I'm starting to write this Monday, but it isn't going to be posted today because in an hour I leave for my weekly shrink appointment. Still have my cramps which could still bloody knock GODZILLA over. Not to worry, though… this too shall pass. Besides that, I have Yuna+Tidus interactions planned out for later on this chapter. And on a note about Yuna, Rikku, and Lulu's Halloween costumes—the idea came from something that my friend Hana did one year, switching clothes with her friend and wearing a sign that said, "Don't Judge Me." I liked that idea, so I decided to do it here. Adios, and enjoy the read!
No… this can't be! It's not possible, I tell you! I've run out of insults! No! *sob*
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Chapter 4:
October Sky
"This is so awesome, Lulu!" Rikku squeaked, rummaging through Yuna's bangles and bracelets and putting on as many as she could. "Where'd you get this idea?" She traveled to the mirror against the door, looking at herself in her new attire. She wore her cousin's shirt, but her own faded flare-legged jeans with the legs cut and fabric sewn in to make the legs flare out even more. She wore sneakers on her feet and her hair in a simple ponytail. On her arms and neck, however, there were enough bangles, bracelets, and witchy-looking charms to give her another five pounds of weight. Halloween was the following day and although they didn't go out for candy anymore, it was a Friday and they wanted to dress up. Just for the hell of it. It had been Lulu's idea to switch clothes and wear signs that said, "Don't Judge Me." It would prove that the person should not be judged by appearances.
"It was just a thought. Hell, when people see you dressed like Yuna, they'll have a conniption," Lulu said to the blonde girl. Rikku had fallen in with the "In" crowd but was still good friends with Yuna and Lulu. They suspected her friendship with Wakka had something to do with it. Lulu shoved the Al Bhed girl out of the way and took a look at herself in the mirror, wearing Rikku-style clothes. She choked on her own tongue, then burst out laughing, leaning on the adjacent wall for support. She had picked the tallest boots that she could find, which came up a little past her knees and were made of soft brown suede. Her shorts were black and didn't even come down to her fingers; attached to her belt was a long white-and-purple half-skirt with a fringe on the bottom. A black shirt and long purple gloves adorned her upper body.
Yuna was the last to inspect herself, struggling in Lulu's heavy dress. She had outright refused to wear Rikku's clothes—they exposed too much skin. But she had fun with Lulu's black dress with the unusual decoration of gray lace and a front-full of belts. She wore three necklaces, and a ton of glass beads in her hair and a belt of them around her waist. She giggled at seeing her reflection, although she kept one hand up on the front of the dress, lest it fall down.
"Yunie, put your hands down!" Rikku giggled.
"I can't," Yuna replied, still admiring her own reflection. She found it hard to move in this dress but she would get used to it. And if worse came to worse, she would pack jeans and a t-shirt to wear.
"How come?"
"I need boobs." She admitted. It was true—Lulu was a lot more "full" than she was. She looked around her room, debating with her friends whether to stuff the dress with tissues or socks. Eventually they decided on tissues. To complete the ensemble, Yuna drew on her left leg where Lulu had a black lacey tattoo. On her own leg, she drew a sort of Ronso-tribe design [A/N: Like a Native American beadwork design] with black pen. She decided that she liked the way she looked like this. She giggled, picking up an embroidered piece of black cloth containing the words, "Don't Judge Me" in white thread.
"We're gonna be such a hit!" Rikku squealed, raising her arms in the air and letting all of the bracelets fall to her shoulders from the sudden incline. "And Lulu, you're so pretty dressed like that!" She pawed the air in front of her with her hands like a kitten.
"Je pense que j'ai l'air d'une prostitutée française." Lulu said, though she grinned mischievously at her own comment.
"Yunie, what'd she say?" Rikku asked.
"She—she said that—" she snickered and began to lose control of herself for laughing. "That she thinks she looks like a French hooker!" She fell over, laughing hysterically.
Since they were going to need each other's clothes and help to get ready in the morning, they stayed at Yuna's house, sleeping on the floor in her room. Ursa waltzed in around midnight and promptly trod on everyone.
"Yuna… votre chien pèse plus que je fais!" ["Yuna… your dog weighs more than I do!"] Lulu choked from beneath the weight of paws and fur.
Yuna turned in her half-sleep, murmuring, "Arrepentido, voy a comer menos…" ["Sorry, I'll eat less."]
"Boy I really hate when you guys speak other languages… makes it hard for me to understand what you're saying!" Rikku chirped.
"Shut up, Rikku," Yuna growled.
"Hey, come on, guys, we're supposed to be having fun!" The blonde switched on a light and sat up in her sleeping bag.
"Rikku, hand me that book over there," Lulu pointed to a book laying on the floor near Rikku. She began to comply but then stopped, looking slyly at the mage.
"No, you're gonna hit me with it."
"No, I won't—I promise."
Rikku handed her the book. Lulu, in turn, handed it to Yuna, who swatted her cousin with it. She shut the light.
"Sleep-time now. Fun can come tomorrow night. It'll be Friday and we can stay up 'til the cows come home watching movies."
"Like 'Young Frankenstein'?" Rikku perked up. The movie was one of her favorites but she never used to get to see it often because it was in Common, not in Al Bhed, and no one in Home wanted to watch it because they couldn't understand it although a few times she had translated the lines for her friends.
"Got is just for you."
"Ohh, thank you, Yunie!" Rikku squeaked.
"Rikku, shut up."
Morning came, and with it their costumes. It was the only time so far that year that Cid, Rikku, or Brother didn't have to come dragging Yuna out of bed by her feet. The three of them quickly got out of bed and dressed, and Lulu gave them a ride to school in her car, as they would not all fit into Cid's little Al Bhed car or onto Yuna's bike.
"Everyone got their signs on?" Rikku asked before they stepped out into the parking lot. They all wore their sign attached somewhere on their clothes.
"Here goes," Yuna opened the door and stepped out. Her friends followed suit. It didn't appear that anyone really noticed them until after they got into the building and Wakka approached Rikku, looking confused about her style of dress.
"Ey! Rikku! What you doin' here dressed like Yuna, ya?" He asked, looking from Rikku, to Yuna, to Lulu. His gaze lingered on Lulu for a moment longer than it should have. Slowly, he lowered his books in front of himself. "People're gonna think you look weird, ya?" He managed to spit out. Rikku quickly turned and showed him the sign that she had pinned on her back with safety pins. "Why would I judge you?" He seemed more confused now than before.
"The person makes the clothes—the clothes don't make the person," Yuna said boldly. She was nervous about her clothing. She wondered if anyone would be able to tell that she had stuffed her bosom. She was getting stares—all of them were. She couldn't help but feel sort of powerful and sexy and mysterious in this dress, though, and she shot someone a wicked-evil glare for no reason, and he ran off like a scared chocobo.
"I like this," Yuna whispered to the side. Bells rang, and students, many of whom were in costume, dashed off to class, some of them clumsy with their many accessories of their costumes. Yuna didn't want to get her dress dirty, since it wasn't even really her dress, so she got permission to sit in the library and use the computers instead of going to the pottery wheels in first period.
"What is your cousin wearing, Rikku?" Tidus asked in a low voice in the art room. "It's like you three all just switched clothes!"
"We did," Rikku replied, up to her elbows in red clay. She reached up to scratch her cheek, smearing the clay across her face. "She's wearing Lulu's dress. Looks hot on her, doncha think?" She asked. Tidus looked at her strangely. "No, I'm not saying I'd date her, but I mean… she's pretty, ya know?"
"Yea…" Tidus looked for her in the back where she usually was but didn't find her. Yuna was pretty, but she never showed it. He wondered why. He also wondered why she was so high-strung, so quiet, so reserved. He'd thought to ask, but he doubted that she would tell him. He left the classroom, saying that he had to go to the bathroom but really just wandering the halls. He went to a hallway near the library, and stopped in his tracks when he saw Seymour, talking with Yuna and steadily backing her against the wall. He backed up behind a corner and listened in, but from the distance he could only hear the oiliness that was Seymour's voice and the soft hum that was Yuna's.
He watched intently. Even from here, he knew that something was up and that Yuna was terrified. There were no classrooms closeby and no one from the library was watching. He whispered something to her, and skulked off. Yuna's face was pale, as if something monumentally frightening had happened. Tidus made sure the coast was clear before he made his way over to her.
"Hey," he whispered, reaching out carefully and putting his hand on her bare shoulder. She was sweaty and trembling. She looked kind of like she would… "Are you okay?"
She shook her head.
"You gonna be sick?"
She nodded.
He looked around. No one was there, so he took a chance. "Okay, hold your horses, and come with me." He kept his arm around her and slipped into the girls bathroom where the hurled breakfast into the toilet. When she was done rinsing out her mouth and cleaning her face with cold water, she turned to him; he was still watching her.
"Thank you," she whispered. "Why are you being so nice to me? And… which bathroom are we in?" She wanted to know which of them was going to get into trouble.
"Girls bathroom. Don't tell anyone, okay?" He smiled. Yuna nodded and looked down into the sink. She had to avoid his gaze because he kept making her heart speed up.
"What was he doing? Seymour, I mean," Tidus asked after a moment. He had to know. A few weeks ago, he had been walking to get his books out of Seymours classroom and Yuna had run from the room in a blind panic and bowled him over from running. At his question, though, Yuna held her breath. Finally, she spoke.
"I—I can't tell you now. But… I…" she paused. She swore to Lulu she'd tell someone about Seymour and his plans. After she told Lulu of his "offer" to her, her friend had nearly throttled her and made her swear on her mother's grave that she would get help before the semester was up. She had no choice but to agree. And now Tidus was being nice to her…
"Yuna?" He rattled her gently. "Can we at least get out of the girls bathroom?" He asked meekly. "I don't wanna get caught in here."
"I'm staying after school today to help Miss Amí with the ceramics projects. She leaves me alone so stay with me, okay?" It was the longest sentence she had ever spoken to him. She waited for his answer, and he nodded in agreement, not taking his eyes off of her. She nodded quickly back, then checked to make sure no one was watching. "Go on," she whispered.
He slipped out of the bathroom and hoped to high heaven that there were no security cameras like there were at his Zanarkand high school. Yuna went in the opposite direction that he did, back to the library. She turned briefly, saying softly, "That was a nice thing you did… thank you."
People walked around in costumes all day. The cafeteria was full of people wearing strange clothes, taking advantage of the holiday. Rikku sat at a table with Wakka while he kept looking over his shoulder at someone but Rikku couldn't place who he was looking for. Finally, she asked him.
"Nothin'," he lied. "Just… ferget it, it's nothin'."
"Sure doesn't seem like nothing," Rikku giggled.
"Mind your own business, ya?" He snapped.
"Don't bite my head off!"
"Sorry, Rikku… I'm just… can you keep a secret?" He finally got to the point.
"Yea," she leaned in.
"I like dis girl, ya? But… I can't tell 'er. An' I've liked her forever."
"Well, why can't you tell her?" Rikku asked, perplexed.
"She don't like me, ya know?"
"What?" She asked. "Wakka, you're such a sweetheart! You're nice, and sweet, and funny, and sm—well, not too smart, but you're an awesome guy… what woman would possibly not want you in her life?" She asked, throwing her hands up and making her bracelets click. Wakka looked back over his shoulder, watching someone get closer and closer. Rikku looked, too.
"Ne pas dévisigar à moi, Le Carotte!" A familiar voice said. Wakka looked hopelessly after the source, and Rikku followed his gaze. When she realized who it was, her mouth fell open.
"That woman," Wakka answered her question, putting his face in his hands. Rikku gaped.
"Lulu?" She asked. "You got a thing for Lulu?" She grinned suddenly. "That's so cuuuute!" She carried the syllable. "Wow… but… what makes you think she doesn't like you? I mean… it's impossible to tell with her so she might be harboring years and years of pent-up sexual tension from lusting after you."
Wakka hunched over. "Stop sayin' stuff like dat!" He whispered harshly, his face turning the same color as his hair.
"You say you've liked her forever?"
"Ya."
"So why don't you at least ask her out? Why're you so sure she'd say no?" She planted her hands on her hips and frowned at him.
"Because she wouldn't never go out wit me. Besides dat, she's a witch. She's not even Catholic."
Rikku hit him on the side of the head. "Cdibef!" She yelled in Al Bhed. She slapped her hands over her mouth, hoping he didn't hear or understand what she had said.
"Did you juss say somethin' in Al Bhed?" He asked skeptically.
"Just know a few words, really," she lied. "I just said, 'stupid.'"
"Oh… why'd you call me stupid then?" He asked.
"Those are the dumbest reasons I've ever heard for not wanting to ask someone out! Or at least talk to her! Geez, you Yevonite Catholics are really something!" She got up, dumped her tray, and stormed off. She left Wakka sitting at his table, confused about Lulu and also confused about the origin of his perky blonde friend.
"What was Carrots talking about?" Lulu asked when Rikku sat down with her.
"Nothing. Yevonite drone… what a schmuck! He won't talk to y—someone he really likes just because she's not Catholic!" She grabbed some of Lulu's chocolates and shoved them into her mouth.
"The Catholics are like that," Lulu explained. "Most of them won't even consider someone a person if they aren't strict Catholic and Wakka is one of them."
"How'd you know I was talking about Wakka?" Rikku asked slyly. Lulu shrugged keeping her mouth closed tightly. Rikku grinned.
Tidus watched the clock in his math class. The hands were moving extremely slowly—just for him. He wanted the bell to ring so that he could get out of this boring class and go meet up with Yuna. He was anxious to see her, see what he could learn about her from actually talking to her. It was strange. He had heard so many rumors about her from Wakka and from the members of the blitzball team (which he still had to try out for), and they were totally outrageous. They said she was a witch. They said she kept knives hidden under her clothes. They said she had killed her own parents in Bevelle when she was just a little kid, and then commanded that a Ronso bring her to Besaid to cover up her crimes. They said so many strange things about her and he didn't believe any of them.
The bell rang and he quickly ran from the room and into the art room where he was met by a blast of heat from the three now-opened kilns. Someone in jeans, a t-shirt, and an apron was leaning over one of them. He wondered where Yuna was, so he asked.
"Excuse me… Where's Yuna? She… wanted me to meet her here."
"I am Yuna," the bent figure turned around, revealing that it was in fact Yuna, wearing a pair of huge, thick gloves and carrying a glazed blue-and-black pot from the kiln. When he raised an eyebrow at her change of clothes, she put the pot down and put her hands on her hips, saying, "Well, you didn't expect me to work in here in that dress, did you?"
He watched her for a few minutes until the kiln was unloaded and she walked over to a huge white garbage can with the words, "THE SWAMP" written on it in big permanent ink letters. It contained a literal swamp of wet, gray clay that had obviously been recycled. Yuna slipped on a pair of latex gloves and fearlessly, without hesitation dug her hands into the wet mess and put it on a plaster-covered table and began kneading it as if it were bread.
"Well, don't just stand there," she said irritably. "Make yourself useful and help me wedge this stuff."
"Huh?"
"Get some gloves and start getting your hands dirty!" She commanded.
"Yes, ma'am."
They worked in silence for a while, the only sounds coming from the clay sticking to the plaster.
"Where'd you come from, anyway?" Yuna asked.
"Zanarkand… Auron got canned and we hadda move."
"Who's Auron?" She asked.
"My guardian. He and my dad were best buds, so when my dad died he left me in his charge."
Yuna nodded. "My parents are gone, too," she whispered. She smooshed her hand into the clay, deep in thought. She barely remembered her parents at all—she was so little when they were killed. She had lived here for the last twelve years.
"Really?" He lowered his head, at loss for words. "That… sucks."
Yuna nodded. After a while, there was a decent pile of wedged clay on the corner of the table and they took their gloves off and washed up. He watched her while she covered up the clay. He leaned back and began to stumble so he put his hand out to catch himself, burning himself severely on the open, still-cooling kiln. He yelled in pain and clutched the bruising hand. Yuna stumbled across the room to see what had happened.
"I should have warned you about that," she said, taking his hand by the wrist and trying to inspect the burn, but he kept his hand curled into a fist. "Come on, open your hand," she said. "Open up."
"It hurts!" Tidus whimpered, amazed at her grip. "It may not look bad but it's killing me!"
"You know for a blitzball player, you're a pansy," she told him, successfully prying his hand open. She slowly inspected his hand and frowned. "Looks pretty bad. Second degree. See how the skin is blistering?" She touched it softly and grabbed his wrist harder when he tried to pull away.
"Ow! Hey, knock it off!"
Cautiously, Yuna looked around to make sure no one was watching her. Then the gently put her hand over the burn and the wounded area was surrounded by an aura of pink light. When the light died down, the pain and the blisters went with it until they were gone completely.
"Hey… that's awesome! Where'd you learn to do that?" He asked, inspecting his hand for any sign of the injury.
"I'm a WhiteMage. You may have heard that I'm a witch, and it's kinda true. I just don't cast curses and spells and things on people."
"There's a lot of stories about you… no one really knows much about you. Why is that?" He asked.
"Because… I don't like getting to know people. I'm—" she paused. Should she tell? She didn't know if she should tell Tidus, but she figured that she could trust him, although she didn't know why she felt this way. "I'm afraid," she said quietly, looking down.
"Why?" He inched closer, then draping his arm over her shoulder. She didn't pull away or shy or slap him like Rikku warned him that she would.
"Because… I need to tell you something. I need help with this, but you have to promise not to tell anyone about it. Not yet. I have to keep things under wraps for a while."
"What is it?"
"Seymour Guado has been stalking me for the last three years. But Kimahri Ronso was my guardian, and no one dared to stalk a Ronso's charge. But now Kimahri is back at Gagazet, and I'm fair game. He's… he found out that Rikku is Al Bhed. She's my cousin, so that makes me a—a halfblood," she spat out the hated word but it made her choke. "He's blackmailing me. If anyone finds out, we could be attacked or even lynched." She bit back her tears. "He wants me to drop out and move in with him!" At this, she snapped and sobbed into her hands, leaving Tidus at a loss for words. Instead he stayed silent and tightened his grip around her shoulders.
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Wow! This was a long chapter! But I promised you that it would be up by Tuesday or Wednesday, and here it is! Anyway, I'm gonna try to have the next chapter up within a week, so keep watching for it. As for the languages spoken… Yuna strikes me as the type who would speak several languages, and Lulu is just… well, look at her! She even looks like she should be French! So I made her speak French. I wish to thank JaguarKItty2006 for giving me the French I need… you rock, Kitty! Please review—after all, they encourage chapters…
STILL TO COME:
Tidus becomes attached to Yuna, and Wakka to Lulu. Lulu tries to get Yuna to stand up to Seymour, and Rikku tries to get her to spend more time with Tidus. Tidus, meanwhile, has rewired that school's PA system and can now make announcements whenever he wants by way of his cell phone. And what will they do about Seymour, now that they have another person on their side? Easy… they're gonna make his life a living hell…