Chapter 6: The Afterglow

          The morning came as a godsend. The moment Tidus woke up his senses went into overdrive. He felt new… almost reborn somehow. He could here and feel more than he could have ever imagined, even after the loss of his sight. Right now he felt warm and lazy and wanted nothing more than to just bask in the afterglow of what he knew had happened. He sighed, listening to the heartbeat next to him, feeling the calming pulse of it.

          He stayed like that for what seemed like hours, until finally he felt her heart rate accelerate, indicating that she was now just waking up. He breathed deep, taking in her scent, reveling in it's sweet and savoring hint of spring flowers.

          He felt her stir, and snuggle closer, pressing her nude form into him. Respectively, he tightened his hold around her waist, drawing her even closer to him.

          He felt some twisting and then the slightly distastefulness of her lips on him. He ended the kiss quickly with a grin. "You want anymore of those, you'll clean out that mouth, eh?"

          He felt her slap him half-heartedly, giggling as she got up from their little spot under the sleeping bag.

          "I'm going to change now, so you better not peak!" she proclaimed.

          Tidus chuckled, sounding somewhat bittersweet. "I couldn't peak even if I wanted to Yuna," he replied halfheartedly.

          He heard the ruffling of clothes to his left and suddenly got an idea.

          She was about to put on her undergarments, when she heard it: the same resonating sound that she heard both in Luca and last night under the lake. She quickly turned to Tidus to see him waving around Caladbolg for all it was worth, grinning like an idiot with some drool coming down the side of his mouth.

          A feral growl escaped Yuna's throat as she realized what he was doing.

          "*grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr* TIDUS! PREPARE TO DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

          He quickly took off, sheathing Caladbolg, but allowing it to continue resonating, and proceeded to jump into the lake. Yuna, blinded with furry and not quite thinking straight, followed him in… without clothes…

          An hour later, Yuna managed to suppress her embarrassment just as Tidus managed to gain control of his nosebleed. Apparently, he wasn't expecting quite as much detail to penetrate his mind…

          "Wow… if only I'd have known…"

          "In that were the case, I'd be performing a Sending right about now…" she mumbled, a shy smile now forming itself onto her.

          Both of them were now fully dressed and were packing up their belongings. Tidus, now with his sash securely fastened and covering his eyes from the view of the world, went on and used Caladbolg to see if there was anything left or forgotten.

          Once completely packed, they went on there way, taking every shortcut they knew, knowing that Yuna's other guardians had most probably picked up on her trail. After all, a famous High Summoner with a spirit wolf for company was a rather odd sight to behold.

          They reached the Calm Lands on the morning of their third day of travel. This, of course, was the fist time that Yuna actually saw the house in person.

          "Wow… you live here?" she asked.

          He chuckled. He had no clue what it truly looked like on the outside, just the shape of it, more or less. "I wouldn't know. I only perceive pictures and outlines from the resonating of sounds, so I can't truly tell what something looks like," he explained.

          Yuna turned to him with an arched eyebrow. "Wow… Tidus, that actually sounded… well… smart!" she exclaimed.

          Tidus nodded absentmindedly before he caught on. "Hey! I resent that!"

          She giggled and went ahead on inside.

          As she walked in, she could see that somehow he had adorned it with pictures that they had taken during her own pilgrimage. 'Wow… I can't even remember some of these pictures being taken… but if Tidus says he can't perceive detail…'

          "Tidus?" she asked, hearing him come in. "If you can't perceive detail, who put up all these pictures?"

          "That would be my guardian," he replied. Yuna looked at him thoroughly confused. How the hell did a spirit wolf put up all these pictures by itself?

          She eyed Tidus, as he suddenly started sniffing the air, quickly and subtly.

          "It's fresh…"

          "What is?"

          "Fresh Ronso bean coffee. OY! KIMAHRI, GET YOUR LAZY ASS OVER HERE AND HELP US OUT, EH!?"

          They heard a shuffle and, to Yuna's great surprise, Kimahri came rushing out of a nearby room, fur completely soaked through, Spirit Lance in hand.

          "Where the fire! Where the fire!" he asked quickly.

          He suddenly felt himself go into a stupor as he saw what he had never hoped to see. Yuna was rolling on the floor, tears coming out of her eyes, laughing her heart out at the sight of poor Kimahri, soaked from head to toe.

          Kimahri growled in annoyance. "Ronso's also need baths, even if Ronso's don't like getting fur wet," he said before disappearing into what she guessed was the shower.

          This statement only made her laugh even harder and by now felt as if she'd cough her heart out should she continued. Tidus merely shook his head in annoyance. "I hate the smell of wet Ronso fur in the morning."

          That did it. Yuna was beyond reasoning and only knew laughter beyond her wildest dreams. She didn't seem to notice the resonating sound of Caladbolg. She didn't notice Tidus picking her up, cringing from the noise but smiling that she was happy again. She didn't notice the small trip that they made to his room. She didn't notice the Sleep spell being cast on her…

          Tidus sighed, thanking the higher authorities that the noise had stopped. Hopefully, the small cat nap would do Yuna some good. He left her in his room to sleep and stepped out into the hallway, and immediately noticed the difference.

          Apparently, Kimahri had taken the liberty of putting wind chimes all over the house. He guessed that if the window had been open in his room, he'd have heard one there as well. He sighed in relief, knowing that now he wouldn't have to use either Caladbolg nor his walking stick inside his home, so long as he kept some form of ventilation.

          'Maybe I should get Yuna to charm them to resonate on their own…' he pondered as he made his way to the kitchen, where a slightly puffy Kimahri was awaiting.

          "I see Tidus bring home company," stated Kimahri.

          "I put her to sleep. She's in my room now, resting up," he explained.

          "Kimahri thought Tidus didn't want Yuna here."

          "She's a stubborn woman, she is. She wouldn't relent until I finally gave in. Apparently she thinks that we can still work it out," he explained. "As long as she's here on her own free will, I'll accept her here. I guess she really does know what she's getting into."

          Kimahri thought for a moment, before he finally responded. "Yuna have strong heart and will of steel. Yuna is not woman who is easily moved. She always follow her heart and does anything to finish what she start."

          Tidus smirked at that. "That's exactly what I had in mind," he said.

          He then stood up abruptly. "Has all of the equipment and packed stuff been taken care off?" he asked.

          "Yes. Kimahri put all clothes to wash and pack all equipment in shed. Kimahri also put potions and elixirs in medicine cabinet. Kimahri also see Shadow go towards watering hole north of here," said Kimahri, who now got up to make himself another batch of coffee.

          "Good. In that case, I'm gonna go keep an eye on Yuna. Had to cast Sleep on her just so she'd mellow down," he said. He then went out of the kitchen and made his way to his bedroom, following the sounds of the many wind chimes in the house.

          He opened the door to find that indeed, there was also a wind chimes in his room. He let the sounds come to him, forming the detailed picture in his mind.

          Apparently the Sleep spell hasn't worn off and Yuna was still asleep. 'Well, can't have her asleep all day, or else she won't sleep a night…' he thought as he extended his hands towards her eyes.

          "Esuna…" he whispered. A pinkish glow surrounded her slender form and died down fast, but nothing else happened. He frowned in confusion until he heard a giggle coming from her form. He groaned in annoyance.

          "Yuna, you know that wasn't very nice," he whined, sitting next to her.

          "Hey, I wasn't the one who cast sleep on my lover, now was I?" asked Yuna in a giddy voice that sort of reminded him of, disturbingly enough, Rikku.

          He was about to respond, when suddenly, the meaning behind her statement hit home.

          "No… is it possible that my sweet and innocent Yuna, High Summoner of Spira is flirting with me?" he asked, arching an eyebrow in mild surprise.

          "Why, of course I am. Am I not a health, living, breathing specimen of women?" she asked, pulling him down to her and twisting around so that she was now on top straddling his waist.

          "Yuna, you devil you… I had no clue you had it in you…" mumbled Tidus as he brought her down for a kiss. She smirked and whispered seductively, "Then let me show you exactly what's inside me…"

To Be Continued…

          A/N: Wow… not even the author of this fic knew she had it in her. Way to score, Tidus! Anywho, I'd like to apologize for the delay on this chapter. Schools started and so has my first semester as a college student. Since I'm busy during the day and study during the night, I can only type late at night. That's also another thing. If you want to AIM me for some odd reason or other, it's best to do so round midnight or later. That's usually my typing hours. I'm a nocturnal creature and normally go to sleep around five and sleep in till noon to two in the afternoon, so that's that.

          Also, I've been getting a lot of comments over my spelling and grammar. Let me state for the record that I do have a beta reader (Dragoness Eve, Hyne bless her soul) and I also go over the entire contents of my chapter not finding anything that spell or grammar check doesn't detect. So I'm sorry if something slips, but I'm doing the best I can here people! Anyway, I appreciate the effort of pointing it all out, but I just can't seem to find any of the errors, so maybe you guys just see something that Eve and me can't. Just make sure to point out exactly what it is so that I might correct it for the revisions after I finish the story.

          Again, my apologies for this delay. So keep reading, keep reviewing, and until next time, I'll be watching you…