Almost exactly two months after Zeku's frightening experience on the enemy airship, things had finally settled down back to the norm they were all used to. Little did she know, far out across the vast plains of the Calm Lands, Zell and his friends pressed on with their search for that girl--the one with Lina's coffee brown eyes, her silky black hair, and her heart warming smile. He intended on scouting her out and ascertaining exactly why she'd backed away that day, why she'd run.
Zeku woke up, startled. Some weird crash from the kitchen had abruptly cut off her dream. She sat up reluctantly, weary still with yesterday's fatigue. They lot of them had gone to Luca and she'd been forced once again to practice blitzball in that contraption that scared her witless. Oh well, it wasn't much of a dream anyway, just a strange feeling that she was going to remember something in her sleep--guess not. She reasoned with herself for a second that the crash was Rikku and Paine messing around and dropping a plate. What a shame.
Zeku rubbed the sleep from her eyes then stood up on her feet. She turned to her closet, opened it, and searched through its goods. What to wear? What to wear? It didn't really matter so much to her, but if she didn't wear something snazzy, sure enough, Rikku would fix it, and Zeku was--believe it or not--a little tired of the whole revealing aspect of Al Bhed clothes. Right, so...white summer dress, thin lace straps, and jeans underneath--for comfort. And over it? A light jacket just because Zeku wasn't all that comfortable showing so much skin.
Zeku splashed some water on her face and ruffled a hand through her bed head hair before finally deciding to tie it up into a low ponytail. She yawned as she stepped out down the hallway and to the kitchen on her left. The house they were staying in was just one of several little abodes the Gullwings liked to spend their time in--especially while the Celsius was under repair; it would be impossible to fly an airship with a missing gear.
"Hey Zeku!" Tidus called to her and she winced--his high pitched whiny voice always got on her nerves--especially when he tried to pull those stupid little nicknames out: Zekke, Zeenkie, or even ZeeZee. Just no. "Morning, cowgirl--pull up a chair and come have some breakfast."
"You need to stop that," Zeku said, rubbing her eyes with one hand and pointing a threatening finger at him with the other. "I swear, waking up to your stupid remarks every morning sets me in a bad mood the entire day."
"Whoa there, horsey! Calm yourself down and have yourself a happy pancake!" he said, patting the chair next to his own and pointing to a plate that held a couple of pancakes smothered in maple syrup with two sunny side up eggs side by side and a curved trip of bacon to make a smiling face. Zeku picked up the strip of bacon and flipped it upside down to a frown, then headed for the door, disregarding Tidus's glare.
Zeku walked out onto the porch and took a deep breath. Things had been so strange since two months ago. Not only did Zeku have to get used to Yuna and Tidus's unbearable romantic mess every second of the day, but while she did so, she had to fight off the unwanted memories on the enemy airship--with the blond stranger and his unusual intimacy. Zeku ran her hands down from her eyes to her cheeks and propped her head up while she leaned onto the railing and stared out into the horizon. Why did things have to be so complicated? She felt like she was living in a soap opera--how depressing.
"Excuse me, Miss. I'm looking for a Tidus. He around here?" Zeku turned around and found herself face to face with a man two years her senior and six or seven inches taller than her. She pointed inside the house, and he thanked her, but as he turned and headed for the doorway, Zeku couldn't help but notice his handsome features--his broad shoulders his confident smile, and a messy blond hair. He knew Tidus? This could get interesting. As he headed inside, Zeku followed him to catch a glimpse of the scene. "Tidus!"
Tidus spun around on his heel and stopped himself to face the stranger, "Raras! Raras! It's been so long," they embraced the way only men do: clasp their fists together then pat the other on the back. "Let me introduce you to the girls." By now, the lot of them had piled around together to get a good look at the handsome new face. "This is Yuna, my girlfriend. Here's Rikku, her cousin, and this here is Paine. And finally, there's little Zee over there by the door."
"It's actually Zeku," Zeku shot back in Tidus's direction and Raras chuckled, amused.
"Well, it's very nice to meet all of you," Raras said, then pulled Tidus aside and said more on private terms. "Listen...Can I stay with you guys for a couple of days?" Tidus shrugged, but nodded--he didn't see why not. "I got into a little trouble."
"Oh...not again...You gotta stop doing that kind of stuff, Raras, seriously. You're not going to get anywhere acting like that," Tidus muttered very quietly and Rikku and Paine were finding random excuses to edge their way into this so-called "secret conversation." "Look.. You can stay, but you leave everyone in this house alone, alright? Especially the girls." Raras agreed to while Rikku and Paine hummed a little tune for obvious distraction and Zeku plopped herself onto the living room couch to shut her eyes for a moment. Tidus finally looked up from their conversation and announced to the rest of them, "Raras will be staying a while. He's got to get up on his feet, since we still have to move those boxes there out of the middle of the living room, he'll have to stay with one of us for tonight. He's stay with...Zee."
"Huh?" she asked. Raras only smiled. Tidus had made a wise decision. He knew Raras had a bad record of advancing where she shouldn't, and he knew with Rikku's flirtiness and Paine's general disposition to be timid around boys, that Zeku would be the only one who could quite blatantly fight back if any of Raras's old habits rolled in again.