An: As far as this chapter, it focuses on Yuna and Tidus's budding relationship, Yuna dealing with her new popularity and Tidus's blitz stuff . . . No major turning points or huge plot development. The "bad guys" ( Seymour and Dona) show up a little, but they kinda take a back seat in this chapter.

I don't borrow anything from the movie here. The climax of the plot won't come till chapter 7 .

Chapter Six- Luca High's favorite new couple

Part One

Monday, December 1st, first day back to school since Barthello's party. The first period bell will ring in five minutes, and Yuna is in her favorite hiding spot, the 3rd floor bathroom.

Yuna walked out of the graffiti littered bathroom stall and went up to the sink to wash her hands. She was about to splash water on her face when she remembered the makeup Rikku had carefully applied on her earlier. She stared at her reflection. She wasn't really a makeup type of girl, but didn't want to hurt Rikku's feelings, so she had let her plaster it on. Her hair was straight down today and she was wearing a blue halter top and faded flare jeans, with a large silver ring belt. She still hadn't adjusted yet to looking this way.

She would still touch her face, attempting to adjust her glasses, only then remembering that they weren't on her face anymore.

A toilet flushed and Lulu walked out of the stall.

" DÉju vu huh Lulu?" Yuna said, laughing, recalling how they always ran into each other here.

The gothic girl stared blankly at her, and then shock and recognition showed in her pale white face.

"Yuna Lescing? What the hell happened? Wow, you look like one of those pop stars…it's scary"

"Really? I look bad?" Yuna frowned. She been getting a lot of weird looks from other students, as soon as she had walked into school. More so than usual. But the scariest part was that she'd gotten a few compliments, from people who had tormented her for years. It was the reason she had ducked into the bathroom, her security spot.

" Nah, just commercial, but don't pay me any mind okay, you know I'm anti society."

Lulu pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

" I kinda just ran up here. As soon as I walked in the building, people stared and whispered as I walked by them. The same as always, but this time it was a lot more. I felt exposed and kinda ducked in here…" Yuna said shyly.

"Their gawking because of you look better than all of them. And probably cause of that." Lulu gestured toward a pile of newspapers sitting in the counter. Yuna cocked her head in confusion.

"What about it? It's just the school newspaper. I don't understand."

Lulu picked the paper up and flipped through it a little, and then handed it open paged to Yuna.

"This came out today."

Yuna stared blankly at the pages for a moment, than shock registered. She let out a squeal when she saw she was reading the gossip page. And she was the head liner. A huge black and white photo covered half the page. A photo of Yuna lying on top of Tidus on the floor during computer science class. She felt like steam was escaping from her ears. Lulu watched her in fascination. She'd never seen Yuna pissed off. She was impressed.

"That weasel Gatta! I forgot he took those pictures of the . . . incident a few weeks ago!" Yuna grinded her teeth.

" Looks like a very interesting "incident" to me . . . " Lulu said knowingly.

Yuna reddened. " No, really it was a mistake. He got his feet stuck under the chair and- oh forget it."

She read the caption under the picture out loud:

"Their forbidden love: The rich blitz ball player and the poor girl from the wrong side of the tracks. Can their star-crossed love survive? Story below . . . "

"WHAT!" Yuna threw the paper on the floor and began to storm around the small bathroom. A girl walked in, but ran out once she saw the angry expression on Yuna's face. The opening bell rang but Yuna didn't seem to hear it. Lulu laughed loudly.

" What do they mean? forbidden love? Star- crossed? This isn't some cheesy soap opera or movie. It's just high-school. And what do they mean I'm from the "wrong side of the tracks?" what tracks? And what's wrong with being poor? EXCUUUSE me! AHHH! I can't believe this…no wonder I've been getting all those weirder than normal looks so far today." She tore the paper in half and jumped on it.

Lulu stopped laughing as the morning announcements started and Principal Mika's voice came over the loud speaker.

" So you're dating blitz ball boy?" Lulu asked loudly.

" He's . . . not a blitz boy . He's . . . well he is but . . . he's." Yuna blushed stupidly and stared at her feet. She couldn't wait to see him again. She could see him in English Lit. They' d been too busy to see each other again after Friday night, he had double practices and she had been really busy at the shop all weekend.

" I had saw him and that dumb redhead jock at the coffee house a while back. So he was there for you huh?" Lulu asked.

" Yeah I guess. It's still so new. We just kinda became official last week. I should have known there would be a lot of gossip, He's basically the most popular guy in school, dating the reject."

" Don't be so hard on yourself, Yuna. You're a lot better than most of the people in this school. Don't let other people influence your relationship with Tidus." Lulu offered some of her cigarette to Yuna, but she declined.

" I hope that's the only gossip going around. It should die down." Yuna spoke loudly to be heard over the muffled loud speaker out in the hallway.

" That's not all of it, Yuna. Did you do something to Super Bitch at some party this weekend? Everyone's talking about that too." Lulu said loudly. Yuna stared at Lulu in surprise. Did everyone suddenly know everything about her life around here?

"…. Dona? I pushed her into the pool…nothing major...but Rikku said she did something else to her, but she wouldn't tell me what. She said I would see for myself eventually…" Yuna said, still thinking about the school newspaper article. Surely no one would be interested in reading that, right? Lulu blew out a mouthful of smoke and spoke again.

"Well, I think I have an idea. The Super Bitch walked into school today with a huge black eye. She tried to cover it by using tons of black eye shadow on both her eyes, but it wasn't happening. She even had the other cheerbitches wearing black eye shadow too. Said it was the latest craze. Whatever."

" REALLY? A black eye? What a shame…" Yuna fought back an evil smile as she headed out of the bathroom.

" It's not right to take pleasure in other's pain." Lulu said in a dry, sarcastic voice.

" Whoever said that never went to a public school," Yuna shot back, closing the door behind her.

Six period lunch, Cafeteria

Tidus pushed through a group of talking students in the crowded, noisy cafeteria. He hadn't seen Yuna all weekend, been swapped with extra blitz practices because of the championship game this Friday. And to top it off he'd slept in late, arriving to school third period, so he'd missed the chance of seeing her in English Lit. As soon as he walked into the building, the latest school paper had been shoved into his face and he'd been faced with a mob demanding to know about Yuna and his relationship. He had laughed at the article, was used to the attention and being in the gossip section. Anytime a blitz player dated outside of their supposed "status" a huge deal was made out of it. It was stupid and he worried how Yuna was taking it all in. He'd almost gotten into two fights already because guys kept coming up to him and making lewd remarks about Yuna's new appearance. He should have known they'd make a huge deal about her change in appearance, the students just ate up gossip and rumors. He wanted to see how she was doing. He was snapped out of his thoughts and pulled back by a long, bony hand.

" Hey! Who-" He stopped mid sentence as he saw who it was, with all her annoying cheerleader friends surrounding her. Why was she wearing all that black eyeshadow? She looked like a witch.

" Ohhhhhhhhhh Tidy- baby, I've been looking for you…have you dumped your charity case yet? She probably has a spell on you or something. Can you believe what she did to me at Barthello's? I'm such a delicate flower, I could have drowned. I didn't even do anything to provoke it. And your sister attacked me for no reason! When I'm always sooo nice to her… I'm giving you one last chance to grovel your way back into my good graces Tidy-baby…" She made her signature pouty face. Why had he ever found that attractive, he would never know. She was digging her press on nails really, really hard into his arm, was she trying to draw blood? People were beginning to stare. Great.

" Let go of me." He attempted to pry her off, but she only tightened her grip. Suddenly her false smile turned into an ugly scowl.

" I'll take her down, Tidy…I swear…no one humiliates me…and Rikku too. She's had it coming for awhile now…" she said softly. He stared at her, a bit taken aback. So she'd finally given up the innocent girl act around him.

" You only want me because you can't have me, and because you can't stand losing…but this is one time you won't win, Dona. It's over, read my lips. I don't even want to be friends with you anymore."

Nearby eavesdropping students were whispering excitedly at the exchange between the two super Luca High icons. A lot of students didn't like Dona, but were afraid to admit it. And here was the blitz captain openly telling her off. All for that Yuna girl.

"She must be really cool, if she could get Tidus Akard to blow off Dona completely." A girl sitting at a nearby table said to her friends as they watched the scene.

" Just look at how Dona looks today, like she's trying out for the role of queen of the zombies or something. And have you seen that Yuna girl lately? She's freaking hot, way more than Dona, she's old news. The exotic look is out." The boy sitting next to her said.

Dona leaned in closer to Tidus.

" Whatever…get off me, you… banshee!!" Tidus said loudly, earning a round of loud laughter from all prying students nearby. All the chuckles died down as Dona gave them all a death glare, mentally trying to remember each students face, to add to her shit list. Ms. Yuna Freak girl was at the top.

She stormed out of the lunch room in a huff, her cheerleader troop following close by. No one ruined her image! It was all that stupid poor girls fault. She would pay.

" Like, what are you gonna do, Dona?" A redheaded cheerleader asked as she followed behind her mentor and leader.

" I'm gonna get her, but it won't be right away, no, it'll be when she least expects it….but first, I've got to get my popularity rating back up…" Dona said angrily, her right eye throbbing in pain still. Little Rikku would pay as well.

Half the students in the lunch room were still wandering around, so it was hard for Tidus to look for Yuna. He waved to Wakka, who was sitting at the usual table with the other players. He would talk to him later. He was kind of sick of anything to do with blitz right now, and knew that's all that would be discussed at the table. Friday was the super important International Championship Game, and this year it was right in Luca. They were competing for the title of best highschool blitz team in all of Spira. And he was captain. The game could make or break his future. Talk about pressure.

He headed towards to the small table where Yuna and Rikku sat. He finally saw Yuna's face, she was in deep conversation with someone else, he couldn't see who yet, too many people in the way still. It was probably just Rikku anyway. He pushed through more students, and someone tapped on his shoulder.

" Hey Tidus, you really found the diamond in the rough with that Yuna girl huh? She's beautiful." The tall skinny guy said.

" Huh? On yeah…" Tidus responded, moving away from the guy. He was sick of people congratulating him on dating Yuna, like he'd just won a tough game or something. She wasn't a trophy, she was a person.

The mob of students finally cleared a bit to sit down at tables, and he made his way to Yuna's table finally. It was her all right, as beautiful as ever. And in deep conversation with…Seymour? His blue spiky head was leaning in close to Yuna, who kept inching away slowly.

" Shit." He muttered. First Dona, now this. What was this, the antagonist happy hour?

He strolled over quickly, and was spotted first by Seymour, who winked at him and smiled mockingly. Yuna spotted him and beamed. She stood up from her table, walked around it and hugged him.

Neither noticed half the cafeteria stare in silence as they watched the couple embrace.

" You see its true, just like in the newspaper..." a girl sitting at the table next to them whispered to her friend.

" They look so cute together…it's so romantic." her friend whispered back.

Yuna pulled away first and blushed. "I'm sorry…that wasn't really appropriate here of all places, but I just haven't seen you all weekend, been so busy at the shop."

" It's okay, I missed you too." he said softly, ignoring the whistles and whispers he overheard.

He stared down at Seymour, who sat contently munching on a mystery meat sandwich. " Can you leave us alone man?"

Seymour looked up at him and sneered.

" Practically the whole lunchroom is watching you guys, so you're not alone anyway…besides…me and Yuna here were having a deep discussion here…"

" Yes, we actually were, Tidus, err, surprisingly." Yuna said, looking down at Seymour.

" There are plans by the Al Bhedian government to harvest the old machina buried in Mt. Gagazet, but that would be disastrous for the ecosystem there. What do you think Tidus? Seymour actually has strong feelings towards the issue, I was surprised.." She looked expectantly towards Tidus for his input.

"Der…" he looked down at Yuna's face stupefied.

'Mount Gaga-whazit? What's Seymour trying to pull anyway, he doesn't care about environmental causes.' Tidus thought angrily.

" Yes, I am so very deeply concerned with the environment, Akard." Seymour snarled as if reading Tidus's mind.

Tidus glared at him, then pulled Yuna out of the lunchroom into the hall, ignoring the excited voices of the ogling students as they watched them exit the cafeteria. He stopped in a little area under a staircase.

" Well, I wasn't done with my lunch, but at least we are alone now." Yuna said, leaning against a wall.

Tidus walked in front of her, placing his hands against the wall, on either side of her.

" What was Seymour doing there?" Tidus said, trying hard not to sound like a overbearing jealous boyfriend.

" It was weird, he was just sitting there when I first got there. Rikku had to talk to her guidance counselor this period so she wasn't around. I was gonna ask him to leave, he kinda creeps me out, but then he just started talking about world issues and stuff. He wasn't leering at me or anything like he usually does, so I just sat down and started talking to him. He's really smart, but he still makes me uncomfortable for some reason. . . I was glad you came." She smiled up at him.

" It's been a weird day"-

" Today's been the weirdest"-

They spoke at the same time and laughed at each other.

"Well, all day I've been getting people walking up to me and telling me how wonderful I look and how great it is that you and I are dating. Everyone's being nice to me and suddenly trying to be my friend." Yuna said, eyes downcast.

" Yeah- you see that article in the paper bout us? I've had it shoved in my face all day. I shoulda warned you, Yu. How they get. . ."

" It's okay. I should have known it would be made a huge deal. Since a lot of people saw us at the party together, and that picture. . . I mean you're the most popular guy in school, dating the outcast. Of course it will be a big deal."

Her voice cracked a bit.

" What really gets me, is that they now suddenly like me, when before I was the school leper. They barely knew anything about me, cept that I dressed weird and was a medium. But now that I look different, and I'm dating you, I'm accepted. It's so shallow…"

"I know. High school politics are pretty messed up." he said softly.

" But it will die down, Yuna, and if they're so determined to know you, they'll easily see why I like you so much. And then you'll be Yuna, just Yuna, not a blitz player's really attractive girlfriend. But who really cares about all of that. How was your weekend?"

She made a face. "Torture. We got a tour bus of psychic wannabees, you know the type from those 1-800 number commercials, and they were all over the store hounding me and mom. My aunts were out of town so it was just us. It was horrible."

She stopped talking as a few students walked by them.

" Sounds about as bad as my weekend was. Coach Auron usually rides us hard, but it's been crazy cause it's such a huge game Friday. Anyway, I got you and Rikku tickets to the big game Friday…your gonna have to go early, cause its gonna get crowded quickly. A lot of reporters and local tv stations will be there.

" My first blitz game. How exciting…" She wrapped her arms around Tidus's neck, smiling at him coyly.

" Sooo. . . between gossip hounds and blitz, we're not really gonna get to see each other for a little while huh?"

" Yeah, I guess not... but it'll only be this week. Once another juicer piece of gossip pops up they'll forget about us. . . and the season will be over, and we can spend more time together. Go somewhere nice."

He looked up to see a nerdy kid down the hall watching them. He made eye contact with Tidus and quickly ran in the opposite direction. Sometimes he wished he was just some nerdy kid no one paid attention too. That way he wouldn't have to worry about peeping toms spying all the time.

" By the way I really enjoyed Friday night. Especially that… one part…" Yuna said blushing, cutting into his thoughts.

Tidus leaned in closer to her. " Really? And what "part" would that be?"

She closed her eyes and puckered her lips and he laughed softly. She was so cute.

He leaned in closer for a kiss, his eyes closing. They snapped open again as the bell rang loudly.

" Great." He grumbled, reluctantly moving away from Yuna, before anyone saw them and more rumors started.

"I guess I'll see you later then..." He said, annoyed. Sure he'd see her in computer science, but they would have the whole class watching their every move. Sometimes popularity was a curse.

"Okay..bye Tidus.." She smiled weakly.

He walked away from her, getting that empty feeling he got whenever he separated from her. He wondered if it was the same for her.

Part Two

Friday, 5:05pm, Rikku's bedroom, the night of the big game.

" We look so hot Yuna, its so great!!" Rikku jumped up and down in front of the large wall mirror in her bedroom. Yuna stood next to her, feeling silly. They were wearing similar outfits of black and silver, the team colors. Both wore black flare jeans with silver threading. Yuna's sneakers were white and silver and Rikku's were black and silver. They were both wearing the team jerseys of their respective boyfriends. Rikku looked like a little kid in Wakka's huge jersey. She turned this way and that way in the mirror.

" I've only ever worn tight shirts before, even to bed. This is a weird one…maybe I can shrink it in the dryer."

" Yeah that would take like forever, considering its polyester…I don't know Rikku." Yuna whined. She turned around in the mirror, looking at the huge 21 number in the center of the jersey, with the word AKARD in huge letters above it.

" I feel like property or something wearing this…"

Rikku stuck her tongue out at Yuna.

" You think too much. The guys were more than cool with us wearing their extra jerseys. See this as marking our territory on our guys… We're saying: Yeah these are our men's shirts, cause they are ours."

Rikku puffed her chest out and grunted for good measure.

Yuna blushed at the thought of Tidus being hers. Shethen laughed as she imagined him wearing something of hers. An image of him dancing around in her yellow chocobo nightgown entered her head and she began a long fit of giggles, much to her best friend's chagrin.

"Yunie, what's so funny? Don't roll on the floor, get up, you'll mess up your hair!" Yuna stuck her tongue out at Rikku and stood up, patting her head.

" It looks silly…"

Rikku had used small pom poms and placed them both inside the pigtails they both wore as hairstyles. Yuna had black and silver streamers flapping around near her eyes, and the pom poms weighed a lot. And the tattoo of the unicorn head, the school mascot, on her left cheek itched like hell. But as bad as she looked Rikku looked goofier. Her entire face and neck was painted silver. And the word LUCA HIGH were written across her knuckles.

"This is your first and last blitz game, Yunie, come on, you gotta do it right! !! And besides, when I show up like this, it's bound to increase my chances at winning most spirited at the end of the year!!"

" If anyone should get the most spirited award, it should be me, if you get my drift…" Yuna joked, laughing. She sighed when Rikku stared at her blankly.

" I don't get it."

Giggling, the girls headed down the spiraling carpeted staircase, only to near the bottom and have Jecht Akard step in their path. Yuna swallowed thickly. He looked pretty menacing, even though he was wearing an old Luca High blitz jersey, probably from when he played in high school. He had always ignored her when she came over, was he going to try to speak to her now?

" You girls going to the game?" Jecht asked.

' No, we're going to an opera dressed like this.' Rikku thought.

" Yeah . . .cdab tyt. . .teb cred!!" Rikku said happily.

" Huh? What does that mean? Is that in your native language?" he demanded, his eyes squinting.

"Your Ma screams out all-bid stuff out like that when me and her are- never mind that." His eyes glazed over briefly, but he quickly composed himself.

" Yeah, its al-bhed actually, not all- bid. And what I said, it just means step dad…" Rikku lied. Wow, she only wished he really understood what she had really just called him, it certainly wasn't step dad.

" Well, me and the misses are going too, to watch my son win the championship. Yup, they'll set aside a few choice seats for me, seeing as how I'm an alumni, royalty actually, I'm the guy who put Luca on the map..."

He stuck his chest out and got more impassioned in his speech honoring himself. Yuna bit back a moan of pain. They needed to get to the game, why didn't he shut up? Oh well, at least he wasn't yelling at her for dating his son. She looked at Rikku, who was rolling her eyes so much Yuna was surprised they didn't fall out.

"…Yup I'm actually the one who made blitz ball huge around here. Hell, I'd go as far as to say I damn near invented the game-"

" Really teb cred? It was invented like three thousand years ago, so I guess you're a lot older than I thought…" Rikku muttered.

" Well, we can all down drive together, anyway I wanna get to know this girl my son's dating better…

He turned his scrutiny to Yuna.

"At first I didn't care for you, you being poor and doing all that hocus pocus stuff, girl, but I'm a fair man."

He grabbed both shrieking Rikku and Yuna off the stairs and put his arm around both of them, walking towards the front door.

" Yeah, I think you're good for the boy. Your looks are passing enough, I suppose. But after the school year, just break it off. The boy won't have time to date. He'll have to focus on his blitz career full time."

' Does he not realize the world is not made entirely of blitz ball? It's all he talks about. . . I'm surprised Tidus isn't a complete nut case after living with this guy. . .he's gonna make us late.' Yuna thought.

" Teb cred, can you show us your first trophy you like ever won ever? You're like so great and all. " Rikku said in a gushy sing-song voice.

" Huh? Oh yes, of course, I could show you all my trophies, but we don't have a month do we? HAHAHAHAHA."

He patted each girl hard on the back, nearly knocking them over.

"Anyway I keep it in one of several , LARGE display cases, but I can take it out, seeing as it's a special event. My last- err, Tidus's last game for high school. But you cant touch it, and don't breath on it. You'll have to stand three feet away at all times. . .

He ran like a excited child into another room.

Both girls exchanged looks and made a beeline for the door, straight to Rikku's car. They didn't speak or breath easily again til the car was moving and the Akard house was out of sight. They then exchanged looks and burst into loud laughter.

" Wow, he's…he's something else." Yuna said after they stopped laughing.

" Yeah…he was in a really good mood today too. And he's kinda drunk, so don't let him fool you. He's usually mean." Rikku said, eyes on the road.

" What did teb cred mean? Those words you kept calling him? It wasn't step dad, was it?" Yuna asked staring at Rikku, who blushed.

" Not quite. teb cred means dip shit. I call him names in al bhed all the time. And he never catches on. It's great."

Yuna drifted off into her own thoughts. It had been a fast week, and she'd had a hard time being alone with Tidus. She had hoped the gossip would die down, and it did, a little bit. People were still approaching and being nice to her, trying to get to know her. It seemed like they were actually interested in her, and not just trying to get information about Tidus out of her. They would ask her questions about her hair and clothes. Or about the shop. Some students even started coming by the shop, which was weird. Whatever the real reasons were, it was better to have people wave to her when she walked through the school halls instead of laughing or calling her a crude name. But what happened if, Yevon forbid, her and Tidus broke up? Or if she reverted back to her old wardrobe habit? Wouldn't she just be treated harshly again? Wasn't that the only reasons people were treating her nice now?

" It was like that for me too, when I first started dating Wakka."

Rikku said suddenly, as if sensing her friends thoughts. She did a wide left turn down a crowded street. Yuna could tell they were getting closer to the stadium, students were scattered around the street decked out in school colors and team banners.

" Here I was, the new girl, the new foreign girl, dating one of the most popular jocks at school. And I was the new step-sis of another popular guy. At first I got negative reactions, then suddenly I had all this people clamoring to get to know me, all about me. All wanting to know my business and get on my good side. I was thinking at first, yeah these people are so fake, and they are, but I also realized something. I'd become one of the popular people. By being accepted into the ranks of The IN, I'd been instantly accepted by the vast majority of the rest of the school. So now matter what happens to you and Ti, you'll always be in the popular rank. But dont let that distract you from Tidus. "

" You think so?" Yuna asked quietly. She had never thought of it that way. She, former freak girl? Was now accepted?

"And the fact that your not rich only increases your popularity, I think. And you're different from all the other popular girls, you're more like everybody else you know? So don't stress about it, just enjoy it.

Rikku turned into a quickly filling up parking lot.

" My time with Tidus has been basically non existent this week. He's been so busy. And whenever I did see him, there was always other classmates staring at us and smiling. It was so annoying." Yuna whined, grabbing her huge foam #1 finger out of the car seat and slamming the door.

" Yeah, same here. Lets steal our guys after our victory, and celebrate. Now help me get all my cheering items out of the car…" Rikku said. She grabbed her stuffed unicorn, bull horn, GO Unicorns flags, streamers, some huge buttons, extra bom boms and a foam blitz ball out of the backseat.

" Alright, I'm ready to cheer our team on!!" Rikku yelled, juggling all the items in her arms.

" You sure you got enough stuff there Ri?" Yuna said, bemused.

" Think I should have gotten more?"

second half, one minute on the clock, Luca High down by one...

Tidus dodged a tackle and passed the ball hard to the left forward, Jumal, who swam off with it quickly. Jumal's attempt to pass was intercepted by Kilika. He almost breathed in water, losing focus for a second. His eyes kept wandering through the large arena, trying to spot Yuna, which was impossible. But somehow, he felt her there, cheering him on. He was hoping after the game he and her could have some alone time together, but it was probably wishful thinking on his part. But he needed to focus on winning this. They needed to score big, and fast. He watched as Kilika's star player hurled the ball towards the goal, but Barthello caught it with ease. He heard the ref blow the whistle. Face off time. Looked like it was all up to him now. He faced the huge middle forward from Kilika, who eyed him menacingly as the blitz ball, the prize, dangled in front of them both. The whistle blew again and he jumped. . .and caught the ball!!

Adrenaline raced through his whole body. He headed straight for the goal, stopping when about three guys surrounded him. There was only 12 seconds left on the clock, no time to pass the ball. He had to shoot. A million things flashed through Tidus's mind. The defining roar of the crowd. The burning in his lungs. His father's gloating face. His mother, smiling down at him, from where ever she was. His friends, his teammates, all counting on him. But most of all was Yuna. Her gentle, smiling face made everything else fade away. This was her first game after all. He had to win. For her.

He did a somersault in the water and quickly turned in a half circle, confusing his opponents. He spun around quickly to gain speed, and then, with all of his strength, shot the ball forward. It wasn't intercepted in time , and was headed straight towards the goal, and Kilika's goalie. There was 5 seconds left on the clock.

The whole arena stood on their feet as they waited. Tidus stood frozen in time, knowing this small moment would change his life forever. His mind went numb. The ball hurtled towards Kilika's goalie and he dove towards it, ready to grab it. Tidus felt as if his heartbeat could be heard by the whole stadium, felt as if it would beat right out of his chest. The goalie grabbed for the ball. . .

And missed it.

Tidus could barely let the fact that he won sink in before he was grabbed and embraced fiercely by his ecstatic teammates. He heard the loud cheer of the crowd, on the Luca side anyway, and signaled that he needed to get out of the tank before he took in water. Which was difficult, when he had several guys grabbing at him.

Yuna and Rikku ran downstairs to the concession area, where Rikku said the players would come to once they left their lockers. It was mayhem. The girls had to fight through the mob of reporters, fans, students and parents as they wandered through the huge crowded area to get closer to the locker rooms. They had to hold hands to avoid being separated, and all the stuff Rikku had brought had gotten lost or trampled on as they had moved through the tight crowd. But despite the mayhem, Yuna had never been so excited in her life! How could she have missed out on so much fun? She had actually felt the school spirit everyone was always talking about tonight. And watching Tidus play. . .she had never realized he was so good. She blushed hotly. He looked so. . .hot. . .dominating the game like that. His name was on everyone's lips. They were pro and college scouts circling around, screaming girls, reporters. . .all who wanted a piece of him. . .and he was all HERS!! Hehehe.

"COME ON, I SEE SOME PLAYERS COMING OUT NOW HURRY!"

Rikku screamed in her ear, pulling her towards some doors. There were about three rows of chatting people in front of them, so they had to keep jumping up and down to see. The locker room doors opened and the team came up, wearing clean jerseys and shorts. Tidus stood in the center, with the other team members on either side of him. Coach Auron was beaming next to them. The camera's flashed like mad and microphones where pushed upward towards the squirming team.

" How do you feel about winning the high school national championship game?"

" Where do you all go from here?"

" Tidus, what was that new move you did at the end of the game?"

Yuna stopped jumping after a few minutes, she was getting nauseated. For some silly reason she felt like crying. He was so close to her yet she couldn't get near him. All those stupid reporters asking him all those questions.

She looked around, suddenly noticing she'd been separated from Rikku. Great. Now she'd temporally lost her best friend and her boyfriend.

She started to fight her way through the crowd towards the exit doors, until she heard Wakka's voice on a microphone. She turned around. They were standing on a large podium, the whole team, commenting about the game. She smiled. She couldn't talk to Tidus, but at least she could see him. She watched his eyes search the crowd, and her heart beat faster as their eyes connected and held. She mouthed the words "great game" up to him, wondering if he understood. He nodded and winked at her.

Wakka handed Tidus the mike and the reporters below bombarded him with questions. Tidus saw his father looking up at him in the crowd, beaming at him. He made eye contact with Yuna again. Those were the only familiar faces he had made out so far.

" What do you plan to do after this, Akard? Pro or College?" A woman holding a mike up to him asked.

Tidus looked pointedly at his father. " I'm gonna play college ball for a few years, get a degree."

The mob re-energized again and began talking excitedly amongst one another. Jecht Akard's face turned bright red with anger.

" Tell us, what was your number one inspiration for winning this game, and what was that terrific shot we saw, the one that won the championship?" A male reporter asked Tidus. Tidus watched Jecht puff up with pride again, expecting his name to be mentioned. He scanned the crowd again, locating Yuna.

" I'll show you my inspiration, Yuna, come up here. Everyone, let her through…"

He watched her face turn completely red as she gingerly moved through the crowd, people watching her movements and stepping aside. She neared the podium and he pulled her up, and wrapped his hand around her waist.

" This here is Yuna Lescing, my girlfriend, and she's my inspiration for winning tonight…"

He ignored the collective sighs and flashing cameras as he stared into her eyes. She was delighted, but nervous, he could sense it. He winked at her and spoke into the mike again.

" That move you saw, was a new move I've been perfecting for awhile now….I call it, the Yuna Eclipse…"

two hours later…Yevon's Coffee house…

" That took forever to lose everybody. . .but no one would think to look for us here." Yuna said softly, sipping her mocha latte .

" Yeah, all those reporters, it was insane. I stuck out the bathroom window. I managed to shake my Dad before he caught up with me. You should have seen his face, Yuna, he's pissed."

Tidus leaned back in on the black chair he sat on.

" I feel like I'm flying, I feel so unbelievably high right now, Yuna. . .it's unreal. . . It's unbelievable."

Yuna watched him fondly. She truly had him all to herself again finally, but she felt kinda guilty, like she was keeping him from something.

" Wouldn't you rather go to one of those parties, There's like a million going on right now. And I'm sure there's blitz scouts looking for you. Don't you wanna be with your teammates? You're the hottest thing in Luca right now, winning the International Championship. Luca Unicorns are now the best high school blitz team in Spira. Wouldn't you rather bask in the attention?"

Tidus covered her hand in his and smiled.

" No, I'm right where I wanna be. . .finally."

They both leaned in over the table, there lips meeting in a kiss. Yuna felt like she was on cloud 9. They hadn't kissed all week. It had been worth the wait.

End chapter

Next chapters preview: the fluff is over for now, and the plot will start moving again real fast. Yuna is nominated for prom queen, going head on with Dona. But that's not her biggest problem. Seymour is about to drop a huge bomb on her that will change her relationship with Tidus forever….