A/N- Hello friends. Hope you enjoy. Although it starts out a little slow, I do quite like it. Quite a bit of fluff. Love the fluff.

Now, to set the scene. You need not read this until after you've read the chapter, or at all, if you like You can, but it's really up to you. It starts off slow, with a bit of heavier material than Barbies. My writing style is a bit different now than it was when I was thirteen, but it's improved, so… :) I tried to keep it a bit similar, which is why this chapter was difficult to write. I am going against my writing grain.

Love,

Liz


It was the dead of the night, and it felt like everyone in the world was asleep, except for Yuna. Not a star shone in the sky, and daybreak was still hours away. The ground seemed to be moving beneath her. Whether it was because of the waves washing away the sand beneath her feet or the bottle of vodka she'd consumed in the past hour, found in the cupboard above the refrigerator, she didn't know nor did she care. Her stomach churned queasily within her, and watching the back and forth motion of the waves made it worse.

While her brain was sluggish, her body acted on its own. She stripped off all her clothing and jumped into the surf. She was mid-way through her second stroke when what she was doing registered in her mind, and a thrilling shriek resonated in the air around her. The water was icy, but her tears were hot. Icy, hot. Icy, hot.

I'll find the perfect guy for you.

She swam faster, and soon she was fifteen meters into the spray, then twenty. She could barely see the shoreline now, but she kept swimming against the waves. Ten more meters out, she treaded water.

I'll find the perfect… perfect.

Her bare skin, milky white, glowed through the black of the water. She didn't need Tidus to find her the perfect guy. This was it, her perfection. The water was hers, as clouded as her befuddled head, salty as her tears, could swallow her whole.

She ducked and dove under. It was swirling around her, her perfection. She swallowed gulp after gulp of water, and came up, piercing the night with her lungs convulsing, gasping for air.

The last thing she consciously felt was being pulled to shore by a wave. She must have stumbled her way back to the house. Her clothes were gone when she awoke, and she was lying naked on her bedroom floor. Suddenly feeling very sick, Yuna ran to the bathroom, grabbing her robe, hand over her mouth. It was sunrise.


Tidus awoke to the sound of retching. He groaned and rolled over, trying to return to dreamland. He had been having the first pleasant dream he could remember, since falling asleep in Auron's class. It was all slipping away now. All he could recall was the sheer bliss. As his mind slowly ventured into wakefulness, memories of his head's nighttime travels were forgotten. Why the hell was he hearing retching?

Groaning and rolling over once more, Tidus stumbled out of bed, grabbed a shirt, and almost knowingly followed his ears. Even though he'd been awake for no more than a minute and wasn't completely coherent, he had an inkling of what was happening. His subconscious registered with his brain. Finding Yuna in the bathroom, puking the entire contents of her stomach into the toilet, he placidly found some towels, patted her on the back, and helped her sit up when she was finished.

"Will you be okay if we go sit in the living room?"

Yuna nodded glumly at Tidus, sweat shining on her pasty forehead. Helping her up off the obsidian-tiled floor, bronzed hand took hold of porcelain.

It seemed like forever ago, since he'd promised to help her, here on this very couch, though in reality, it had only been the night before. Jecht and Utada would be here in a few hours. Yuna looked awful. Her hair was damp, her hands were clammy. Sliding his hand under her chin, he felt her neck with the back of his hand. She was quite warm. All she was wearing was her flimsy bathrobe. Hoping she hadn't caught a fever, he tilted her chin and put a hand against her forehead. He was avoiding her eyes, afraid of what he would find there.

Seeming to have the same thought, Yuna buried her head into Tidus chest, and they sat, and he held her. She cried hot, pearly tears. "I'm so tired," she said shakily, her voice muffled by his shirt. "I'm so tired." He sat and held her, wondering what was so wrong, what had happened to her. They sat together until she had fallen back to sleep. When he picked her up, he noticed how light she was. Carrying her to her bedroom, he slipped her under the covers, and she hugged her pillow in her sleep, looking for something to cling to. Finding more blankets, he piled them on top of her, and felt her forehead again. Positively burning up. Sighing, he went to take a quick shower, hoping he could find chocobo and rice soup, for when she woke up.


Shuffling around the kitchen, trying not to create too much of a clatter, Tidus ran his hand through his now damp mop of hair. Yuna was asleep in her bedroom; he had checked on her after his shower. Her head was still hot and her face was wet. Whether the moisture was from perspiration or tears, he didn't know.

As he scoured the kitchen for a can of soup, he reminisced. It was Tuesday. They had only moved in four days ago. Christ, had it only been four days? Yevon, living with Yuna certainly wasn't the absolute hell he had anticipated it to be. It was turning out to be like one of those over dramatized, Al Bhed soap operas where someone is always sleeping with their sister's husband's stepfather who happens to be married to the woman who seduced the original perpetrator's ex-boyfriend by slipping illegal ethers into his drink one crazy night at some bar. Raucous screams of, "OUI CMABD FEDR RES?!" were often emitted from the televisions set as Tidus flipped through daytime TV channels. The occasional, "E's bnakhyhd... yht ed'c hud ouinc," could be heard, as well, while emotive music swelled in the background.

Finally locating the soup, Tidus popped it into the microwave and set about searching for crackers. The young man's thoughts drifted to Yuna once more. What is going on with her?, he wondered. Her ex-boyfriend abused her, her mom's getting married to a classmate's dad, said classmate was, up until a few days ago, her sworn enemy, she's stuck living with aforementioned former mortal enemy, she gets suspended from school, now she's drunk and throwing up in the morning. He should write all of it down and sell it to a soap opera. Shaking his head, Tidus resolved to try to calm things down for Yuna.

Assembling a tray with soup, crackers, juice, and a fever reducing dispel potion, the teen only felt slightly ridiculous carrying it all into the sleeping girl's room.

Running a cool hand across her hot forehead, Tidus frowned as Yuna stirred. She seemed more feverish than before. Yuna sat up in bed, slowly blinking away sleep. When she saw the food in Tidus' hands, she grimaced a bit. I'm not sure I can eat that," she moaned.

Handing her the tray, Tidus kneeled on the edge of her bed. "You need to," he replied, trying to make his voice soothing. "Take the potion first. How much did you drink?"

Looking at him wonderingly, Yuna answered, "I…really don't remember. How did you know…?"

"Alcohol leaves a very distinct odor on one's breath."

Nodding, Yuna took the potion. She began to eat slowly, and Tidus got up to leave.

"Wait," she called out weakly. "Please don't go."

"You really need your rest," Tidus responded, eyeing her, cerulean irises clouded with periwinkle worry.

"Please stay," begged emerald and sapphire jewels.

The cerulean eyes relented.


Her tawny brown hair tickled his chin as she buried her hot face against his chest once more. He slipped under the covers, holding her, cradling her, taking the place of the sweat soaked pillow she had been clinging to before.

"Just hold me," she whispered.

He held her. They lay, nestled together, not speaking a word. Her breath was hot and ragged against him and she smelled of cinnamon. He continued to hold her.

Tidus loosened his grip on her waist for a moment so he could adjust his position on the bed.

"Don't leave," she mumbled, arms clinging to his neck.

"I'm not," he reassured her, holding her close once more. "I won't." He inhaled her scent again, enraptured. She smelled just like the cookies his mom used to bake to take to his dad's blitz games.

He's so warm, so safe, Yuna thought. I could fall asleep this way.

So she did. Tidus stayed perfectly still, holding her. He wouldn't let her go. When she woke an hour later, he still wouldn't let her go.


You smell like cinnamon, his eyes told her. His mouth asked, "Do you feel any better?"

Yuna sighed and whispered, "A little."

"Why are you whispering?" Tidus asked in a hushed tone.

"My throat's a little sore," she replied, and he heard the raspy note of her voice.

Looking concerned, he asked, "Do you want me to get you anything?"

"No," Yuna urgently said, trying to move so she could look at his face. "Just stay here and hold me."

He sighed silently with relief. Her hair had arranged itself right near his face again, and he could inhale her warm scent. He could go on breathing like that forever. It was a little weird, holding her like this. It was Yuna, after all. She was going to be his sister… Tidus remembered that Jecht and Utada would be visiting today. Groaning a little, he knew he would have to extract himself from the warm bed and the reminder of his mother's cookies before they came.

"Yuna?" he muttered.

"Hmm…?" she asked sleepily.

"Why'd you do it?"

She turned and faced him. "Steal and drink Jecht's vodka, you mean?"

"Well, yeah," Tidus agreed with her.

She turned away once more, and snuggled her face into a pillow rather than Tidus' chest, which the teen was sorely disappointed about. "I was upset," she said simply.

They were silent for a few minutes.

"You do have quite a bit to be upset about," he conceded.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, there's the whole Seymour thing, of course, your mom's getting married, you're suspended…" Tidus went over the list of items he was selling to the Al Bhed soap opera.

"…and Rikku broke out the Barbies last night," she added.

Tidus stopped his inhalation to stare at her. "You know what? I don't even want to know."

Yuna laughed, a throaty giggle that turned into a cough. She moved away from Tidus for a moment, not wanting to spread the bacteria, but he took hold of her and moved her closer once more. She laid her head under his chin, on his tanned neck, and when he talked, he tickled her cheek with the vibrations of his vocal cords.

"What will we do when Jecht and Utada marry?" he asked her, tracing a pattern on her back through her robe with his fingers. He couldn't decide whether or not there was a hint of vanilla underneath her cinnamony aroma.

"What do you mean?" she queried.

"Do you want them to be married? Do you want to live in the same house, as a family?"

"It'd be weird, with them giggling and making out and stuff…" Yuna replied, and Tidus grimaced at the 'and stuff.'

"…I wouldn't mind you being around all the time, though," she finished.

Tidus stopped his gentle tracing along her backbone, and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Her hair was so soft. His mother's hair had been soft, but it was a richer brown with a hint of red, more like cherrywood than Yuna's chestnut.

"Do you ever miss your dad?" he asked Yuna suddenly.

Olive and ultramarine eyes bored in cerulean ones. The cerulean was brighter than usual.

"All the time," she answered softly.

"What do you miss most about him?"

She paused to think, then smiled. "The way he squinted his eyes when he laughed, the way they glinted when he teased me. I miss the way he would tickle my mom, and tell her she was an excellent cook, even when she made something strange, like her chocolate banana pineapple cake. It was so bad," she laughed, "but he ate two pieces."

Tidus smiled as she laughed. She looked at him smiling and wondered, "Do you ever miss your mom?"

Still smiling, though more sadly, Tidus answered. "I miss her perfume," he said, "and the way she'd always take me to the park to make me happy after the old man made me feel ashamed during blitz practice." Drawing in Yuna's scent, he added, "I miss her cinnamon cookies, I miss taking care of her when she was sick, I miss her just being home when I returned from school. I miss the band aids she'd keep in the medicine cabinet for the days when I came home after goalie practice from blitzball. There were cartoons of my favorite players on them," he added, "and she'd always tell me that one day they'd wear my face on their cuts and scrapes."

"You're good at taking care of people," Yuna murmured.

"I had a lot of practice." Drawing his hand across her forehead again to see if her fever had gone down, he added as an afterthought, "My mom was sick most of the time."

"I remember," she told him, as he wrapped his arms around her again. "I used to come over every now and then. We were friends. Don't you remember?"

Sighing, he nodded. "I remember."

"Your hair was just a blonde, fuzzy puff ball, and your voice was squeaky."

"It was fourth grade!" Tidus exclaimed.

"It was so funny," Yuna responded, breaking into a fit of giggles.

"Oh yeah? Well you were gangly, and had huge front teeth."

Yuna gasped, and, after she had recovered from shock, took her pillow and hit him in the face. He laughed at her, expertly flipped her onto her back, and began tickling her. Through a new fit of giggles and shrieks of laughter, she threw up her hands to fend him off. "Stop!" she yelped, gasping for breath. "I'm sorry, your hair wasn't fuzzy!"

Realizing such exertion probably wasn't good for her, Tidus did stop and she climbed back on top of him so he could keep holding on to her.

"Feeling better?"

She answered with a giggle.

He looked at her face. Her eyes were warm. Her skin, though pale from her fever, still glowed. He had never been so attracted to a girl before. A million pictures swam in his head. Yuna, painting with him at the pottery place, a snub of purple on her nose. Yuna, punching Seymour. Yuna, suspended, giggling with Rikku, and intense while playing laser tag. Yuna, broken after Seymour came. Lost and throwing up in the bathroom. Telling him to piss off. Her fingers brushing against his while they sat silently in Auron's class. Smiling while they put on the charade of them dating. The blank expression on her face when he had told her he would find her the perfect guy. Yevon, how stupid.

He traced patterns on her back again.

"Yuna, remember what I told you last night?"

She turned her head to face him. "About finding the perfect guy for me?"

"Yeah, that."

She nodded. "I remember."

Taking her face in between his hands, he replied, "Well, I found him."

Drawing her face close to his, he brought his mouth to hers. She didn't resist and he kissed her. Her lips tasted like cinnamon. At that moment, the sound of Jecht and Utada's car could be heard in the driveway.


//fin

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