********* (I <3 You) Aki XXII:Omokurushii- A FFXI Love StFollow

AUTHOR’S NOTE: This is Aki XXII of my love story ************ (I Love You)[/i]. Once more, a plot chapter.

Read, review, you should know that by now.

Previous chapters and aki:

Part I- Connection (Enishi)

Kasho II- Kodoku (Solitude)
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Chapter XIX: http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=111927348442145844&num=0

Aki XX:
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=111935938018852277&num=8

Chapter XXI:
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=35&mid=1119447302239317740&num=4

I don’t own anything relating to FFXI, so SE...don’t sue me!

Also, on account that tomorrow is my birthday, I might not have much time to write or anything (friends, family, and stuff...), so if you don’t see a chapter by Noon CST tomorrow, chances are you won’t see another chapter till Monday.

I hope you enjoy this Aki^^
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Aki XXII: Omokurushii
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The last rays of light had disappeared, cloaking everything in the darkness.

As Hitomi and I snuck our way to my mog house, I couldn’t help but notice that the lady with the shimmering red vermillion cloak was still there at the guide stone. She didn’t look like she had aged or been affected by the war at all, but was merely content to just lean against the worn marble piece.

When we passed by her, the mysterious woman didn’t look up at us, but simply nodded her head a tiny bit as she spun her hourglass over and over again in her hand.

Some things never change...I suppose...

Hitomi, surprisingly, didn’t pay this woman even an ounce of attention, but simply let me guide her body past the cloaked woman and then into the residential area.

It took only a few minutes for me to locate my door on the sixteenth floor. Out of reflex, I motioned Hitomi to stand back as I gingerly tried to open the door. I knew that it was silly and that most likely no one would be stupid enough to break into a mog house with all those Jeuno troops everywhere, but 'most likely to not ‘be stupid enough' didn’t seem to apply to most of the people that I had arrested over the years.

The door slid open without any problems, and through the crack I had opened, I could see a small figure moving around moving things in the almost complete darkness.

...Great...I just walked in on a robbery...and all I have to stop him or her with is a great sword I don’t know how to use, and a piece of iron subligar...

Oh well...

I drew my sword, and slammed open my mog house door, which ricocheted against the opposite walll with a loud bang. I then lowered my great sword and charged at the intruder with the full intent to skewer him or her, as he or she froze in place from the noise.

"NO ONE BREAKS INTO MY MOG AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!" I shouted as I was only a couple feet away from impaling the stranger on my blade.

It was then that I heard Hitomi chant something faintly behind me...

...and I felt, rather than saw, two black tenrils come up from behind and bind me down to the spot where I trying to run.

"Hitomi! Why did you use bind on me?!" I shouted out at her.

"Look who is." she said simply as she then flicked on the lights.

"Satmanda!" I exclaimed, "Why in the name of Altana are you wondering around in the darkness?! I was about to kill you!" I lowered my sword at the sight of my personal home assistant, who was standing there just quivering while holding up a dust rag and what I recognized to be a copy of the Windurst Irregular.

"Sir!" the elvaan squeaked out at me as he dropped the rag, which then floated down to the carpet unnoticed. "Welcome back! I have been keeping things in order for you while your moogle was away."

I felt the tenrils of the bind spell slither away slowly, and I found myself able to move freely around the room again.

"My moogle? Where’s Tebeal?!!" I asked with quite a bit of concern flowing from my voice.

If those Ducal Guards dared to hurt him...

Satmanda just laughed for a moment, then opened the newspaper to an advertisement on the third page. I took the paper from Satmanda and quickly scanned my eyes over the picture as Hitomi came up behind me to look also.

The picture was black and white and a tiny bit blurry, but I could just make out the image of four moogles dressed up in yukatas while doing various things that ranged from throwing fireworks up into the sky to goldfish scooping. Right below the images I could see in big bold print:

'SUMMERFEST 863 C.E.! BE THERE OR RISK BEING COMPARED TO A CHOCOBO!’

And just slightly below that was the caption:

'A Mog House Management Union Event copyright 863 C.E., all rights reserved.'

I looked up from the paper and stared at Satmanda. "The moogles are unioned now? Goddess protect us all..." I said as I shook my head a bit. "I suppose Tebeal is off helping them now?" I said a bit warily, knowing quite well the answer to my question.

Satmanda nodded, not saying anything for once.

I chucked the paper aside onto a nearby couch, which I saw out of the corner of my eye Hitomi then pick up and try to read. "Great, so that means that anything that I had left in my mog safe, I can’t get into before Summerfest is over and Tebeal comes back..." I muttered as I suddenly became even more aware of the fact that this most likely meant I would be stuck wearing this goddessdamn subligar for even longer than I had intended to.

"Yes sir, but Tebeal had pulled all of your clothes and most of you weapons and armor out of the safe before he left, in case you came back." the mule replied quickly.

My eyes lit up at that.

"Oh really? Well, where is it?!" I exclaimed, glad to be able to ditch these iron panties one and for all.

"Your bedroom closet sir." Satmanda stuttered for a moment, "Sir...Tebeal also left a message with me to give to you should you show up. Should I give it to you in private?"

I paused going through my closet for a moment fractionally, before continuing to dig through all my clothes looking for something, anything to wear.

"Read it to me now Satmanda, the girl over there" -I jerked my thumb without looking in Hitomi’s general direction- "can be trusted. Who is the message from?"

"Gilgamesh."

I actually stopped at that name.

"Papa Gilgamesh?..." I said, hoping that maybe there was another Gilgamesh that had came about since I had left for Bastok.

"Yes sir." I heard the sound of paper rustling for a moment as Satmanda pulled the message out from one of his pockets.

"The message says that Papa Gilgamesh knows you left Bastok a few days ago, and that he is looking forward to seeing you again two days after you get back to Jeuno. The message then concludes with him requesting you to meet him at the 'usual' place."

"Usual place?' I heard Hitomi speak up from the couch where she was probably still trying to read the paper.

"Yeah...Hiptaru’s Casino..." I replied, my stomach starting to turn over in itself.

"Hiptalu Kasuino?..." Hitomi tried to say, mispronouncing her 'r' as an 'l', and horribly mangling the word ‘casino’.

"Yeah, Hiptaru’s Casino...Easily the one place in the world where you can win or lose a fortune in a single night."

-fin Aki XXII: Omokurushii

And no, Hiptaru didn't pay me to mention his casino in my story. I just felt like including a Bismarck landmark that everyone would know about in my story, and also to tie the casino's into the RP story of Vana'diel...

*smiles*

Edited, Thu Jun 23 12:27:34 2005 by Nightsintdreams

Wow, i am just all over the boards today in other peoples posts.. hehe..


Thanks Nights for including my casino in your epic love story.
I am honored to be a part of it, and was looking forward to seeing its implementation when you asked me if you could use it..


Keep making these stories, i love reading them.