III

When my father and I walked into the house, we both froze at the same time and exchanged looks. Apparently my mom was a little more excited to move for a few weeks than we both thought, for she had already pulled out some boxes and crates and put them in the middle of the hallway, leaving a trail that led toward the kitchen, where music was blasting rather loudly. Taking a few mores steps in the direction of the kitchen, my dad and I looked around the corner to see my mom with her hair pulled back into a ponytail, packing up half of the kitchen, singing and dancing as she put things in boxes. What wasn't already in boxes was sitting on the counters, the floor… basically anywhere that there was a flat surface.

I chuckled a little in disbelief and reached my hand out toward the stereo to turn the music down a little, for standing next to the speakers was rather deafening. She stopped what she was doing instantly and whipped her head up at us, not looking the slightest bit embarrassed that we caught her in the middle of the performance to the song that was on.

"Oh! I didn't realize you two were going to be home so quickly!" She exclaimed, walking over to me and giving me a hug at the same time that she kissed my father. "I would've made dinner or something, but I think I packed most of the pots and pans. Hm, that would've been an issue." Moving a stray tendril of hair out of her face, she laughed at the mess of the kitchen and then looked down at me. "How was your last day of school, Yuna?"

"Ariana…" My father said slowly without allowing me to answer my mom, his eyes still looking over the mess that used to be the kitchen.

She smiled widely. "Yes, dear?"

Finally, he looked at her, who gave him another playful kiss on the cheek. "We're only going for a few weeks, not for six years."

"But we are going soon, so that is why I'm in the rush to get everything all packed up! I don't want to forget anything that's important!" She turned up the music again before grabbing my father and dancing with him a little bit, avoiding the boxes and random kitchen things in the process. The two of them made me laugh, so I moved a little to give them room and watched for a few moments.

Thinking about my mom's statement, I looked up at the ceiling for a moment. In the car, my dad asked me how I felt about going back over to Zanarkand and that we were going back for a few weeks, but he didn't give the specific dates. "Hey, when are we leaving to go back there, anyway?"

Without stopping their little dance, my father said, "We're leaving late Friday night, so we'll arrive during the day on Saturday since we're driving there."

"Friday!? That's two days from now," I replied, feeling my heart skip a beat. I'm not sure if it was in excitement or shock that it was so soon. "You expect me to be ready by then?"

"Yep!" My mother said, trying to spin my father around. Her attempt failed, so they just started to laugh as my dad regained his footing so he wouldn't topple over.

"I don't think I can pack everything in that short of a time-span!" I said, running through my head everything that I would need to pack, and I certainly didn't have enough time to pack it all. "Oh, Zaon." With that, I rushed upstairs to my room to start my packing.

When I reached my room, I heard my mother yell, "We're going out to dinner in a little bit, Yuna! Be ready!"

I nodded even though she couldn't see me, then shut my door. "Two days!?" I exclaimed, throwing my hands up in the air and trying to think what I should've done first. So much packing to be done, and, much like my mom, I didn't want to forget anything. Starting at my main closet would be the best place, then I would move onto toiletries and other miscellaneous things that would remind me of Bevelle while I was gone. My stuffed Shiva doll that I've had since I was a baby, my diary, perhaps some pictures that I had of my friends and I…

At that, I flicked my eyes over to the picture frames that contained photos from the previous year at the summer festival that was held annually in Bevelle. It was, perhaps, the most important ceremony in Bevelle; the whole city practically shut down for the parades, speeches, ceremonies, and, of course, the Blitzball championship game. In the center of all the pictures was one of Rikku, Gippal, Baralai and I, all smiling. I was really going to miss them... We had been an inseparable foursome for the past five years and a pit suddenly formed in my stomach at the thought that I was leaving.

But, I had to remember that it wasn't forever. Just a few weeks.

Packing just seemed like such a simple concept, yet I still found myself walking around my room trying to figure out what it was that I wanted to bring with me to Zanarkand. Like my dad said, it wasn't like we were going to stay there too long, but I didn't want to be under prepared for anything that could've happened. Maybe we would go out to a nice restaurant a couple of times, so that meant I would have to bring some nice outfits. If there were presentations that my dad had to go to that involved my mother and I going as well, more reasons for nice clothing.

Then of course, Zanarkand was a coastal city, meaning there were a lot of beaches. Having some free time on the beach with a nice bathing suit would make a nice summer vacation as well.

I tapped my fingers on the doors of my closets as I peered inside, my eyes going over the outfits that I had in there. I certainly did have a lot of clothes, and it wouldn't have been possible to pack them all in a few little suitcases. I wanted to be prepared, but I didn't want to pack too heavily because we were driving. Sitting next to eight suitcases on the way there would've made quite an uncomfortable journey.

Just thinking about leaving Bevelle made me a little homesick already, but going back to Zanarkand… there was so much that was still there, but what if it wasn't there for me when I returned? Not just that park that my friends and I used to go to, or that small secluded beach area that we discovered that one day… but my friends. It had been so long since I have talked to any of them… especially…

I looked over to the spot on my bed where my purse was, which I knew had my cell phone in it. I still had his cell phone number stored away in my phone, even though it had been quite some time that we talked on the phone. For the last few months that we talked to each other, it was pretty much only via email, which seems a lot less personal. Not to mention that the emails consistently started to get shorter and shorter, to the point where his last one stated, "I've been so busy, but I'll write soon!" and had his name at the bottom.

Zanarkand A East high school had a little bit of everything to keep it's students entertained, especially when it came to blitzball and the end of the semester school work and exams. He was Junior Captain of the blitzball team, so with games and practices all the time, I had to accept that he would be busy. Also, his last email was around late December, so with all the Yevonistmas celebrations and shopping, I understood.

Of course, I was very busy as well with everything that was going on in Bevelle. I had the exams and the finishing papers and such to do with school, but I had a lot of extra social work that I was doing, such as running the Yevonismas Pageant at the Bevelle temple. It was a lot of work to help all those kids learn their parts in the songs and help them with costumes, but it was so rewarding when it was all finished. That was only one of the many things I was doing. There are times when I wonder how I do it all, but I love to do it, so it didn't matter.

Thinking about him made me wonder how he was doing, so I pulled my cell phone out of my purse and went to Tidus' number. It was a lot easier, emotionally, than I thought it would be, but I just put the phone up to my ear and listened to it ring.

And ring.

Every time I heard a ring, I felt my hopes dissipate a little more and wondered if he was deliberately ignoring my call. I had to convince myself that maybe he was still at school, but when I looked up at the clock, I shook my head. He should've been home for a good long while by that time. He wouldn't have a reason to ignore me, would he? Did I do something wrong? When his voice mail clicked in, I felt myself frown.

"Hey, it's Ti, and I'm obviously doing bigger and better things than talk to you right now. However, if you feel up to it, leave a message. The more provocative it is, the faster I'll call you back."

When did he start referring to himself as 'Ti,' first of all? Ever since we were little kids, it's always been 'Tidus.' It was his name, why wouldn't he go by that? Even when he signed his emails and such… And leave a provocative message? As the automated voice continued talking, explaining how my message would be recorded after the sound of the tone and so on, I couldn't even leave a message. I couldn't leave a provocative message if my life depended on it. It would've been against all of my morals.

With a small scoff of disgust, I disconnected the call, shut the phone and threw it on my bed next to me and just stared at it for a few minutes. Calling him back wasn't something that I wanted to do right away, but I did want to get in contact with him somehow. Not to mention, if he didn't want to see me, a surprise visit wouldn't go over too well…

Before I had a chance to think about it too hard, there was a small knock on my door and my mother poked her head in. "Yuna, are you ready for dinner?"

I looked up at her and sighed. "Yeah, I'll be there in a few." I was thankful when she didn't ask me what was wrong and just smiled and walked back downstairs, for I didn't really want to talk about it. It was something that I would just have to deal with later.

-

I don't know what was stopping me from calling Tidus back after my parents and came back home after dinner. I instantly went up to my room, sat on my bed, then stared at my phone for a good twenty minutes. Not doing anything else; just…sitting there. I even had the number punched in already—all I needed to do was push the 'send' button on my cell phone. Maybe I was hoping that the phone would do it by itself or something, I wasn't sure.

"Just do it, Yuna," I said out loud, finally finding the strength to push the green button on my phone. As I put the phone up to my ear, I realized that I was shaking. I shouldn't have been nervous because he's been my best friend my whole life, but I was terrified nonetheless.

After the fourth ring, I frowned a little bit, but in a way it was a good thing. Now I was just hoping that I was going to get his voice mail and not have to talk directly to him. Not leave a provocative message, of course, but something short and simple.

"H…Hello?"

He caught me by surprise when he picked up the phone. I had been trying to think of what I was going to say on his voice mail if it got to that point that I wasn't even expecting him to pick up. He was panting pretty heavily, but he still sounded the same since the last time I talked to him.

Swallowing the lump that was in my throat, I managed to squeak out, "Hey, Tidus." There was silence on the other line for a second, so I looked at the display on my phone to make sure that he was still on the line. The seconds were still ticking, so I knew he was there.

"Who… is this?"

I couldn't describe the feeling that washed through me, perhaps it was disappointment. He didn't even know who it was? Didn't he recognize my number? Or… did he delete me from his phone? That kinda stung, but I chose to ignore it. "It's Yuna."

"Holy shit, Yuna!"

His exclamation shocked me, not expecting the swearing. It wasn't as though I've never heard him swear before, but I couldn't tell if he was happy to hear from me, or if he didn't expect me to ever contact him again. I didn't have the slightest idea to what he was feeling on the other line. "Yeah, it's me," I finally said, trying to still sound happy and chipper like usual.

"Hey!" Now he sounded happy to hear me, but he was still panting. "How are you? I haven't talked to you in a long time!"

"I'm not too bad," I replied, putting my hand on my knee to stop it from shaking. "Are you okay? You sound kind of out of breath or something."

"Oh yeah, I'm fine," he reassured me. "I just had to…run upstairs to find my phone before voice mail kicked in, that's all. I'm surprised that I heard it ring from where I was at, but I found it!"

"Yes, you did." There was silence between he and I for a minute, and I wasn't sure what to say. How do you tell someone that even though you miss them, you love the life that you live now and you don't want to go back to your hometown again even if they're there? "Are you busy?"

He paused, but with a chuckle said, "Not really. It wasn't that great anyway, so you're not interrupting anything. Why, what's up?"

I was confused, but I didn't spend much time dwelling on it. "Well, it's been a while since we've talked, so I kind of wanted to catch up with a few things, but the main reason I called? It's kind of a long story, but I can make it relatively short if need be."

"Okay…" I felt like he was rushing me and I'm not sure why. Whatever he was doing certainly was distracting him before I called.

I inhaled deeply so I could explain it all in one breath. If I did that, he wouldn't have had a chance to interrupt me and I could get through it all in one blow. "You know with all the research that my father is doing in Bevelle, right? Trying to figure out Sin's attack patterns and whatnot? I know I've at least mentioned it to you about it before, so I'm going to get right to the point. My father's research is moving us back to Zanarkand for the summer." I felt like I set a bomb off. His silence was not a reaction that I wanted, and it wasn't making me feel better about going back there for a while. "Questions? Comments?"

"Uh…" Wow. Some reply. "Well, I haven't seen you in a while, so yeah. It'll be great to see you again. It's been what? Seven, eight years?"

"Something like that," I said quietly, knowing the exact date that I moved away from Zanarkand. I thought it was something that he would remember too, but I was starting to believe there was a lot that he had forgotten. "I can't believe it's been that long already."

"Time flies, doesn't it?" He stated with another quiet chuckle. "Well, it'll be great to see you. Do you know when you're coming here? Next month? A few months from now?"

Feeling my lips turn down a little from the way it seemed he didn't want to see me anytime soon, I stated simply, "Saturday."

Again, more silence. "Saturday. Saturday …. As in…"

"'Saturday' as in three days from now, Tidus," I said, starting to feel like I was talking to a small child.

"Huh. That's… soon." I shouldn't have begun to feel angry, but I couldn't help it. I expected him to be a little more excited, to start spouting off things that we could do when I came back… not give me short noncommittal responses and sound monotone.

I let out a small sigh. "Yeah, it really is. I have so much packing to do that it's ridiculous, but I'm sure I'll be able to manage. Besides, if I forget anything, I'm sure a nice trip to the Yunalesca mall would be very fun, entertaining, and I could buy everything there."

"Wow, it has been a while since you've been here, hasn't it?" He said with a chuckle.

"Well, it has been five years." My tone was rather flat, more like a reminder of how long it had been so his mind could be refreshed. "Why?"

"They totally rebuilt Yunalesca's about three years ago, but it's still pretty sweet. They got rid of all the stupid stores that no one ever went into and put in some really good ones." I nodded, even though he couldn't see me other the phone. There was a pause, and then he added, "We… will have to go there when you come here."

For the first time in the entire conversation, I felt myself genuinely smile. "That sounds like a plan. Sounds good—" Before I could finish, I heard a quiet beep, so I looked at my phone. "Oh, I have to go though, I have another call."

"Oooh, boyfriend?"

I couldn't tell if he was teasing or not, but he knew that I had a boyfriend, I was sure of it. Even though Baralai and I just started dating when the emails between Tidus and I were becoming few and far between, I know I must've mentioned him somewhere. "Yeah, it's Baralai."

"Ah. Well, I don't want to keep you, so give me a buzz when you arrive here, kay?"

"Sounds good, Tidus," I said, the smile still on my face. "Take care."

"You too."

I waited a second before I clicked over to talk to Baralai, pretty happy that I called up Tidus instead of just running into him on the Zanarkand shores or something. Giving him a heads up was probably a good idea. "Hey, Baralai."

"Hey, Yuna! What's up?"

I got off of my bed and went back to my closet; I needed to really start packing. "Oh not much. Just working on packing and all that fun stuff."

He was silent for a moment. "P… Packing? For what? Where are you going?"

"Oh, well…" It was then that I realized, in the midst of everything, I had forgotten to tell my very best friends what was going on. Feeling a little guilty, I started to explain everything from the beginning.