her control. Logic and the evidence proved that she had indeed done all that she could, but despite all that, Paine couldn't shake the feeling of guilt that still prevailed, and it was driving her nuts. She was supposed to have control of her emotions, not them having control of her.

"Dammit, do I love her or do I just feel guilty when I can't protect her from getting hurt? And is that caused by me loving her or just being protective of a partner? And if it's just a partner thing, why don't I feel like that for Yuna?" Paine made a sound of frustration, running her fingers through her hair, standing and pacing towards the end of the airship, standing at the side of the Gull that was perched at the front of the ship, resting her hand against the birds beak. She tried to think back to a time where she was as angry with a fiend for hurting Yuna, and try as she might, the only times that she felt anything more than what one would upon seeing a friend get hurt was when both Yuna and Rikku would be poisoned or taken down by something. That wasn't to say that she didn't care about Yuna as a friend, she would grow quite aggravated whenever the former summoner got hurt, but it didn't affect her as much as she could see that it would affect Rikku.

"Bah." Paine ran her fingers through her hair again, then looked down at her hand. She could still 'feel' where Rikku had kissed it, smirking faintly to herself as the brief, childlike consideration had gone through her head where she thought about never washing it again, but quickly went past that idea. Sliding off her glove, she touched her knuckles with her fingertips, her mind filling in the image of Rikku sitting in front of her and holding her hand. "I'm acting like a little kid...no...not a little kid, like some..some..."

With a huff, Paine sat down hard on the deck. "..Like some lovestruck fool." Pulling her glove back on, she sulked under the shade of the gulls wing, feeling the occasional cool spray of the ocean waves as they were splashed up by the motions of the ship. It had been a very long time since Paine had let her emotion get a hold of her, and she reflected on the reasons why. Being hurt, losing control, worrying bout someone other than herself, they were all things that bothered the silver-haired woman almost beyond reason. Her childhood wasn't rough, at least, what she remembered of it. There was a block, a wall, a period of time that she just couldn't access. She knew that before it, she was a relatively normal kid, at least as normal as one could be in Sin-era Spira, lived in a small village. But quite abruptly, her memories were of a solitary life, a rougher life, and she was as she was now, in control, and safe behind her walls.

"But walls can make for lonely places." Paine quietly mused, glancing about the empty deck. She wanted to talk to someone, but there was no one on this ship she could. Maybe she could get in contact with someone via the sphere network, but the question would then become 'who'. She thought to the limited people in her life who she might be able to talk to about such things, and came up with a list of approximately three. Nooj, who would be a bad choice, just out of principal. He was too stoic, and come on, Leblanc? His taste sure was questionable. Baralai, he was another no. He was likely irritated that they had given the sphere to Nooj, and he occasionally was -way- too observant and could pick out things about her that she much rather that people didn't know. Gippal, then. Paine started to laugh, quickly silencing it behind her hand and glancing back behind her, not wanting anyone to hear her laugh like that. Besides all of that, no one on the ship knew that she knew them, and she wanted to keep it that way.

Paine made another aggravated sound and stood, turning and walking closer to the middle of the Deck, drawing her sword and swinging it around some. It certainly wasn't something that she wanted to do alone, but like everything else, she supposed that it was the only way to do it. A faint smile drifted across her features as she thought of how, if things went right, she wouldn't be quite so alone anymore.

Now if only the ship would hurry up and get to Besaid, she could hurry up and stall some more once there.