Holy Christmas Final Fantasy X

By Suzumi Johnson

One Holy Christmas Day...

"Christmas...What a wonderful day..." thought Yuna. She looked out the window thoughtfully. "You missed Christmas..." Yuna said sadly.

"No I didn't. I'm right here," a familiar voice replied.

"Tidus?!" Yuna exclaimed.

"Itsue," Itsue said.

"Oh...hi..." Yuna said as she turned to face the window again. It was snowing. She watched as tiny, beautifully shaped snowflakes fell against the window and slowly melted. "Itsue...He's gone..." Yuna said wistfully.

"Yuna..." Itsue said quietly.

"It's like the snowflakes...When you think you've finally figured out the pattern, it's gone..." Yuna murmured.

"Miss him? I do. He was a good friend of mine...He taught me so much, too," Itsue said, as he started to contemplate the fact that Tidus wasn't coming back.

"What will I do now? Being a summoner was all I thought I would do in my life..." Yuna said, even though she knew it was a bit off subject.

"Lady Yuna?" Itsue questioned.

"Yes?" Yuna replied.

"When I look outside and see the pure, white snow...It really makes me think about the fact that...I am completely and utterly in lov--" Itsue began.

"Hi Yunie! Time for Xmas shopping!" Rikku interrupted.

"Okay, okay, let's go, Rikku," Yuna replied.

Rikku grabbed Yuna's hand and skipped off to the main room of the airship. Itsue shrugged his shoulders and followed. When the three of them got to the control room they had already landed in Besaid, where they would have a Christmas party and go shopping for gifts. The door to the airship opened up and everyone walked out.

Wakka grinned and said, "Yuna, Lu, we're back home!"

Yuna smiled at him and followed the rest of the gang across the beach. Wakka realized that nobody was listening to him and followed Yuna. "Man, no holiday spirit, ya?" Wakka mumbled.

Auron gave Wakka a look and then shook his head and continued to walk to the village of Besaid. When they arrived, they could tell that everything had finally been repaired after Sin's attack. The village had been peaceful for awhile now, and they were reassured it would stay that way now that the Calm would last forever. Yuna turned and looked at the others who were following her and smiled slightly. "Let's split up and go shopping now. Meet back at Wakka's in an hour, okay?" Yuna said.

"Okies!" Rikku yelled.

The gang of FFX went off to buy Christmas presents... Yuna walked into a small shop and started looking around a bit. She didn't think this kind of thing would interest anyone once she saw that the shop sold spheres. She looked into a glass window and peered at the glowing spheres, set in perfect rows of six. "How pretty they look..." Yuna said as she continued to look into the window.

Yuna turned to see a girl walk into the shop. She didn't really look like she was from around here, though. Her hair was really interesting...It was a light gray color and was spiked up no her head. She wore all black and was carrying a sword. Yuna wondered what she was doing in a little place like Besaid. She noticed one thing that was very fascinating about her though...Her eyes. They were bright red. Where was she from?

The girl shoved past Yuna, knocking her onto the ground. "Oww!" Yuna said, as she fell onto the floor.

The girl stopped and turned around. "Sorry. You okay?" she said as she helped Yuna up.

"It's alright. I'm fine. What's your name?" Yuna replied.

"Me? I'm Paine. A sphere hunter," the girl replied.

"Nice to meet you Paine. I'm High Summoner Yuna. Are you here to buy spheres?" Yuna asked.

"Buy spheres? Yeah, right," Paine said.

"Then what are you doing here?" Yuna asked innocently.

Paine put her hand around Yuna's ear and whispered, "I'm here to steal 'em. You won't rat on me, will ya?"

Yuna said, "But...It's not very good to steal. If you don't have the money I could lend you some."

"I have money...Just don't wanna spend it. I get around by force," Paine said.

"But..." Yuna started.

"Just sit down and shut up. I won't hurt you. Promise," Paine snapped. She walked over to the counter and pointed at a sphere labeled, "Dress Sphere." The shopkeeper took it out of the case and asked for some money. Paine looked at him impatiently and said, "Hmm...That's a bit too steep. I'll take if for the low, low price of...Nothing!"

Paine jumped up onto the counter and snatched the sphere from the shopkeeper. Yuna was amazed. It looked so cool when she jumped like that. She was really fast. Paine quickly put the sphere in her jacket pocket and pulled out her sword, putting the blade to the man's neck.

"T-take it..." the shopkeeper whispered, in fear that if he protested she would chop his head off.

"Good," Paine replied. She put her blade away and grabbed Yuna's arm and pulled her out of the shop.

Yuna looked at Paine angrily. "Stealing is a crime," she said.

Paine looked at Yuna for a bit and started laughing. "Ha ha ha! Are you kidding?! That was too good!" Paine laughed.

"I'm serious!" Yuna yelled.

"Hm. Okay, let's make a deal. You don't tell anyone about me and I'll give you your very own little sphere, okay?" Paine said.

"Why would I want one of those? I'm going Christmas shopping for my friends," Yuna said.

'Why?' Paine wondered. She decided not to say anything though.

Yuna told Paine that as a Christmas present to her, she wouldn't tell anyone about the sphere. Instead, Yuna asked if she was interested in coming to the party with her. Paine figured that she could get something out of it, and eventually agreed. Yuna finished her Christmas shopping and headed to Wakka's house with Paine.

When she came into the house, everyone was there already but her. Auron walked over to her and said, "I was worried, Lady Yuna. It's been much more than one hour."

Yuna gave Auron a hug and replied, "Sorry. I was still shopping."

"Hey, who's the girl?" Wakka asked.

Yuna introduced everyone to Paine and she could tell right from the start that Rikku was probably the only one that liked her. Later Wakka told Yuna that she was too quiet. Lulu said you could tell she was up to something. Kimahri said, "Stay away." Heh. And Auron said that she was too mysterious seeming. Rikku was really interested in her spheres, but it might just have been because they were a bit like TV, a machina that you can watch stuff in, just like spheres.

Yuna looked around the room and realized that someone was missing. There should be seven of us, not including Paine. Oh, that's right. Tidus wasn't here...but wait! Where was Itsue?! That only made six! Yuna looked at Auron and yelled out, "Itsue's gone!"

"Itsue? Oh...Maybe he got lost?" Auron replied.

"Auron! We've gotta go look for him!" Yuna shouted.

"Later..." Auron mumbled.

She could tell he was totally gone. "Too much saké?" she wondered. Yuna decided to go off on her own. She left the house and went looking for Itsue. Eventually she found herself standing in front of the only place she hadn't looked: Chappu's cave. Wakka had told her about this. His brother said that he found a sphere of their parents here and Wakka never remembered to go look for it. How like him.

Yuna entered the cave and looked around. She saw Itsue sitting in the middle of the cave looking thoughtful. "Itsue! I was worried. Did you get lost?" Yuna asked.

Itsue looked at Yuna and immediately stood up and bowed. Yuna pulled him back up and sighed. He was too used to that. "Sorry. I lost track of time, Lady Yuna. I was thinking about...well, you," Itsue said.

"Me? How come?" Yuna asked.

"I tried to tell you before...but Rikku sorta interrupted," Itsue said.

"Well? What is it?" asked Yuna.

"Lady Yuna," Itsue said as he took her hands, "Does this speak loudly enough?" Itsue put his arms around her and put his lips to hers. Yuna's cheeks turned bright red from embarrassment.

'Itsue. Itsue just kissed me,' Yuna thought.

Itsue let go of her and looked at her intently. "I love you, Lady Yuna," he said quietly.

Yuna's face slowly returned to its regular color. "Itsue..." Yuna said as she put her fingers to her lips.

"...I found this, Yuna," Itsue said. He held a sphere out to her. She set it down and watched the sphere.

'It was him. I saw a glimpse of Tidus,' Yuna thought. "Itsue, this is the best Christmas present anyone could have ever given me..." Yuna said.

"The best? Why is that? It's just a sphere, and it wasn't even the present I got for you," Itsue replied.

"Because...You've given me hope...that he's still part of my dream...Tidus..." Yuna said.

"I'm glad you like it, I guess," Itsue said.

"Oh, Itsue! Do you think there are more?!" Yuna exclaimed.

"It's possible..."

"Then I've decided. I'm going to be a sphere hunter."

And it was all on this holy Christmas day...

oWaRi