AN: There's some drama in this chapter, it follows the movie kinda with the whole overbearing father thing. The girl in the movie was really into art, but in this story Yuna is into singing, since she's singing in FFX-2. This doesn't follow the movie exactly, just some major parts. ( We wouldn't want it to be too predictable right?)
Chapter 3- The Caterpillar
Tidus shot a dart at the calender on his bedroom wall. October 3rd.
" Its been four weeks man, why haven't you spoken to her again?" Wakka asked.
He and Seymour had come to Tidus's house after blitzball practice. Seymour was sitting in a chair in the corner of the room. Wakka was at Tidus's computer and Tidus was laying on his bed.
"What's the big hurry? I've got all year. And she's in like, what three of my classes? No rush."
"Yeah but, your alone with her in your computer class right?" Wakka pressed.
"Yeah, but we don't speak to each other. I just talk to the guy next to me. Hey, Mr. Letty chokes his chicken in class all the time, and he barely assigns any work." Tidus sat up.
"No way blondy, you for real?" Wakka looked at Tidus in disbelief.
" Tidus, sounds like your giving up on this bet already..." Seymour sneered.
"No I'm not. I just need to change my approach. Just talking to her like I'm her best friend isn't going to work." Tidus said thoughtfully.
"Hey, you know her and Rikku are like best friends or something, don't they come by your house?"Wakka asked.
" They never come by here, not that I see anyway."
"You should find out what she likes to do, find out where they hang out, and we can just...you know, pop up there too. I'll go with you, so it's not suspicious." Wakka suggested.
Tidus smiled at him. "That's a good idea man, but I know you just wanna help to have an excuse to get near Rikku."
Wakka blushed and said nothing.
'"Yeah that's a great idea Wakka!" Tidus praised.
Seymour sat in the corner alone, listening to their conversation. He hated hanging out with them, but they were part of The In, and, as the old saying went, you always keep your enemies closer. He wanted to know ever step of Tidus's progress, or lack there of. . .There was a knock on the door.
"Come in." Tidus said.
Jecht Akard filled the doorway. In his mid-thirties, he was one of the oldest active professional blitzball players around, and was looking at retirement in a few seasons. He was rough around the edges with a 5 o'clock shadow and long brown hair, and a real hardass on Tidus.
"So boys, have a good practice today? You gonna be ready for your first game of the season next week?" Jecht asked.
"Of course.!"
"Absolutely."
Seymour and Wakka spoke at the same time.
"So Tidus, I see you've been getting college brochures in the mail a lot lately...."
"Yes sir."
"You don't have to go to college Since you're my son, and captain of your team, you'll make it straight into the draft next year."
"Yes, but maybe I don't wanna do that. I've got offered full scholarships from a lot of top schools. I can play college blitzball for a few years and still play pro."
"What do you mean? College is a waste of time. You'll go straight to pro." Jecht said slowly, as if he were talking to an idiot.
" I want a degree Sir. I cant just play blitz forever. What happens if I get injured during a game, or if I get...." Tidus wanted to he didn't want to get too old to play pro-blitz and then have nothing to fall back on, but since his father was in that exact boat right now, he held his tongue.
"No son of mine gets injured during any game. And why would you waste those years playing college blitz, there's no fame or big money in that. I took the liberty of throwing out those brochures. You wont be needing them. I've already been talking with O'waka, My agent, about getting you into the draft. After a few years, we can buy out whatever contract your in from whatever team and get you into the Luca Goers. That's exactly what I did. In a few years I wont be playing pro blitz anymore, so I'll be your full time manager. Now, have you been practicing those techniques I showed you boy?"
Tidus's fists balled up and his body shook with rage. His father had always been a control freak, and saw Tidus as a piece of clay, to mold into the exact image of Jecht Akard. But he would never be as good as Jecht though, Jecht made sure he knew that at least once a day.
"You're really smart, Mr.Akard. I sure wish I had a father like you." Seymour gushed, earning a curt nod of approval from Jecht.
"You see boy, why can't you be more like Seymour?" Jecht taunted.
"Um, Seymour and I can catch you later Tidus, okay?" Wakka said awkwardly, dragging a grinning Seymour from the room.
Jecht closed the door behind them. He could see that he was pushing Tidus too far, but he needed it, the boy was too soft. He went in for the kill, the trump card that always did it.
"What would your dead mother say Tidus, if she could see you now, about to mess up your life? About to ruin the family legacy of blitzball?" Jecht watched with satisfaction as Tidus's face turned bright red with fury. Tidus stood up off the bed.
" I'm not throwing away anything, sir. Going to college is not a waste. I don't wanna be your age, getting too old to play blitz and having nothing to fall back on. Maybe if you'd gone to school you wouldn't have had to make a career out of trying to run my life." Tidus yelled back.
Jecht turned red with anger. " How dare you speak to me that way you-"
" Jecht, Jecht, are you ready to go now? Our reservation's for 6 pm!!!" a woman's voice called from downstairs. Every since Jecht had married Rikku's mother, Sara Monroi, he'd been a little distracted from riding Tidus's nerves. That was enough for him to instantly like the woman.
Jecht composed himself and opened Tidus's door. "We'll finish this later." He walked out.
After a minute or so, Tidus yelled in fury and punched a hole into his wall.
" I HATE him!!!" He yelled at the hole. He massaged his sore fist.
Two soft knocks on his door, then Rikku walked in. " I heard what happened. They just left."
Tidus sat back down on the bed and covered his head with his pillow and screamed into it.
Rikku sat next to him and rubbed her hand up and down his back.
"I'm sorry. If it helps, I agree with your side Ti. It's your life, you should have full say over it."
"I just don't get it Rikku. Every since mom died a few years ago he's been obsessed with running every area of my life. And nothing I do is ever good enough."
"......you wanna get outta the house for awhile? Me and Yunie are going to this open mike coffee house thing. Its where anyone can get on stage and sing, rap, read poetry or just gripe. You can whine about overbearing fathers if you want..."
Tidus smiled a little. So Yuna liked that kinda stuff? He could deal with that, maybe impress her and turn this day around.
"I mean, you can go in your own car and just meet me and Yuna there...but I wouldn't want you to be alone so....why don't you just bring Wakka or something?"Rikku suggested, biting her nails and blushing.
"I'll think about it." he said.
"Yeah you should really come. We need to stick together right? Us natural blondes are a dying breed." Rikku said in a deadly serious voice.
Tidus laughed. She ruffled his hair, gave him the address and left the room, running to her own room to make herself extra cute in case Tidus and Wakka did come.
'I wonder if I should tell Yuna? Na, then she'll just be nervous about singing if she thinks they'll be there.' Rikku thought to herself as she dug through her closet for her shortest mini skirt.
~
Yuna fiddled with the strings on her guitar again and sang a few bars of a song she'd written.
"I'm off key again. Why am I so nervous?" Yuna whined to herself. It was the first time she'd be singing in front of a group of people. Well, a group of living people anyway.
Rikku was going to be by in an hour, so she needed to hurry. Her and Rikku had been attached at the hip the last few weeks. Whenever she was with Rikku in school people didn't bother her. No one dared teas Rikku about hanging with Yuna because she was Tidus's sister, and that made her invincible. She was a little disappointed that Tidus had not tried to speak to her again, but this only confirmed her suspicion that he had only been trying to trick her into something. She'd always dodged Rikku whenever she was invited to come to her house. She didn't want to see Tidus there. She knew she was hurting Rikku's feelings, but he just made her so nervous and defensive.
"Yuna, you going somewhere tonight?" Yuna's mom, Ariel asked from the doorway of her bedroom.
"Yeah mama, me and Rikku are going to this hip coffee house. I'm..going to sing a song I wrote."
"Really? That's great, honey. You wanna sing it in front of me for practice?"
Yuna lived in a upstairs 2-bedroom apartment with her mom. The downstairs was the family shop were they would do seances and group readings. Her and her mother ran the shop with her two aunts. She had cousins, but they weren't old enough yet to work the shop. She liked doing it, but her real dream was to become a singer. She had notebooks full of songs and poetry she had written from years back. She could play guitar and piano. But she hardly had the looks of a pop star, and looks seemed to outweigh talent in the music industry nowadays.
Yuna strung a tune on her guitar and sang the song she planed to sing tonight in front of her mother. She stubbled a little at first, but the rest of it went well. Her voice first stayed in tune the whole time. When she was done, her mother clapped and wiped a tear from her eye.
"That was really beautiful Yuna. You'll do great tonight. I wish you're father could be here. "
"Why cant he? Why doesn't he come to visit us anymore?"Yuna whined sadly.
"Well, it was okay right after the accident, but he couldn't just hang out on Earth forever. His spirit would never have been able to fully rest." Ariel said gently.
Yuna knew this, but sometimes the pain would come back. Her father had died ten years ago in a car accident. For awhile, after that, his spirit would visit the house, since he'd had no closure with his family before his death. But after a time, he stopped coming. Yuna knew it was better that way, because it forced her to accept his death as final, but every now and then it would bother her.
"I guess so Mama."
"Well, are you going to get dressed up?" Ariel asked hopefully. Her daughter didn't realize how beautiful she was. She didn't wanna stick out, so she would dress as plain as possible. She hoped one day Yuna would find someone to bring her out of the thick shell she'd made around herself.
"Just leaving what I have on." Yuna said dryly. She wore a oversized blue flower print dress, that hid her body, which was well shaped, but Yuna didn't seem to notice.
Her mother sighed. Her daughter needed someone she wanted to impress. A boy. She needed a crush.
~
"So...you sure Rikku's gonna be there right? Did you see what she was wearing in school today? I mean for a skinny girl she'd got nice sized-"
"Hey I don't wanna here that about my sister you horny bastard!" Tidus lightly scowled Wakka.
He slowed his car down and turned left down a street corner.
"What do the directions say man?"
"Um, turn left onto Sin Boulevard," Wakka said, trying to read the little piece of paper with the address of the place, Yevon's Coffee House. It was nighttime in Luca, and the city was lit up with lots of Neon lights. There was lots of dance clubs and bars to go to, which was where Tidus and Wakka usually were. When he'd told Wakka about the coffee house he wasn't going for it, until Tidus mentioned Rikku would be there.
"Yo! You think I smell good man?" Wakka asked shyly.
"WHA? dude I'm a guy, I don't know what smells good on a another guy." Tidus yelled, horrified. " I'm not into that yaoi shit, I know were close friends and all but there's a limit-"
" No man, you're the only person I can ask right now, I'm asking if my colognes too strong, I don't wanna be overpowering. I wasn't sure about this shirt, I don't wanna send the wrong message to Rikku- "
"Dude, you sound like a chick!!Gimme a break. Man if I ever sound that stupid over some girl, you have permission to knock some sense into me." Tidus laughed, pulling up into a crowded parking lot.
"I'm gonna hold you to that brotha," Wakka promised as they climbed out of the car.
"Rikku says a lot of college students hang here, so we should try to look sophisticated and older and stuff." Tidus said as they walked towards the dimly lit building.
"Yeah man, you look real sophisticated in a highschool blitzball jersey and spiky hair."
" You think I should have changed? I mean I didn't wanna try to hard and be all obvious."
"Now who sounds like a chick?" Wakka teased.
" I look sophisticated." Tidus insisted.
"Push your hair down man, its like sticking straight up, you use too much hair spray." Wakka said as he opened the double class doors to the café. Tidus punched him in the arm, but listened to his advice.
The lobby of the place was dimly lit and dark. There was a burgundy couch opposite a counter where a girl who looked like a vampire stood behind.
"Get your coffee and smokes here." The girl said.
"Hey, don't you go to Luca High?" Wakka asked.
"Yeah. You want coffee or smokes?" The girl asked again, getting annoyed.
" Hey, you're that witch girl right?" Wakka demanded.
"My name is Lulu. You're those dumb jock boys right?" She countered.
"Ouch, touche girl." Tidus said, laughing. He ordered two lattes and brought some cigarettes for him and Wakka. They walked away from the counter.
"Tidus, we don't smoke man." Wakka whined, taking one of the drinks and a cigarette from Tidus.
" I know, I don't like coffee, but we gotta look sophisticated and worldly." Tidus insisted.
They turned the corner and entered a large lounge. There were about 20 or 30 people seated in the back of the room around small tables. It was dark and smokey. A small stage was at the front of the room. Some weird girl was performing on it, screaming about her ovaries.
Tidus and Wakka sat down.
" What's this chick doing? Who writes a poem about ovaries. What are ovaries?" Wakka whined.
Tidus sipped his drink and fought back a cringe. " I don't know. I think it's a type of disease or plant or something, anyway just go with it man, look all into, like me." Tidus instructed. " Rikku and Yuna could be watching, and they'll think we are like worldly and cultured and shit."
"Oh okay..." Wakka said, trying to put on a "sophisticated" face.
~
Rikku giggled from across the room and watched the pair. Wakka was making weird faces and Tidus had his eyes closed and looked like he had something stuck up his ass, it was really too much. She better not tell Yuna they were here, she was nervous enough.
" I go on after her." Yuna said, clutching on to her guitar.
"You'll do great girl, just relax!!!This is want you wanna do right? In a few years people will talk about how the great Yuna Lescing made her start at a funky little coffee house." Rikki said cheerfully.
The ovary girl stopped her reading and bowed. A few people clapped.
" See, they don't even give pity claps here!! I'm dead." Yuna whispered.
A tall woman walked unto the stage. "Our next performer is a high-schooler, who writes her own songs and music. Her stage name is Yunalesca. This is her first time here, lets give her a warm welcome." The women and the audience clapped, waiting for Yuna to appear on stage.
Yuna squirmed and slide down into her chair. Rikku pinched Yuna really, really hard, causing her to yelp and jump up. She then shoved her a little towards stage. Hey, the girl needed tough love.
"Kuut milg !!good luck." Rikku yelled.
Yuna walked onto the stage, a strange rush flooding over her. She sat down at the small stool and pulled the microphone down and closer. The room had quieted down completely. Oddly, she was no longer nervous. She felt right at home in this type of spotlight.
"Umm...hello..everyone........this is...an original song I wrote...called, Lost Pain. She flexed her fingers, and began playing her guitar and singing.
~
Tidus's`eyes popped open as he heard Yuna's voice. He'd been focusing so hard on looking sophisticated he hadn't noticed her walk on stage. Rikku never said she was performing.
"Tidus, that's Yuna up there singing." Wakka said pointing.
"Man, I love your knack for the obvious." Tidus said sarcastically.
For the next three minutes, there was complete silence in the lounge as everyone listened intently to the beautiful voice singing the sad song. She sang about loving someone very deeply, and then losing them, and surviving without them. When she was done there was a loud applause. She got up and bowed and left the stage. On her way back to her seat people stopped her and complimented her on her song. She sat down at the table with Rikku.
"WOW Yunie that was fantastic!!!!! Wonderful!!!!" Rikku gushed.
"Really?" Yuna blushed.
"We are going to take a short break from the acts folks," The host announced. Someone turned more room lights on and Yuna could see everyone's faces clearly. She looked across the room and saw Tidus, who was staring at her, a dazed look on his face.
" Rikku!! What are they doing here? Why are Tidus and Wakka here?" Yuna demanded.
"I didn't wanna tell you earlier because you'd be more nervous!! I invited them, cause Tidus was down because his dad was riding his ass about blitz. I actually wasn't sure if they were actually gonna come or not."Rikku said, hands up in defense.
"Oh, I guess its okay...its just that.." Yuna blushed and put her head down.
" I have an idea. Lets join them!"
"No!! I mean...these tables are too small, only two people can actually fit at them, so there would be no room." Yuna smiled, satisfied that she'd gotten out of an awkward situation.
"Oh, I can fix that problem." Rikku said mysteriously. She stood up and began weaving her way through the crowd, towards Tidus and Wakka's table.
'What is she up to?' Yuna wondered.
"Dude, she's coming over here..." Wakka said nervously. He took a huge drink of his latte, to look busy.
Tidus watched Rikku approach with a huge grin on her face.
" I wanna sit here alone with Wakka." Rikku said in a seductive voice. Wakka spit up some of his drink.
"So Ti, go over there and sit with Yunie, she wants you to." Rikku lied.
" Huh? Der, ahh no way, I mean, I can't....ummm." Tidus tried hard to think of an excuse. He looked towards Wakka for help, but he was too busy staring at Rikku's very exposed legs.
"What, you afraid of her? Come on, Tidus, me and Wakka wanna be alone, don't be a third wheel." Rikku pushed Tidus out of the stool and sat down. She looked at the cigarettes on the table. " You smoke Wakka? I don't like smokers." She whined.
"No hell no, I don't smoke those are Blondy's smokes." Wakka explained quickly, throwing the cigarettes on the ground.
Tidus scratched his head and smiled sheepishly. He could see where he wasn't wanted. He looked up and saw Yuna watching the whole scene in horror. She quickly ducked down when their eyes met.
'Well, I shouldn't turn down a golden opportunity like this.' Tidus thought, puffing up and walking towards her table.
He sat down opposite of her. She had her head down.
" You have a really beautiful voice Yuna. You sounded like a professional. I was real impressed." She didn't respond.
"Your not gonna freeze me off or flip like last time are you?"
"....Why are you here?"She said quietly.
" Rikku invited me, and I like stuff like this." He lied.
"I doubt it. Something like this place requires thought and concentration. All people like you like is sports and insulting others to boost your egos."
" Hey, that's not fair, you don't even know me. You shouldn't prejudge people, its rude." Tidus said hotly.
Yuna laughed bitterly. " Look who your telling this to? People judge me all the time. I doubt your any different from them."
"Why wont you let me talk to you? Your so defensive all the time. Have you ever thought that maybe people avoid you because you avoid them too? Your so unapproachable." Tidus's voice began to rise.
"Well excuse me, we all don't have famous dads and movie star looks to coast through life with. I'm sure you think your doing me some great service by spending some of your precise time with me, but you're gonna have to find some other charity case. You've never spoken to me before, why now the sudden interest? People like you don't befriend people like me for no reason. You want something from me, and I wont be used." Yuna stood up.
Tidus froze. She almost hit the nail on the head, like she could see through him. He had no right to sit here and argue with her about how wrong she was when she was absolutely right. But no matter what his real reasons were, she was not going to keep running. There was a lot more to this girl then what she showed on the surface, and he planned to find out what.
Yuna started to walk away but was stopped by Tidus's strong grip on her arm. She gasped and looked down at him.
" What are you afraid of? There's something great about you, Yuna Lescing, I know it. You let Rikku see it, why not me? Let me in..."
He stared into her eyes, from what he could see of them through the glasses she wore. She stared into his earnest eyes for a full minute before jerking her hand away.
'I'm too afraid to let you in, Tidus. I know you'd just hurt me. I cant let you see me, I'm sorry.' Yuna thought to herself, willing Tidus to understand.
She walked over to Rikku and Wakka, who were making out.
" Rikku I wanna go right now." She said weakly. The pair broke away after Yuna tapped Rikku's shoulder a few times.
"Mmmmm?" Rikku was going to complain until she saw Yuna's face.
" Um, okay. Bye Wakka, call me okay?" She wiggled out of Wakka's lap, ignoring his protests.
She had to run to keep up with Yuna's fast footsteps. She didn't question her until they were out of the building.
" Yunie, slow down," Rikku begged, shivering from the cold windy night air of the parking lot.
"What happened in there?"
Yuna hugged herself. " He said...he wanted to get to know me, and I froze him off, like I do everyone. I just don't believe a guy like that would wanna be my friend. I don't know if you've noticed Rikku, but....I kinda like him. And I don't wanna be used or teased by him. It's what always happens with guys for me. You're one of my only friends. I find it very hard to trust people and open up. It was weird when I met you, because normally I would have froze you off. I would have, if I'd known before meeting you that you were his sister, and connected to The In."
Yuna admitted.
"Hey, is that why you wont visit my house?" Rikku asked. Yuna nodded.
"Well, Tidus is a good guy. You should give him a chance, he's not like the others. Maybe, if you start to open up around him, you could open up around others too. I mean, if people knew you like I did, they would love you, Yuna. People tend to fear or loathe things they don't understand. If they know you, they wont treat you so harsh."
"....you think so?"
"Yes. I see you as this caterpillar, Yuna, waiting for your true form to come out. With my help, we can make you a butterfly. You can start, by giving poor Tidus a chance." Rikku encouraged, pushing Yuna towards her car.
" I...okay, I'll try," Yuna said quietly. Maybe she should give Tidus a change. She'd been unfair to him, and maybe by opening up to him she could open up tp others and break out of her shell. She would try. What could it hurt?
~
The next day in computer science, Tidus stared at his computer screen, moving his mouse around. He looked down as he felt something warm and soft cover his hand. A female hand.
He turned his head to see Yuna, grinning at him shyly. He turned his hand around and entwined it with hers. So she was giving him a chance after all!!
". . .promise me. . .you won't hurt me. . .." She said softly.
" I won't. . .I promise." He said, then his stomach turned sour. Suddenly the bet was leaving a bad taste in his mouth. But he couldn't back out, not now.
He would just keep telling himself, that he wouldn't care about her. But deep in his heart he knew it was already too late.
END CHAPTER
next chapters preview - tidus and yuna get closer, and he begins to see her as a actual person.. Is he getting in too deep?