Cherish

Chapter 2: Spring

Tidus waited impatiently on the back of the bridge, almost nude save for a towel that Yuna gave to him. His elaborate Zanarkand uniform always took a long time to dry, a fact he remembered from his days of blitzing in the sphere pools of Zanarkand and Luca. He was slightly nervous in a towel because Jecht and his mother had raised him not to lounge around the house after a shower, but Yuna didn't seem to mind so much, he thought.

Finally his clothes dried out and Tidus went to a private room Yuna pointed him to, to put them back on. After several minutes of buttoning, buckling, and strapping, he popped out, and stood with Yuna on the bridge as they watched the last slivers of the sun fall below the horizon.

In the distance ahead Tidus looked upon the boiling turmoil of the Thunder Plains, an area which invariably collected nearly every storm in Spira. Tidus thought it strange that the plains began falling out of view, because the Celsius descended upon an enchanting forest. Tidus was sure he recognized it, but something seemed...different. The forest seemed empty. As if it was dying. Fading.

"Where are we going?" Tidus asked, hoping that a new bed in Besaid beckoned to him. He was sure he knew where they were landing, but asked anyways, hoping for explanation.

"You'll see." Yuna replied. The tone of her voice and the smile she wore said more than the words she spoke.

There. The place we retreated to after the ordeal in Bevelle. The spring. Where she was crying, everything became too much for her. And then it happened. That kiss. I don't know what came over me, I really had deep feelings for her then, but then we realized it really was love.

Yuna led Tidus off the bridge as the Celsius settled nearby Oaka's Traveling AgencyThey teleported via the teleport sphere just outside the woods, on the cold, snowy surface nearby Lake Macalania. Tidus was sure of where he was being taken now. The two walked into the dark, mystical woods with their arms around each other.

"I'm a blitzer now." Yuna said to Tidus, wondering how shocked he would be at the revelation.

"Wow, really?" Tidus replied. Yuna, a blitzer?

"Yep, the Gullwings have their own team, and we took the place of the Besaid Aurochs this year. The Aurochs wanted to help take care of Vidina, sothey requested that we fill in for them."

"Damn! You need to show me some moves!" Tidus said as the two stepped on the longer branching path.

"Well, I'm not that great. I'm alright though. I'm more of a passer than anything. Brother scores the goals for us."

"Well, maybe we should change that." Tidus replied. Yuna, a blitzer! We could play together!

Yuna and Tidus discussed blitzball strategy as they walked upon branching path of Macalania Woods. Soon they stepped off that path. Both could not decide whether the walk took an instant or forever. But Tidus noticed as they made their way east, Yuna's squeeze on him became tighter. They reached a four way intersection, and the two stepped onto the southern path. They turned the corner, and then it came into view. The special place that both shared in their hearts, the place they affirmed their love. Nearby on the shore was a soft blue sphere, set to an enchanting romantic song that neither had heard before. To the side lay a soft blue picnic blanketand above it from a branch dangled a light sphere that gave the area a pale glow.

Yuna stepped out of her boots and splashed her feet in the spring. Although it was fading, the place still seemed as mesmerizing as beforealbeit in a different light. Just as romantic, if not more so. Yuna judged. She waded back on shore and wrapped Tidus in her arms, gazing into his eyes.

"You remember the time two years ago..." Tidus asked rhetorically.

"Did it go like this?" Yuna interrupted. She pressed her lips to his, and after another kiss, Yuna drew back.

"Something like that." Tidus returned.

"You know why I brought you here?" Yuna asked with a sheepish but adorable grin. Game.

"Well, it's pretty special for us both, isn't it?" Tidus replied in a faux dodge.

"I thought Wakka had an excellent suggestion." The look on Yuna's face turned from adorable and alluring to sultry and sexy. Yuna whispered Wakka's greeting to the two into his ear in a clearly seductive but sheepish tone, as if someone might still be looking. Set.

Tidus could not completely hide his reaction to what Yuna whispered into his ear. He had imagined that it would be him making the first move. Instead, Yuna had taken total control of the moment, and it had taken Tidus off guard. That isn't a bad thing though, is it? But whoa, she has certainly broken out of her shell.

Tidus turned to the left and looked over at the picnic blanket that lay on the ground. Above it the light sphere spread its light in a hypnotizing pattern, making its pitch. He turned his gaze back to Yuna and her face. Her alluring eyes and her soft, now sexy and confident smile erased any last trace from hesitation from his mind. Match.

Tidus swept Yuna off of her feet, and decided that the light blue blanket covering the ground wasn't for having a picnic after all.

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Tidus lay on his side next to Yuna, and whispered into her ear "I love you honey."

Yuna blinked, her eyes radiantly twinkling and replied. "I love you too." Yuna gave a couple of smooches to Tidus and Tidus returned them. As both lay on their sides Tidus wrapped his arms around her. It was time for some small talk.

"What do you think the future will hold for us?" Tidus asked.

"It's already a dream come true," Yuna replied with her soft smile.

"Interesting. Am I that dream?" Tidus asked, thinking correctly what Yuna meant by the words.

"Come true, yes." Yuna emphasized.

"Tidus, I love you." Yuna spoke softly.

It was this moment when his eyes started to well up. He thought about it all. About how it all started with Sin, then after being rescued by the Al Bhed, he washed up on the island of Besaid. That's where Tidus first met her, at that time about to begin her pilgrimage. He remembered hanging with the group into Luca, where the original plan was for him to be dropped off and departed from her journey, from her. However, Auron's request had changed that, and ultimately, the fate of all Spira, not just the fate of him and Yuna. Yuna's outlook and spirit was amazing, a testament to the girl she was. Here she was, walking the path that would have inevitably led in her death, and yet she was cheering ME up. But no, he was asked to be her guardian, and they found another way. Another way to defeat Sin, and for good. And Yuna didn't have to die! But he did. And even after he faded, she still loved him as much as he loved her. Tidus thought it revolting that someone would dare use such a magnificent and pure girl to help destroy Spira, and he thought it equally disturbing if anything ever happened to Yuna again. Tidus thought himself unworthy of his recent twist of fate, having been doomed only to memory, but now brought back to flesh and blood and returned to the arms of an angel who truly loved him as much as he loved her.

"Yuna?"

"Yes?"

"Would you have…?"

Yuna cut him off. "Definitely not."

"I didn't finish though."

"No, not with anyone but you." Yuna returned with an embrace.

Tidus let it go. He sobbed as the weight and reality of being brought back to life, to Yuna, although a decidedly pleasant reality at that, hit him like a ton of bricks. Yuna cradled his head to her chest until he finally cried himself to sleep.

"Sweet dreams." Yuna whispered as she kissed his forehead.

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"What do you think they're up to?" Rikku asked, sure she already knew the answer.

"I think what we're going to do now." Paine replied in a sultry tone.

It was the fact that Rikku thought she already knew the answer that made her startled by Paine's reply. In fact, the two had come out to each other earlier in the cabin, a product of drifting off the subject of Yuna and her newly found love Tidus. That had resulted in some playful cuddling for the past hour. Rikku, however, despite her usual sense of adventure was nervous about taking things any further.

"Um?" Rikku stammered, wondering if she was correct in her assumption.

"How about it?" Paine replied, shedding the remnants of her shell. Rikku wondered if she could find the pieces that Yuna and Paine had shed somewhere in the Celsius. Yuna's shell had once consisted of innocent shyness, and Paine's one of dark isolation.

"But if we're caught…" Rikku stalled.

"Quit stalling, Rikku," Paine replied, again calling a spade a spade.

"But if my dad…"

"Your dad is in Zanarkand." Paine pointed out.

"But if Brother…"

"Shut up already." Paine planted a kiss directly on Rikku's lips.

For that matter, where's the shell that I put up that lasted all of a minute?

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Yuna awoke groggily to find his face, his baby blue eyes, his gorgeous blond hair, and his sly smile staring right at her. She was greeted with a "Good morning, baby."

He definitely wasn't a dream, or maybe he was, but one that came true. Yuna smiled. "My dream, come true."

"How'd you sleep?" Tidus asked.

"Wonderfully. You?"

"I thought I'd be afraid to." Tidus admitted. "I thought it'd be like waking from a dream."

"I see," Yuna replied and embraced Tidus.

"When am I going to be able to see your blitzball moves?" Tidus asked, changing the subject.

"Today at noon!" Yuna replied. "We have practice today in preparation for tomorrow's game!"

"In that case, we better get moving!" Tidus replied.

"Wait a sec! We need to get back to Besaid!" Yuna interrupted.

"What for?" Tidus asked.

"There's someone in Besaid who just moved in, and I heard he didn't have a bed yet so I'm going to order one for him."

Tidus smiled. YES!