Title: Broken, Beaten, and Damned
By: Aina Song
Fandom(s): Final Fantasy X/ Yu Yu Hakusho
Genre: Yaoi
Rating: PG-15
Warning(s): Crossover; Slightly AU; Language; Some OOC; Direct Quotes; Altered Quotes; Altered Scenes (and other such subtle storyline changes). Italics = thought bubbles, Fayth speech and/or telepathy, and Al Bhed.
Pairing(s): Yusuke x Tidus
Reviews: Yes, please! For the love of God, someone give me a cookie!
Author's Note: Standard Disclaimer. This story was not written for money. Would you believe someone dared me to do this one?
Teaser: When Yusuke finds himself in a world far unlike his own, the most pressing questions on his mind - how he got there, and how he might get back home - gradually take a backseat to the sacrificial urgency of his new friends' seemingly futile crusade…
Chapter Two - Shores of Kilika
Yusuke returned to the bonfire to find Wakka looking for him. When the redhead saw which direction Yusuke came from, his eyes narrowed. Yusuke remembered that the redhead was one of the summoners' guardians, and he suddenly felt he could guess what was coming next.
"Don't worry, ya?" Wakka sighed, shaking his head. "I know you didn't try anything, so I'm not going to give you the third degree. Yuna's always been cute as a button, anyway; I don't blame you for noticing."
The tattooed demon rolled his eyes, cutting the lecture short before it could begin. "Hate to have to tell you this, big guy, but she's not my type."
"She's not, eh?"
"Not even close," he emphasized. "I'm not sayin' she won't turn a few heads. Physically, she's a ten. And even I can tell she's hiding some spark behind that smile. But you don't have to worry about anything from me." He turned a bit to glance over his shoulder toward the clearing in the shadows. "Besides, even an idiot can see that any guy thinking to go after her would have to get by that brother of hers first. They're inseparable, aren't they?"
The redhead gave another sigh, nodding. "Been that way since they were kids. Can't remember a day when they haven't been there for each other. Listen," he said, and Yusuke knew it was an obvious attempt to change the subject. "There's a lodge near the temple. They're offering to let you use one of their beds, so whenever you're tired…"
Yusuke shrugged. "I'm not, but it would probably be smart to rest while I can. I mean, it's not every day a man nearly drowns and then wakes up on the shore without any memory of how he got there."
~o~
Late the next morning, as Wakka and the others prepared to leave, Tidus motioned for Yusuke to follow him into one of the tents. "I don't mean to insult you," the blond spoke once they were alone. "But the pilgrimage will be a long one, and there are places in Spira where travel will be difficult."
"I'll manage."
"I don't doubt that," Tidus assured, "but I was talking about your clothes."
Yusuke glanced down at himself, unable to argue. "It's not like I have anything else, so I guess I'm screwed."
Tidus motioned toward a trunk tucked into a corner of the tent. "You're welcome to anything you can find. You need it more than I do, and I'll be leaving it all behind anyway." He then gave a low bow and left the tent.
Yusuke stood frozen for a long minute, but then stepped over to the trunk.
When he finally emerged, he found the small entourage he would be traveling with staring at his chosen attire. He now wore black slacks of a stronger material than his own had been, and a thick fishnet tee which clung to him like a second skin. Over the shirt he wore a sleeveless tunic, charcoal grey lined with shining black, and tied together with a black sash around his waist.
Wakka was the first to seem to recover, loudly clearing his throat. "Looks like all you need now is a weapon…"
Yuna giggled, and beside her Tidus gave an answering smile.
Yusuke's smirk grew very fanged indeed. "I am a weapon."
~o~
Having followed their small group halfway along the path that led into the jungle, Yusuke suddenly felt that he was being watched. He discreetly slowed to a stop, allowing the others to continue on ahead of him, and then glanced around. He was standing between two pillars of some ruins; the path led alongside a cliff, and Yusuke glanced up in time to watch a large shadow leaping down toward him. He swiftly leapt back, eyes widening as he discovered that it was the blue feline Kimahri. The creature clawed at the ground, slamming one fist into the dirt before straightening up and bellowing out a lion-like roar. In his other fist was a long spear.
Yusuke knew a challenge when he received one. He crouched low, slowly releasing a bit of his energy.
Kimahri brought his other hand to his spear in a two-fisted grip, wasting no time in an attack. Yusuke swore under his breath as he leapt out of range. Pouncing to his right, the dark youth rebounded against a pillar to change course, striking the back of Kimahri's shoulder. The giant feline retaliated with surprising speed, whirling about and jabbing his spear in another attack.
Yusuke found himself dodging over and over again, eventually feeding enough speed into his movements that had any human been watching he would have seemed a blur. Kimahri proved every bit as resilient as he appeared. Clever, too. Yusuke counted himself lucky that he had not yet been skewered, and that he had managed to land a few more strikes of his own.
Toward the end, Kimahri came closer than ever to making contact with that spear of his. Yusuke nearly stumbled as he leapt out of the way, twisting his body in midair so that he landed on all fours. His eyes narrowed, and he was finally breathing heavily enough that a low growl escaped with every breath. Kimahri's cat-yellow eyes widened as he heard it, and the blue beast readied his spear for yet another attack.
"That's enough!" Wakka's voice interrupted. He and Lulu had apparently doubled back upon finding Yusuke missing, and Tidus and Yuna were not far behind them.
Yusuke kept his eyes on Kimahri, refusing to straighten out of his crouch until the other released his offensive stance. Kimahri seemed to study him for a long minute before turning away.
He passed the others by, but paused at Tidus' side. Leaning down, he whispered into the blond's ear. Tidus' flame blue eyes widened, "Really?" Kimahri whispered something more, something that brought a low chuckle from the young summoner. "Thank you, Kimahri."
The blue beast straightened once more, continuing ahead of their group without so much as a backward glance.
Yuna gave her twin a curious look, to which Tidus chuckled again. "It seems Yusuke fights with the speed and savageness of a fiend. Kimahri acknowledges him, and approves."
Yusuke stared at Kimahri's retreating back, speechless.
~o~
The boat on which they left the island carried more than their small entourage. There were others, from another island called Kilika, which Wakka explained would be their first destination. These others from Kilika seemed very much in awe of the two newly ordained summoners. They had cornered Tidus and Yuna almost immediately, crowding around the two, staring and asking questions as though they had discovered a new addition to a museum.
And yet Yuna and her brother accepted their fascination with kind smiles, patiently replying to the crowd's curiosity as best they could, only sometimes shaking their heads to indicate something they did not have the answer to.
Yusuke stood back, leaning against one of the boat's masts, his arms crossed over his chest as he observed the commotion. Four hours into the voyage, and they were still at it. His sharp ears had overheard some of the things those others were saying, and he had caught repeated mention of two names spoken with enough reverence to convince him they were more than significant.
Without turning his eyes away from the small crowd, he slightly turned his head to his left. "Hey. Wakka. Who are Jecht and Braska?"
The redhead stammered with great surprise. After a moment, he commented, "Sin's toxin must've hit you worse than we thought…"
Yusuke said nothing to that, waiting.
"High Summoner Braska was the father of our own two summoners," Lulu spoke, coming to stand with them. "He was the last to defeat Sin and to bring the Calm. Sir Jecht was their uncle, and one of Braska's guardians."
"Tidus and Yuna are heirs to a great legacy," Wakka proudly added.
A famous father, Yusuke mentally cursed the coincidence. "Bet they can't wait to step out from under that shadow…"
Wakka stared, obviously not getting it. But in Lulu's wine-red eyes shone both understanding and agreement. Biting off another profanity under his breath, Yusuke wordlessly excused himself and approached their summoners just as the small crowd finally broke apart.
Yuna and Tidus were standing near one of the boat's harpoons, watching the waters break below. They stood close together, Yuna embracing one of Tidus' arms, her head on his shoulder. For a moment, Yusuke suspected he might be intruding. But they looked up as he neared, and there was nothing but welcome in their smiles.
"How are you adjusting?" Yuna politely wondered.
Yusuke smirked, shrugging.
"Besaid's jungles were unusually emptied of fiends today," Tidus commented. "Was that your doing?"
"Might've been," he admitted, turning to lean the small of his back against the ropes. "Any wild animal will avoid an area if they sense something dangerous coming along."
They both smiled.
That was when the boat shook. It more than shook; it rocked. And beneath Yusuke's feet the deck vibrated as though something had slammed into the boat from the side. Yusuke dropped instinctively on all fours, maintaining his balance.
Tidus and Yuna were not so lucky. The blond had grabbed the rope railing and therefore had only slipped a little, but the brunette had lost her footing completely. Tidus was quick enough to catch his sister's fingers in his free hand, but it was obvious he would not be able to hold her for long. Yusuke leapt over their heads and landed on his feet to the other side of them, catching them both before they could fall over the side of the deck. Then Kimahri was there as well, helping him to bring the two summoners to their feet again.
And then one of the crewmates shouted in alarm the cause for the boat's sudden imbalance.
"Sin!"
Another crewmate quickly grabbed the nearest harpoon, preparing to fire.
"What do you think you're doing," Wakka demanded as he and Lulu raced onto their part of the deck. "Stick it with that thing, and we'll all get dragged under!"
"It's heading for Kilika," the first crewmate announced, grabbing the other harpoon. "We have to distract it."
"Our families are in Kilika," the second crewmate pleaded. "Forgive us, Lord and Lady Summoners!"
The two did not seem to need to think about it. Very solemnly, Yuna and her brother both nodded permission.
So the harpoons were fired, and everyone onboard watched the lines dart across the water's surface toward what appeared to be a gigantic grey fin. One could not breach the distance, but the other successfully plunged into the fin's thick skin. Its line grew taut, and the boat jerked again with the fin's powerful momentum.
Hearing someone scream in new alarm, Yusuke looked up in time to watch a few dozen black scale-looking things fly toward the boat. Relinquishing Tidus and Yuna into Kimahri's protection, he planted his feet firmly and gathered his energy. Thrusting his fist forth, he let loose a barrage of energy bullets, each one hitting its mark and knocking the things back into the water.
"How'd you do that?" Wakka wondered, his voice pitched loud over the crashing of the ocean's surface as it broke against their boat.
"No time!" Lulu shouted in warning. She pointed to Sin's fin, which was weaving this way and that, jerking the boat along with it, an obvious attempt to snap the harpoon's rope and free itself. "We have to get it to change course and then cut it loose!"
The redhead nodded, a determined light in his eyes. "You work the rope, Lu. I'll badger it away from the island."
"But the spawn!" Yuna shouted, pointing as more of those scales approached.
"I got 'em," Yusuke called dibs, readying his fist with more energy. "Kimahri, move Tidus and Yuna out of the way!"
He did not know whether the blue feline liked the idea of standing on the sidelines, but Yusuke couldn't spare the time to apologize. He fired another spray of energy bullets, driving back those things while Lulu muttered something in a language he couldn't begin to guess at. A tiny spark of flames ignited the rope, but the crashing waves doused it immediately.
"Keep trying!" Wakka urged, hefting a big plastic ball and taking aim. Yusuke was ready to argue the sense in the redhead's choice of weapon, until he watched it fly across the distance and slam against Sin's fin with enough force to let loose a resounding echo upon contact. Apparently, Wakka had just enough control over his own energy to feed it into the ball and harden it into a strong projectile.(3)
The crashing waves were rendering Lulu's fire magic useless, however. She was chanting nonstop, her brow creasing with concentration, but it seemed no matter how much strength she fed into her efforts she could not forge a flame to withstand the ocean's might.
"Tidus, no!"
Yusuke, having just driven back another wave of flying scales, whirled at the sound of Yuna's distressed plea, and he cussed under his breath as he watched her twin break free of Kimahri's hold. Tidus raced forth, his jagged black sword materializing in his fist as he ran, and with a shout the blond leapt at the harpoon's projector and cut the line loose. It was then that the boat gave one last jerk as it was freed from Sin's momentum, and Tidus stumbled as he landed, rolling over the edge of the deck and into the waters below. Yusuke swore again, and before anybody else could react he blurred forth and dove into the waters himself.
He broke surface a moment later, glanced around to confirm that Tidus hadn't come up yet, then dove again to find him. It was not long before he discovered a small school of piranha fighting over something large enough to have provided a feast for all of them, but as Yusuke drew near, they sensed his power and scattered. And there was Tidus, floating on his back, his limp form slowly drifting upward.
But the surface was too far away, and Yusuke doubted the blond had enough air in his lungs to last much longer. Before he could do anything about it, however, something else seemed to have smelled Tidus' blood mixing with the water. This one was large, resembling a jellyfish with an armored head, and it seemed its hunger overrode any fear it might have had of Yusuke.
Mentally swearing, the dark youth swam forth and caught Tidus' limp form in his arms. The jellyfish issued a high-pitched squeal in protest, obviously thinking Yusuke was stealing its next meal. Yusuke quickly pulled Tidus against him, and with a burst of energy he launched them both toward the surface. They broke through with such speed and lift that they flew into the air. Yusuke skillfully maneuvered his body as they came down again, and he landed firmly on the boat's deck with Tidus cradled in his arms.
Yuna raced forth with a small cry; Yusuke carefully set Tidus down and moved out of the way. Yuna fell to her knees at her brother's side, her hands searching for and finding where the piranhas had bitten into his flesh before Yusuke had been able to intervene.
Yusuke expected many things. He expected tears, loud wailing, sobbing in despair. Cussing, even, or a finger pointed at him in blame.
Tidus' twin took him by great surprise. She did have tears in her mismatched eyes, but she let them fall in silence, all of her attention on her brother. She seemed to be concentrating. And then Yusuke was staring, unable to believe his eyes as he watched Tidus' cuts and bite marks seal themselves and vanish within the span of seconds.
Even Genkai's spirit orb could not work that fast…
Tidus suddenly dragged in a gasping breath, and Wakka and Lulu murmured in relief. Yuna shifted on her knees, tenderly lifting her brother's head upon her lap. The blond's fiery blue eyes slowly blinked open, and Tidus offered his sister a small smile.
It was short-lived relief, however. Something they did not discover until their boat finally approached the shores of Kilika.
3) Sniper's ability. *guilty smirk* I'm so getting sued for that one…