YUNA'S POV

"Yuna! It's getting late now, maybe you should start heading home first because I'm gonna start closing the restaurant soon. I'll head home after" my boss as well as my house mate shouted to me from inside the kitchen of the restaurant that I work at.

"Ok Lulu!" I shouted back at her.

Lulu is like an older sister to me. When I didn't have anywhere or anyone to turn to, she was there to help me get back on my feet. I now share an average size apartment with her but only if I helped out with the rent. Lulu is a black mage and she is has long black hair that she braided up and tied in a ponytail. She is taller than I am and could get cranky at times but I've lived with her quite a while now so I've gotten use to it.

I went over to the cupboard at the back of the restaurant and got out my jacket and bag then I walked out the door closing it behind me.

I checked my watch for the time, 10 pm. It was going to take me around three quarters of an hour to get home from my workplace so I had to hurry before it gets any later.

As soon as I turned around the corner into the empty streets and out of sight of the restaurant, a cold hand slid over grasping my shoulder, digging their fingernails into my flesh.

Then a deep manly voice threatened "Give me the stone or I won't hesitate to kill you right now."

"I don't know what you're talking about, I swear!" I managed to croak out. That was a lie. I did know what he was looking for but I wasn't going to give in to him.

I felt my shoulder started to bleed and sting as the man plunged in nails harder into my shoulder.

"Don't play dumb with me princess, you know perfectly well what I'm looking for. NOW GIVE IT TO ME!" the man screamed loudly hurting my ears.

I used all my force and pulled the stranger away from me and started running as fast as my legs could carry me.

I had no idea where I was going, but I kept on running.

The stranger was following closely behind and soon he'll get up to me. I had to go somewhere… but where? I swiftly turned a corner to face a dead end of a dark alleyway. Just my luck at a time like this.

The man soon came to view. He found me. I can't let him get what he wants. Not now, not ever.

I backed away and hit a wall as he slowly gained up on me.

Soon I could feel his breath breathing heavily on me.

"I will only say this one last time. Give me the fucken damn stone and I will spare your life."

"Never!" I yelled loudly and kicked him in the shins at the same time. I tried to escape but then I felt something like a blade of a knife being plunged and pulled down my back and then quickly taken out again.

It felt as if I had been cut in half as all the blood started to spurt out. I screamed out on agony as I felt the pain taking over me.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

TIDUS'S POV

Stupid Jecht. Always having to tell me how to live my own bloody life. Since mom died my god damn father has never been the same. He's become an alcoholic and spent his days lazing around the house and also telling me what I should do when he doesn't even know what to do with himself. I felt so angry. Earlier I had a fight with him again about whether I should make blitzball as a career. As usual he'd go on and on about how blitz is running in my blood and then about the time when he use to be a blitzer himself. I of course didn't agree to playing blitz and making it a career. When I told Jecht that he can't control my life, he would have a fit and start all this fighting. Again, I am out wandering in the lonely streets just to get away from my old man.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

It was a young girl's voice and it was coming from a small alleyway close to where I was standing. It sounded like she was in trouble.

I ran into the alleyway to find a girl lying unconscious on the hard ground. I walked over and examined the body. Her back had been cut very deeply and blood was oozing out and seeping through her light blue shirt. I checked the girl's pulse to find that it was still beating normally.

Since I didn't have a phone on me at the moment, the only thing I could do was to take her back to my house and look after her.

I picked up her limp body slinging it over my back and carried her to my house which was only a few block from where we were.

Finally, I'm home. I felt like a murderer walking out on the streets at night carrying a bleeding body over my shoulders. I rummaged through my jeans pocket for my keys and quietly opened the door, trying not to wake Jecht but I guess he's already sleeping off his hangover by now. If it weren't for this girl, I wouldn't have come home for the night at all. If I was out on the streets after a growl with my old man, I would walk around then stay at a friend's house for the night. It's like my second home.

Jecht was sleeping on the couch in front of the flashing T.V. with a dozen beer bottles scattered around on the floor plus one that he still had in his clutched hand.

I took the girl upstairs to my room and laid her softly onto my bed. The blood on her from the cut on her back staining my sheets but I didn't care. Then I tip toed downstairs to find some medicine and get water for her when she wakes up.

I got up to my room and set the medical kit and glass of water out on my desk and sat down on the chair.

Soon enough, I found myself staring at the unconscious girl. She had a pained look on her pale but flawless face; she was safe now, away from danger. I took out my sketch book out from the drawers under my desk and opened it to a blank and clean page and started to draw.

I looked at the results. My drawing looked realistic and exactly like the young girl resting on my bed. It is now one of the best I have ever drawn. Since I was young, I've always had a good talent in drawing but I have never been to a drawing school in my life. It's just a talent that I was born with.

My eyes were feeling droopy and as I was about to close my eyes, from behind me came a small weak voice.

"Where am I?"

I opened my eyes and turned around to see the young girl trying to get herself off the bed. She stood up trembling and collapsed onto the floor. I quickly ran over to her aid and lifted her up onto the bed so she could sit down.

"You're safe now so don't worry. Do you think you're able to tell me what happened in the alleyway?" I asked the girl gently trying to not to frighten her. "Oh, and I'm Tidus by the way."

The girl nodded and told me her story.

YUNA'S POV

Everything happened so quickly. For a moment I was heading home and the next I was trapped and cut across the back, and now I'm at this house that belongs to this teenage boy around seventeen, the same age as me.

I don't know if I could trust him but somehow I found myself telling him everything that had happened today. It was so weird because I felt like knew him all my life or something when I only just met him today. I told him my name and he told me his. Tidus.

The reason that the man was after me today was because I carry this stone that had belonged to my ancestors. It's magical and powerful stone that had been past down generation to generation and when my mother past away, she gave it to me.

FLASHBACK

"Yuna, listen to me. You must NEVER lose this stone do you hear me? You must keep it safe until it is your turn to pass it on."

"Yes, mommy" a small tear slid down the side of a six year old Yuna's cheek.

"That's my girl. Don't cry now. It's my time to go now and you have to accept that, there is nothing that can stop the cycle of life."

"I know mommy, but I don't want to never be able to see you again! First daddy left me, now you're going to leave me too. Who's going to look after me?" Yuna started to cry uncontrollably.

"I'm sorry honey. There's nothing I can do. I'll always be in your heart."

"And you'll always be in mine."

END FLASHBACK

Remembering the moment when my mom past away made me even weaker than I already am. A tear slowly trickled down my cheek and I wiped it away with my shirt sleeve not wanting Tidus to see I was crying. I think he saw my tear though.

"Hey, don't cry. You're alright now. You're safe." Tidus' gentle voice assured me.

Then he did something that surprised me so much. He came over and put both his arms around me. My eyes widened but then I closed them as I leaned back onto his chest suddenly feeling exhausted.

My eyes fluttered open and I squinted because of the sunlight shining brightly through the clear windows. I looked over to find Tidus still asleep while sleeping on a chair at his desk. I laughed weakly as I saw that he was sort of drooling in the corner of his mouth.

I felt better than I felt yesterday after a good nights rest.

I really needed to go to the bathroom and Tidus and Jecht was still soundly asleep, so I got off the bed and let myself out of the room to find the bathroom myself.

The hallway was empty but I still treaded softly and quietly on the wooden floor.

I walked past a room with its door widely opened. The inside of the room was messed up badly. There was empty and broken bottles on the floor, clothes was scattered in every available space and the whole room stank really horrible. I knew this could only be Jecht's room.

There was only one room remaining upstairs and it had to be the bathroom.

The bathroom was grimy and looked like it hadn't been cleaned in a while. I looked around disgusted at the sight.

I sighed and walked in closing the door quietly behind me. The mirror was so cloudy that could hardly see my own reflection in it.

Just then I remembered the cut on my back, so I unbuttoned my shirt and had a look in the mirror.

The cut was long and deeply graved onto my skin. The blood had clotted up and there were smears of dried up blood all over my back.

I'm in such a big mess. Lulu must be worried sick about me because I told her I was heading home. I wonder what her reaction was like when she got home and found that I wasn't there. I have to give her a call as soon as I get myself cleaned up a little.

As soon as I started to turn the tap on to wash the blood off, I turned around quickly to see the doorknob start to turn.