AN: Oooh thank you all so much for reviewing! You're all so inspirational =)!! And oh my goodness, I just realized I had that "Don't accept anonymous reviews" thing checked and I quickly changed that. Anywho, just answering a few questions/comments...yes, no worries, I won't get Tidus and Yuna together too soon. It's just not logical -_- And yes, Lulu is pretty much friends with Yuna...Tidus won't be a meanie bum for too long so just hang on a bit more _ Welpz, on with chapter 3...
Disclaimer: I don't own FFX yadadadadada or its characters etc.
by Kaeli Enfys
Home. Home to me was a small apartment just two blocks down from Yunalesca High in Zanarkand. It was a simple place to live, though many would find it dreary with its bleak brown painted walls. I thought it was nice and cozy. Besides, it worked for me and that was all that mattered.
There was no machina lift to take you up to the seventh floor; the top floor. But I liked climbing the stairs. I got to see Zanarkand slowly grow smaller and smaller as I peered out of the windows on each passing floor. The view was spectacular.
I was paying such close attention to the outside that I didn't notice I was walking straight into someone's path. That was, until I crashed into the person.
"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry!" I quickly apologized as I stepped back, a bit flushed.
"It's alright Yuna."
I blinked in surprise. "Mr. Auron! I thought you were still visiting Luca!"
Mr. Auron was the owner of the small apartment I resided in. He had a gruff appearance but I thought he was kind. He didn't have children of his own, nor a wife, but he managed on his own.
"I got back early," was all he said as he continued past me and down the stairs. "And it's just Auron. No mister."
I smiled even though he had turned the corner and was out of sight. "Yes sir..." I said more to myself than to him.
The seventh floor was the topmost floor with one main hallway. A door was on the left and another on the right wall. I was the only one on the top floor. I would have thought Mr...er, Auron, would have wanted the privacy but he had claimed that he was getting too old to climb all those stairs. He preferred the fourth floor.
And so, I had a whole floor to myself. No one wanted to climb all those stairs. But I thought it was worth it. By some unwritten rule, the one living on the top floor also got the roof. That was where the door on the right wall led to.
The roof was my special place. I'd sit there for hours on end doing absolutely nothing. Well, I would think about things in general at times. I would also just close my eyes and let my mind wander. I'd imagine wonderful things; colourful things in contrast to my bleak life. And if I thought about it long enough, I'd dream about it the following night, making it even more realistic.
That was the roof to me. My sanctuary. The place where I wove my dreams.
But I didn't feel like going up to the roof today. I wasn't really sure why but I had a feeling it had something to do with that encounter with him just half an hour ago. Yes...his piercing azure eyes kept resurfacing in my mind like a tape put on rewind. It was rather bothersome.
I shuddered inwardly. His eyes...they seemed to stare into mine and read everything I was hiding. All my hopes, all my desires...maybe I was thinking too much. I quickly stuck my key into the doorknob of the left side door and entered my room as quickly as I could.
Catching my breath, I couldn't help but laugh. I was being silly. He was too shallow to know what things I had gone through. He wouldn't simply be able to read my eyes like a book. That thought reassured me. A person like Tidus was too oblivious to the dark side of reality. He was rich, popular, famous...he was probably going to become a famous blitzball player just like his father.
Yes...fate was good to him. Reality...everything.
I sighed. Why was I thinking about his future? His life? I had enough worries of my own to think about his life.
"Snap out of it," I ordered myself out loud as I threw my bag on a nearby couch and entered the adjoining room. My bedroom.
I turned on the little lamps scattered about my room. I preferred having them rather than a big light on the wall. It made me feel safer. The dimmer light and all...
Walking to the other side of my room, I threw away a garbage bag covering a canvas propped near the window. It was blank and untouched, a clean page for me to pour myself into. I picked up a thin brush from a nearby bucket and simply stared at the blank canvas. Before I knew it, I was stroking away, dashing black and blues, greens and whites.
I was painting eyes.
...eyes that could peer into my soul.
Beautiful azure eyes that I hated so.
When the sun seeped through the thin curtains of my window, I knew another day had arrived. Another day that many would think of as a fresh new start. But I knew everyday would be the same for me. No fresh new start. Just a continuation of a nightmare.
I stretched my thin pale arms, and out of habit, my hands went to the small locket dangling at the base of my neck. I opened the locket to see my smiling parents. "Good morning," I whispered to them, pretending that they could hear me. I knew they could hear me...they wouldn't ignore me. Even if they were somewhere in the distant glens of the Farplane...the place where the dead would go and linger.
Shaking away my thoughts, I quickly pulled on a blue turtleneck that matched my blue eye and a pair of black cotton pants. A pair of worn sneakers were put on my feet as I hastily brushed out my shoulder length hair. That was that. My morning routine. Nothing too special.
As I entered the small bathroom connected to my room, I heard a strong solid knock on my door. I wondered who it could be, no one ever visited.
When I reached the front door, I quickly hid my toothbrush that I still had in my left hand and opened the door to find Auron standing there in a maroon trench coat. Slightly surprised, I finally managed to find my voice. "Oh! Good morning Auron."
"Glad you dropped the mister," he said lightly and shuffled around a bit uncomfortably. "Right...anyway, this--", he took something out of a small, plastic yellow bag, "is just something I got from Luca."
I stared at the small box in his big hand. Blinking rapidly, I could only utter, "For me?"
He raised an eyebrow. "I would think so."
Still surprised, I took the box from him shakily and blinked. "Oh, but I can't!" I made a motion to give the box back to him but he shook his head.
"You don't even know what it is," was his gruff remark.
I bit my lip and peered at the box. My finger went to the lid slowly and finally lifted it. I let out a small gasp of awe as I saw one single earring staring back at me. It was long, with intricate beads of blue, green, pink, and yellow. I quickly looked back at Auron who wasn't looking at me, but at the earring.
"Oh! But it's so beautiful...I couldn't. Give it to someone more worthy," once again I nudged the box in his direction.
Auron shook his head, chuckling ever so slightly. "There is no one more worthy than you to have it, Yuna."
"...no one more worthy?" I echoed in surprise.
He nodded, his eyes never leaving the fragile object. "It's...handmade. Handmade from a wonderful woman, smart and intelligent. A very likeable woman who had the same stunning left eye as you." His words made me confused and curious. Auron, the little I knew of him, was someone who never said something straight out. He always talked in a way that made you wonder what on earth he was saying in the first place.
There was always something behind his words.
"What do you mean, Mr. Auron?"
"Ah," he looked at me and I quickly corrected myself.
"Auron."
He chuckled, "What I mean is...it is handmade, by your mother."
I felt my hands grow weak as I almost dropped the box. Auron must have sensed by sudden shock as he quickly nodded towards the living room. "Maybe you should sit down."
I obliged without a word, suddenly realizing just how important the little earring was to me. I cradled it in my arms and couldn't let my eyes leave it. It was made by my...mother? Once again I looked up at Auron in sudden thought. "But...but how? You got it from Luca?"
"Er..." he stumbled on his words slightly as he followed me into the room. "Well, no. I lied."
"Oh," was the only word I could utter.
Auron sat down on the couch without another word. I frowned. "Well? Aren't you going to explain to me how you got something like this?"
"Do I have to? It's simple isn't it? I've had it with me for a while now."
My brow furrowed in utter confusion. "What? But how? My mother..."
"Left it when she passed on. Left it in my possession, if I may add," he said all this as if it were only normal. I couldn't help but get anxious. I couldn't sit still.
"You knew my mother? How come you never said anything? How come--"
"Calm yourself, Yuna," Auron raised one hand to silence me. I bit my lip. "Yes...yes I knew your mother. Two years ago, I visited her at the hospital--"
"But I never saw you! And I never left my mother's side--"
"Let me finish," Auron answered. "I visited her at the hospital, while you were asleep. I was actually one of your father's closest friends...I hadn't been in touch ever since Braska's...passing, but your mother recognized me nonetheless. She was surprised, but thankful that someone, anybody, was there at a time like that. She gave me the earring, saying it was suppose to be a present for your sixteenth birthday," Auron suddenly looked sheepish. "I'm sorry. It's a year late."
I shook my head quickly. "Time doesn't matter."
He nodded and continued, "She passed on a week later...but she had left me with a responsibility. The responsibility to make sure you got through life, whether it be harsh or cruel. She didn't want to leave you...alone."
"I know..." I said with a quiver.
"You haven't ever wondered how you just bumped into me on the streets, offering people places to live?"
I fell into deep thought as I reflected. Two years ago...a week later, I was suddenly alone in Spira. It had suddenly felt so foreign...but while I was walking down the bright streets of Zanarkand, I had saw a man waving a sign saying that he was offering places for rent at low prices...I had thought, Yevon was on my side for once and suddenly it just seemed too coincidental.
"So you knew...that I needed a place to stay. You knew everything. You knew my mother...you knew me, actually," I pondered out loud.
Auron could only nod. "Yes...so I decided to watch you in a distant way...but I've come to realize that you are old enough to know everything."
I suddenly felt tears prick my eyes. I wasn't really alone in the world after all. My father's best friend had been watching me all along. All those days I had climbed those stairs to the seventh floor of this dreary building I convinced myself as cozy and warm...there was always someone watching over me. I couldn't control myself as I jumped up and hugged the middle-aged man.
He was taken aback and quickly pride me off of him. "No waterworks."
I giggled slightly and brushed my tears away. "Oh, I just...I'm so thankful. It's just so...overwhelming. Someone that actually knew my parents...and this," I raised the box containing the earring, "this is amazing..."
Auron stood up and nodded, "I better leave. You have school in ten minutes."
"...Thank you," I uttered as he headed towards the door.
"No problem."
I watched as he stepped through the door and out of sight. That man that seemed so distant and cold...with no family of his own. So many mysteries surrounding him, but I decided that I knew enough.
Looking down at the long beaded earring, I slowly lifted it from its cushioned box and felt its smooth texture.
Mother...
For once in my high school life, I entered the school building with a smile on my lips and laughter ready to burst from my lips. I wanted to scream to the entire school that I wasn't alone in the world and that no one ever truly died. They would forever live on in other people...objects, things you wouldn't give a second thought to. Like the earring I was currently wearing lovingly on my left ear. That was a part of mother. Mother would never truly leave the face of Spira.
Someone deliberately bumped into me. I stumbled a bit but I kept on smiling. The person gave me a look of disbelief and hurried off. I continued to my locker with almost a skip to my walk.
I shook my head and giggled to myself. "Oh, you're being silly Yuna," I scolded myself under my breath as I took out a binder for my Al Bhed class. Shutting my locker, I continued down the familiar hallways with the usual jeering and pointing.
It didn't matter though. I felt like I had a million protection spells on me. Entering Mr. Rin's classroom, I took my seat without a care in the world as to what everyone was whispering about. When the class finally quieted down, I caught a few words.
"Tidus...attacked?"
"Someone saved him?"
"Who would attack Tidus?!"
And suddenly yesterday's events came rushing back to me. Of course the news would spread like wild fire...Tidus was attacked. Tidus, the school's heart throb. I rolled my eyes and imagined the female population all dropping down dead. But no one knew who had saved him. Of course Tidus wouldn't admit to his fellow friends and peers that it was the freak who saved him.
How embarrassing would that be?
I sighed. Oh well. I smiled as I felt the comforting weight on my left ear.
Mr. Rin was just about to start class when he walked into the classroom looking slightly flustered with a bandage near his bottom lip.
"Tidus. Late again?" Mr. Rin said none too happily.
Tidus faked an apologetic look. "Sorry," was all he said as he hurried to his seat next to Rikku. People sitting around him immediately turned around to ask if he was alright and who it was that attacked him.
I couldn't help but look over my shoulder and see if he would point a finger at me and go "Ya, that girl saved me."
But he didn't.
In fact, he didn't even give me a second glance. I turned away and tried to pay attention to Mr. Rin's words, but the emotion from this morning and the events from yesterday kept on mingling in my head that I couldn't concentrate at all until Mr. Rin's voice suddenly said, "Tidus and Yuna."
I immediately looked up with confusion written on my face. There were a few groans and snickers from the class as they all turned to look at Tidus sympathetically. He just give the class a 'I can handle it' look, but he looked pained nonetheless. I was still oblivious to what had just happened until the whole class started repositioning themselves into pairs.
Tidus finally walked over to my desk after I sat there stumped for a good minute or so. He sat down in the vacant seat in front of me and turned around. "So, I guess I'm stuck with you."
"...What?" I blinked stupidly.
He rolled his eyes. Those eyes... "Weren't you paying attention? Oh Yevon! I'm shocked! Miss Yuna, not listening in class?!"
I flushed, "I was thinking..."
He shrugged, "Well since I'm stuck with you, I guess I better explain because you're going to do all the work."
"What?" I was still confused.
He sighed, "That freak just assigned us a project and put us into pairs. We've got to translate all those pages," he pointed to the blackboard, "into Al Bhed by next class." He peered more closely at the board. "Crap, that's a shitload of pages."
I nodded, understanding finally dawning upon me. So...Mr. Rin had stuck us two together. I sighed. Fate was turning on me again. I composed myself, trying to look back at him steadily. "Ok. Then let's get to work."
"Let's get to work?" Tidus repeated and shook his head. "No, no, no Miss Yuna. You don't seem to understand. You get to work," he stated firmly and got up from his seat and was starting to walk towards Rikku who was paired up with a girl named Elma.
I glared at his retreating back and finally found the nerve to say just loud enough for him to hear, "I'll tell everybody that it was me who saved you yesterday if you don't get back here right now and do your share of the work."
He stopped in his tracks and turned around looking incredulous. "Hey, are you threatening me?"
I tried to keep calm at his piercing gaze and nodded firmly. "Yes. I am."
He took a deep breath and walked back towards me. I felt myself waver slightly as his figure came so close that I could feel his breath on my face. A couple strands of his sun kissed blonde hair fell into his eyes but he didn't mind. He leaned over. He was so close...I felt all confidence seep away. Who was I kidding? This was Tidus. No one ever won against Tidus. Why was I getting myself into trouble that I didn't need?
"You don't seem to get the routine of things around here, even after all these years," Tidus said in a low voice. His breath tickled my ear. His eyes flicked towards the left and caught sight of my earring. "And when did you start wearing jewelry?"
I frowned, "Since when did you care."
He smirked and made a motion towards it and I quickly slapped his hand away. "Don't you dare touch it," I would not allow someone like him to taint something my mother made.
He seemed slightly shocked as he recoiled and stood back up again. He stared at me and sighed, "Fine. I'll help you with this crap."
"You're making it sound like you're doing me a favour," I muttered with annoyance.
"I am," he replied and plopped back down into the seat in front of me. "And don't think I'm doing this just cause I'm so scared of the great holy one," he made little hand movements. "I'm doing this for my marks."
I rolled my eyes. "You? Caring about your marks?"
"Hey, don't act as if you know me," he shot back with a glare.
I fell silent.
He flipped open his textbook to page 54 and started reading it. I sighed and proceeded to open my own book until he mumbled, "and you do know that no one would believe you anyway if you did tell everyone you saved me."
I thought about it. I knew he was right. Believe Tidus or the freak? I laughed. Out loud. He stared at me as if I were crazy. I didn't bother to say anything else to him as I opened my textbook. We had fifteen pages to translate. We won't be able to finish it all in the class time we have, I thought in dismay.
He seemed to be thinking the same thing as he looked up from his textbook and sighed, "Ok, look, we won't be able to finish this in one class."
I nodded, slightly freaked that we were on the same thinking line for once.
"So, I guess we're going to have to work on it outside of school," he continued with knitted eyebrows.
I jumped slightly. Him and me? Work together outside of school? "Why not at lunch time or something?" I quickly suggested.
He growled, "I don't want to be seen around you at school!"
I fell silent again.
He continued, "Okay, your place is probably infested with rats so we'll go to my place."
I stared at him disbelief. "You are heartless! I can't believe I actually thought everyone had a nice side. I guess you're an exception!"
He stared at me with raised eyebrows as he threw his hands in front of him in defense. "Okay, okay! Chill...geez, didn't know the quiet little freak had some fire in her after all."
I scowled and firmly shut my textbook. "We'll be working at my place."
Tidus' jaw dropped open. "Didn't you hear me?! I said--"
"I know what you said. I'm not deaf," the bell rang for break. I packed my pencil case, never looking back at his shocked face. In actual fact, I was quite enjoying the feeling of having the upper hand. "Well, I'll see you at my place after class today."
With that, I stood up to leave and headed off towards the exit. Tidus scrambled in his seat and finally got up and ran towards the door, blocking my path. "Wait a minute," he caught his breath and looked frustrated. "Fine, we'll go to your place, princess," he said mockingly. "But I don't know where the rat hole is."
I calmly answered him, "Just meet me where we had our little encounter yesterday." I walked around him and out the door, feeling rather refreshed at getting my point across for once.
I heard him curse and I couldn't help but smile with amusement. I didn't know where I got this sudden inner strength from, but I would show him that I did not live in a place infested with rats.
I walked down the hallway, all the while feeling the comforting weight of mother's earring dangling on my left ear. Maybe...maybe mother had given me strength. I smiled at the thought.
Mother...mother, sweet, beautiful mother...
AN: Oh dear. Tidus at Yuna's place? Where will this lead to?! _ Oh, and if you still didn't catch on to what the earring looks like, it's basically the earring Yuna wears in FFX and FFX-2 =P It's such a hard thing to describe...anywho, R+R and thank yee for reading =)