Run Away!
By: Songwind
Disclaimer- I don't own Final Fantasy 10 or anything else involving said video game.
Summary- Yuna loves Tidus. Tidus loves Yuna. Yuna wants to marry Tidus. Tidus… isn't so sure. ^^; This is pretty much a silly story where the good guys try to escape the idea of complete commitment to the good girls. This is slightly AU, since this takes place after Sin and Tidus is still around. Hope you enjoy.
Notes- I will use a few jokes from other series in this story. For example, the entire premise of this story is based on how women and men act in books written by David Eddings. Read his stuff! Also, a few jokes will come from the old TV series Due South. Watch it, darn you all! WATCH IT! Ahem.
~*~
Part One- Red Alert!
"Finally, we're done," Tidus said. He stretched his arms over his head, allowing himself to completely relax his body for a moment. Then he turned to the others. "Now what, though?"
The group was standing together in the center of Luca. Earlier, Yuna had been given a great celebration, with her guardians and friends in attendance. Now that the celebration - or at least the part requiring Yuna's presence- was over, the group really didn't have anywhere to go.
Auron snorted. "Does it matter? The largest chapters in our stories have been completed. Now, we shall be given a bit of a break." He gave Yuna a small bow. "Yuna, it's been an honor being your guardian. Now, I must depart."
She gave him a nod and a smile. "Thank you for all of your help and advice, Sir Auron. It has been more of an honor having you with us than anything else."
"Hmm." He glanced at Yuna, then at Tidus. Then he walked away, disappearing into the crowds.
"Kimahri has business in Gagazet Mountains," the Ronso guardian noted quietly. "Kimahri needed to help survivors. Kimahri… must go for a short time." He gave Yuna an apologetic look.
Yuna's smile grew. "Don't worry, Kimahri. I'll be fine for a while without you, honest! I'm still going with Wakka, Tidus and Lulu back to Besaid."
"Yeah, we'll keep her outta trouble for you, ya?" Wakka offered.
Kimahri gave the former blitzball coach a skeptical look, then shrugged. "Kimahri shall come to Besaid in a while. Wait there, Yuna. Don't hurt yourself." With that, he turned and left for a nearby dock.
"And then there was us," Rikku announced. Then she rather sheepishly scratched the back of her head. "Actually, it's just you guys now," she admitted.
"What? You're not coming with us?" Yuna asked.
"No. I'm needed." The usually hyper young woman turned her face to the sky, where an airship sat in wait for her arrival. "My dad's waiting."
The group nodded one by one, understanding. The Al Bhed people needed a new Home to live in- or at least, they needed somewhere to meet. If nothing else, they needed somewhere to come back to once in a while, just to know that it was there. And as long as their Home was safe, they knew they'd always have somewhere to return to.
"So… I kinda stink at long byes," Rikku said, scratching at her nose slightly. "Look, I'll come to Besaid in a while and check up on you all, okay?"
"Then we can go to our next tournament in Luca," Wakka said. "You all can watch the Aurochs get better an' better!"
"Aurochs? Better?" Lulu said skeptically.
"Well, we signed on a few new people, and we still got Tidus with us, ya?" Wakka shrugged.
"Wait, we? I thought you'd quit for good," Yuna said.
"That was until after you were done with the pilgrimage, Yuna. Now that I don't have that to do, well… I need a day job, anyhow," Wakka confessed. "For the sake of looking stable, if nothing else, ya? And if it's something I like…" He winked.
"Hmm." Lulu's expression was speculative as she watched the blitzball player. "Perhaps you do care about the future, once in a while."
"Eh? You say somethin', Lu?"
"Nothing."
"Oh."
"Well, I oughta go," Rikku said, catching everyone's attention once again. "I'll see ya in Besaid soon, you know? Later!" She gave Yuna a quick hug, grinned at Tidus and Wakka, and ran towards the airship. Tidus swore he could hear someone faintly yelling for Rikku, so he was glad she left then; Cid, Rikku's father, had a fairly short temper.
"Well, I'm going to buy some supplies," Lulu said.
"What for? Sin's gone, and for good too," Wakka asked.
"Because. Sin is gone, but its spawn still litters the world. Spira still has some dangers." Lulu nodded to Yuna. "Remember, our ship leaves in one hour, at dock 2."
"Right," Yuna said.
With that, Lulu hurried off.
"Well, since we're all splittin' up, I'll see you two at the docks in an hour, ya? I wanna check on the oldest members of the Aurochs, see how they been doing," Wakka said. "See you!" He sprinted off as well.
"Hey, wait!" Tidus said. However, Wakka was already far gone.
Yuna chuckled. "Maybe he just wanted to spend some time alone with his friends," she suggested.
"That may be it," Tidus admitted.
The two stood together, before the café in Luca, looking around. Tidus stretched again, then glanced at Yuna.
"It's good," she said after a moment. "That we have some free time, I mean."
"Yeah. I need a break from all this training."
"Do you?" she asked, sounding unusually noncommittal.
"Uh-huh."
"Hmm. Say, Tidus? Do you have a place to stay back in Besaid? I've heard that the villagers are building new homes now, for us."
Tidus blinked at that. "I didn't know that. That's cool."
"Very," she agreed. "So… maybe if you don't have a place to stay, you could be with me?"
Was it Tidus, or did her voice suddenly sound more certain than usual? Looking at her oddly, he answered, "Well, Wakka's been making arrangements to make a new addition to his place for me, but… I guess, sure. Why not?"
"After all, two who care about each other… we should have somewhere private to go, right?" she asked, smiling slightly.
"True," he answered, giving her a grin.
She nodded. "It's done then, we'll live together. It can prepare us for…. Later."
Now Tidus was confused. "Uh… later?" he asked.
Yuna suddenly looked a little too casual about their conversation. "Another thing, Tidus. Do you suppose that we can go somewhere as soon as we get back to Besaid? There's a new jewelry shop there, thanks to the O'aka family becoming popular. One of that merchant's sisters are taking up shop there."
"Uh… okay…" Why did she want to take him to a jewelry store? And why was she suddenly giving him odd looks?
Yuna seemed radiant, not to mention triumphant about something. "Good, we'll do that, then." Suddenly she switched subjects. "So, shall we head to the dock?"
"Sure." Still giving her odd looks, Tidus offered his arm. Laughing a little, Yuna accepted, and the two marched off through the crowds towards the dock, where their ship to Besaid lay in wait.
~*~ On the ship ~*~
"This is so perfect."
Tidus couldn't agree more. Standing at starboard on the ship, he and Yuna leaned against each other as they watched the stars slowly appear in the sky, one by one. The weather was as close to perfect as one could get on a ship; the waves were calm, and only the slightest of breezes brought the scent of salt water to Tidus' attention.
He smiled and leaned his head against hers for a moment. "Mm-hmm."
"And the best part is, we have no rush now," she continued quietly. "We have all the time in the world now, right?"
"Uh-huh," he said absently.
She sighed contentedly. "I can't wait until we get to Besaid."
"It'll be nice to take a load off there," Tidus agreed. "It should be quiet for a little while, at least until all the people of Spira realize that it's not just a trip to where you got your first aeon."
She laughed. "I was such a mean person, telling everyone I was just going there for a quick trip. Oh well, it should give us some peace until we get things settled."
Remembering back to their earlier conversation, Tidus lifted his head as he watched one star come into better view. "Say, Yuna, I thought we already had things settled."
"Well, it's unspoken you know? We need to make things official."
How could they make living together official, other than actually doing just that? Tidus pondered over that for a moment, pulling away from Yuna. The young woman turned to look at him, then smiled at his confused expression.
"You know, at the jewelry shop starting there?"
….
….
…Huh? Jewelry shop? What did that have to do with living together?
For some odd reason, Tidus felt a surge of uneasiness. Yuna was… looking at him a little too intently. He pulled his eyes away to the skies.
"What, you didn't figure it out?" she asked, sounding amused. She pulled herself closer to him, smiling. "Don't worry, Tidus. I don't want anything really fancy. Any old thing will do."
"Fancy? Old thing?" he asked vaguely.
"Yes, silly." She gave him a light smack on the shoulder. "You know, just a nice, plain gold or silver ring should do."
"Oh…. Wait. A ring?" he whispered.
His eyes widened as he suddenly realized what rings meant, and he gave his girlfriend a startled look.
"Tidus, what's wrong?" she asked, frowning slightly. "Are you all right?"
"Uh… um… uh.." Dear God, what was he supposed to say now? Anything could convince her that he was agreeing to-to- to… He didn't want to think about that. "I just… need to talk to, uh, Wakka! Yeah! About our teams!"
"Can't this wait?" she asked.
"No, I was supposed to talk to him n- I mean, earlier! So, I'll talk to you later okay? Bye!"
With that, Tidus turned and ran for his life towards the cabins, where Wakka would be.
Yuna watched him go, looking mildly puzzled. "Is it something that I said?" she wondered.
~*~
The chase begins! What'll Wakka have to say to Tidus' problem? ^^; Stay tuned…!