Hi, guys. Well, this is it; the chapter you've all been waiting for. This is the Homecoming Dance chapter, and I hope it's everything you guys wanted! There won't be much smooching here, I'm afraid to inform you, and there will be a fairly racy scene with Rikku in the not-too-distant future, but nothing that would boost the story rating. Don't worry. Anyway, enough of my ramblings. I have blank pages staring evilly back at me and I must fill them with my story! Enjoy!

I own Final Fantasy, dammit. I keep them all under lock and key. They are my characters to use whenever I want. Leave me aloooooone.

                                                                                                             ~*~

Chapter 7

Homecoming Queen

"I don't know if I can do this," Yuna said, glancing out of the car window. The school was packed with students, both current and returning, teachers, chaperones, dates, and some people who probably just came for the food. It was too much for Yuna to handle, and to top it all off, she didn't know if she would be able to find Tidus in this mess anywhere.

          "Yes you can, Yuna," Lulu assured her. "If you want..." she paused, thinking of something with a far-off look in her eyes. "Yuna," she said seriously. "Remember when we were little, and we would pretend that you were a Summoner, off to battle the legendary monster Sin?"

          Yuna nodded. "I remember. Rikku used to play with us, too. We would go through the woods. That was my 'pilgrimage' and we would come back inside long enough to have lunch, and stay out until dark and Sin was defeated." A smile crossed her face. "I remember."

          "Do you remember what part I always played?" The mage asked, still serious.

          "You were always my guardian. You and Rikku and even when Kimahri played with us. You were my guardians."

          "That's right. I'm your guardian, and not just in play." Still in the darkness of the unlit parking lot, she hugged her friend. "I love you, Yuna, and I won't let anything happen to you. Our Summoner-games are over, but I will always be your guardian."

          Brother was sniggering in the front seat of the car, obviously liking the sight of girls hugging. Rikku put her hand through the open window and swatted him. "Pikkan uvv! Banfand!" ("Bugger off! Pervert!") As Brother meekly obeyed his sister's command, the Al Bhed girl wrinkled her nose. "Why do boys like watching girls hug or kiss?"

          "Rikku, do me a favor?" Lulu asked, sounding like she was annoyed. "Next bus that comes around this way, go throw yourself under it."

          "Hey! Meanie!" She crossed her arms and stuck out her lower lip in a pout. Lulu rolled her eyes and took Yuna's hand.

          "Come on, Yuna. Prince Charming awaits you," she said with a wink.

          "And your Prince Charming awaits you," Yuna replied. "Lets just hope he found a way to fix his hair."

          Lulu sighed and reached out a hand for Rikku, who took it hesitantly as they walked towards the school. (A/N: Yes, Homecoming dances generally are held at the school. Or at least mine is.) Then she stopped walking, causing her two companions to stumble.

          "Just a thought… maybe we should let go of each others' hands?" She suggested. "I mean… think of what might happen if we walked up to a school all holding hands."

          Yuna nodded and dropped Lulu's hand, folding both of hers in front of her calmly. She managed to keep her cool exterior even though she was having a nervous breakdown on the inside. She scanned the scene again for Tidus but didn't find him. She was beginning to worry that he had forgotten her when she heard Rikku give a little squeak. At first she thought that her cousin had seen Gippal from the Machine Faction. In fact, she had seen Tidus heading their way, and Yuna spun to see where he was.

          He approached her from behind, and she carefully turned about to face him. He wasn't in a tux like she thought he would be but rather he was wearing dress pants, a white shirt, and a blazer. He held something in his hand, but from this angle Yuna couldn't make out what it was. He looked a bit nervous.

          "Hello," Yuna managed to squeak. She swallowed even though her mouth had gone dry. She was sure that he could see her face turning red from nerves and embarrassment, even though there was really nothing to be embarrassed about.

          "Hey," he replied softly, seemingly in a trance. "You look really nice."

          Although she said nothing in reply, he noted a smile creeping across her expression and was more than satisfied with that. He did feel a little nervous around Rikku and Lulu, particularly Lulu, however. It was a few seconds before Yuna caught on and motioned slightly for them to go. Lulu nodded and grabbed Rikku by the arm. The blonde swore in Al Bhed at her friend as she was dragged away.

          Once they were gone, Tidus remembered what he was holding and gingerly handed it to her. "This is for you," he murmured. It was a red rose with the thorns cut off. It looked rather like someone had bent and snapped the thorns off, as opposed to cutting them off, which led her to suspect that he'd just picked it out of someone's yard.

          "Thank you," she told him, smiling wider. They stood there for a moment, neither saying a thing, until Tidus looked over her shoulder at the thinning crowd outside of the school building as people went inside.

          "Shall we go?" He asked, putting his hand out to her.

          "Of course," she replied, taking the offered hand, and thinking that perhaps Rikku was right, and that she would have fun here tonight.

          The inside of the school was packed. The funny part was that they weren't packed in every available square inch of space; to the contrary, people had huddled and gathered in various places and many were dancing. A band stood on the stage, playing away in the half-lighted room. Everyone was dressed up, laughing, smiling, and obviously having a lot of fun.

          Tidus noticed Yuna's slight fear, and led them both to a less-occupied section of the room. "You said that you've never been to Homecoming before?" He asked her, speaking loudly so that he spoke over the music.

          "Never. Never been to any dance before. I just... I guess I was always too scared to leave my house. You know..." she trailed off, leaving him to finish the sentence for himself. He nodded, knowing exactly what she meant--Seymour. Despite having spoken about it, Yuna seemed awfully calm.

          They didn't draw attention to themselves, and Tidus, since he was angry at the blitz team for bailing on him the night of the big game, was more than happy to be with Yuna. And the more they talked, the more she loosened up. She ended up becoming quite relaxed after a half-hour had passed.

          Meanwhile, Lulu was with Wakka. She had decided to take him up on his offer, and as long as her Moomba stayed securely tucked in her skirt, nothing would happen. Wakka seemed about ready to burst with happiness when Lulu showed up wearing the promised gold sash, and he had even taken care to look his best--and that included flattening his trademark and unorthodox hairstyle. Orange hair was slicked down with water, and he wore a black suit with a white shirt on underneath the blazer.

          "Hello," Lulu greeted.

          "Hi." Wakka sounded very nervous. "You... you really look amazing, ya?" His accent seemed to be getting in the way and his cheeks flushed.

          "Thank you," Lulu said in reply. A very slight blush stained her pale cheeks but it was hardly noticeable. "You look quite smart yourself, too."

          It took a moment for it to register with Wakka that "smart" didn't necessarily mean "intelligent" in this case. Once he did he relaxed a little and smiled. Maybe Lulu wouldn't be so dangerous as everyone made her out to be. Rikku had put her thoughts on rumours, tall tales, and stories rather well; it was when she was explaining to Wakka that she didn't believe the far-fetched stories in Yevons' teachings, and she had explained in very relevant terms that it was all just a collection of stories, and she believed that perhaps some of them were true, and others were just that--stories. After that, Wakka didn't argue with her on Yevons' teachings anymore. Nonetheless, the same thing was probably true about all of the stories about Lulu.

          Lulu was trying to teach Wakka how to dance properly without stepping on her feet. For a blitzer, he was quite awkward on his feet. She took his hands in hers and placed one around her waist and held the other with her own hand. After a few failed attempts at getting the steps right, they were finally dancing and not tripping.

          "Where'd you learn to dance?" He asked, keeping a close concentration on his steps.

          "My--my parents were ballroom dancers. When I was little, my mother taught me to dance, and by the time I was six, I'd gotten quite good at it," she explained.

          "Dey must be real proud 'a you, ya?"

          Lulu grew very quiet and her steps faltered a little but she managed to keep up the rhythm before Wakka killed them both from falling over. Quietly, she said, "Wakka... my parents died when I was seven. I've been living by my own devices for some eleven years now." She looked down and immediately dropped his hands, skittering away from everyone else to try and hide her tears.

          "Lulu!" Wakka wove through the crowd after her. He caught up and put a heavy hand on her shoulder. "Hey, I'm sorry, I didn't know. Please, don't run away. I didn't know. I'm real sorry..." he trailed off.

          The BlackMage turned, rubbing her eye with one hand. She blinked at him for a moment before she nodded, a sign that she had accepted his apology. "I suppose I'm just oversensitive," she said as a sort-of apology. "I shouldn't be so sensitive. I guess they would be proud of me if they were still alive."

          "Dey still proud 'a you," Wakka said. "Dey're just not around to show it, ya?"

          Lulus' gaze grew cold. "You know, that's a sensitive subject that you shouldn't approach with me," she snapped. "I used to be Yevon Catholic. I was faithful to the bone. When--when my parents died, I lost my faith. I was mad. Why, then, did the Fayth take my parents away from me when I needed them? Why did they leave me alone in the world with no one and nothing to look up to and to look after me? I was scared. Scared and alone. If there really is a Yevon and Fayth, then they certainly have no tolerance for BlackMages."

          Wakkas' mouth hung open like a codfish. He wanted to defend his religion, but no words came to mouth. She had a point. He still believed that the Fayth and that Yevon did everything for a reason, that everything was for a greater good, but Lulu seemed to have some certain definite doubts about it. But that didn't make her a bad person... did it?

          "Just think of my questions as pure stupidity," he offered. "Like in 'A Midsummer Nights' Dream.' Puck says, 'What fools these mortals be!'"

          "You've read Shakespeare?" Lulu asked, astounded. He nodded shyly. "I didn't know you read Shakespeare." She kept her additional thought, that she didn't even think he knew how to read, to herself.

          "Don't tell anyone, ya? I'd never live it down." He smiled crookedly.

          Lulu found herself grinning slightly. Imagine—the stereotypical jock actually read and liked Shakespeare. She herself had loved the plays since she was old enough to understand the old dialogue, and it was rare for her to find someone who liked it as she did, instead of merely reading it because they were assigned to in class. She jerked her head toward an unoccupied corner of the room where they sat together until most everyone forgot that they were even there.

          It was nine o'clock, and they had been there for an hour. Rikku had been, for lack of better words, ditched. Yuna and Tidus offered to stay with her, but Rikku didn't want to ruin her cousins' first date. Lulu was nowhere to be found. There was a crappy band playing on the stage, and the refreshments table was so crowded that she couldn't even get something to drink so she wouldn't look stupid standing about and doing nothing. She felt much like crying, which was uncharacteristic of her because she was always so happy. She signed and noticed that one of the doors was open, leading outside. Upon further investigation, it turned out that the door led out onto a concrete stoop and a few stairs, and out into the courtyard.

          Rikku sighed with relief. At least out here she could be alone without anyone actually seeing her. She walked down and sat on the steps with her elbows on her knees and her head hanging. She sighed heavily and rubbed her hands through her hair. She heard footsteps behind her, and someone came down next to her and sat on the stairs.

          "This seat taken?" The voice was male, and slightly familiar but Rikku could think of where she'd heard it before.

          "No, go ahead," she replied, taking a sidelong glance at her new companion. Blue eyes. Spiky blonde hair. She knew him from somewhere, but she couldn't think of where and it was beginning to make her brain itch. Finally, she quieted her dignity and asked, "Do I know you from somewhere?"

          The stranger turned toward her slowly, revealing to her his right eye, which was covered with an eye-patch. "I don't think so. But then again, I'm not good with names and faces." He grinned. Rikku gasped and covered her mouth with one hand.

          "A-are you…" she trailed off and narrowed her eyes. "Gippal?" She tested very quietly to see if he would respond.

          "Ah, so you know me," he said. "I'm not too well-known outside of the Al Bhed."

          "Yea, but I am Al Bhed!" She squeaked. Normally, she would have been leaping off of the walls at the thought of being sitting next to, and talking to, Gippal of the Machine Faction. But she was just pissed off from being ditched by her friend and having an outright boring night that she just didn't have the oomph to do it.

          "For a fangirl, you're pretty sedate. Someone give you a tranquilizer?" Gippal joked.

          "No," she snapped. But then she started to giggle. The day she had found out that the Machine Faction would be at the Homecoming dance, she had been screaming and leaping off of the walls and the ceiling and babbling on and on in AL Bhed and playing all of her CD's at high volume until Yuna threatened to take her to the animal hospital and have her put down. She never found out for sure if her cousin was kidding or not, but she was not about to call her bluff.

          "What's so funny?"

          "My cousin threatened to have me put to sleep the day I found out that you would be here. I was going crazy all over the house." She giggled again.

          "Your cousin?" He asked, astounded.

          "Yea. I dunno if she meant it or not, though."

          Gippal's good eye was opened wide and both eyebrows were lot somewhere in his hairline.

          "My cousin's just like that, ya know. I don't really think she'd actually ever hurt anyone." She reassured. Then she tilted her head to one side. She had read a lot about Gippal and the other members of the Machine faction but never once had she heard anything about what had happened to his right eye. "Hey… what, uh… what happened to your eye?" She asked.

          Gippal looked confused for a minute before he realized what she was talking about. "Oh, that. It's nothing."

          "Well, it hadda be something."

          "No, it wasn't anything."

          "Then why do you wear that thing?" She asked hands on her hips.

          A blush stained Gippal's cheeks. "I can show you if you promise not to tell anyone," he said. "And I mean you can't tell anyone. Got it?"

          "Yea, I got it…" she trailed off. He lifted his eye patch to reveal… a perfectly in-tact, chocolate-brown eye. Rikku's chest constricted. She began to snort and snigger. A hand over her mouth didn't help her any at all. Finally she broke down into a fit of giggles.

          "What?" Gippal demanded.

          "That's—that's it?" She asked between giggles. "Your eyes are two different colors? So you cover one up?" Her chest constricted again and she lost her breath from laughing. Gippal looked a bit confused.

          "Well, it's not exactly sexy," he said in his own defense.

          "But…" she snorted and covered her mouth again, composing herself. "My cousins' eyes are bicolored, too, and she doesn't care."

          "You serious?" He asked.

          "Yea! She has one blue eye and one green eye and she just doesn't care about it."

          "Wish I was more like that."

          "I have spiral eyes and it's never bothered me. Most people don't know it's an Al Bhed trait so I'm okay as long as no one finds out."

          "This is one weird conversation we're having," he commented.

          "Ain't it?" Rikku giggled again. Someone called Gippal's name from inside. He rolled his eyes.

          "I gotta run," he said. "Here—" he quickly scribbled down on a piece of paper a phone number and his name. "Call me." He began to walk off, but called back over his shoulder, "Hey, what's your name?"

          "Rikku," she managed to say.

          "Rikku…" he trailed off. Then he winked at her and replaced his eye patch before disappearing into the crowded room.

          Rikku felt like she had died and gone to some kind of Utopia. Saying "Heaven" would make her sound Yevonite, but maybe there really was a heaven after all. The events of this evening seemed to point out that there was.

          Yuna leaned against Tidus, the pair of them swaying back and forth. They weren't really dancing since neither really wanted to draw attention, and besides that—they were far too comfortable where they were.

          "This is nice," Yuna commented softly.

          "Yea—bet we could dance great together, too."

          Yuna giggled softly, which faded into contented sigh. Tidus had been so nice to her all night—and very funny. He had explained to her why his jacket was covered in cat hair—it seemed that cats always knew when a person was going somewhere important, and sleep on their clothes for a few hours before they leave.

          Suddenly, Yuna froze. Out of the corner of her eye, she could have sworn on her mother's grave that she had seen the characteristic blue hair of Seymour Guado. Tidus noticed her losing the color in her face and looked where she was frantically looking, but he saw nothing.

          "Yuna, what's up?" He asked.

          "He's here. I know he is," she whispered, looking around with wide, terrified eyes. She felt helpless and naked in this dress, despite the hundreds of people who would be witnesses should Seymour try anything. But that didn't mean he wouldn't stalk her on her way home or something else equally pleasant. Tidus could feel her trembling under his hands and he began looking for Seymour, too. He finally spotted him hiding in the shadows in the corner. He was watching Yuna intently with a crazy look in his eyes. He looked like some kind of wild fiend, trapped in a cage in mating season.

          "Yuna, it's okay," he whispered, although he had no idea how he was actually going to make it "okay." He managed to catch sight of Lulu, who, in turn, looked at him, Tidus made a motion with his head towards where Seymour stood, and Lulu's eyes went wide with a mix of fury and fear. Then her eyes narrowed and she nodded, mouthing "Get out" to him.

          "Tidus?" Yuna whispered. She felt her legs get numb. Her legs knew what she wanted to do—she wanted to run. Run hard and fast and get as far from Seymour Guado as the isle of Besaid would let her.

          "Come on," he grabbed her hand and made a dash for the front door as Lulu flapped her skirts to wake her Moomba. The doll jumped to life immediately.

          "Moomba! Remember the ugly guy who was with Yuna in town a few weeks ago?" She asked. The Moomba nodded. "Well, go get 'im!" With those instructions, the doll jumped up and dashed towards Seymour, climbing this time up his robes and scratching his thighs. Seymour screamed and shook out his clothes, trying to rid himself of the accursed doll that kept abusing him. While he concentrated on that, Yuna and Tidus made their escape as a heavy crowd gathered around Seymour.

          Tidus led them through the parking lot to his own car. He was very surprised at how fast Yuna was on her feet, although, he amended himself, she was being fueled by fear, so she would definitely be fast.

          They made it to Tidus's little car and drove off to a park on the other side of town. He stopped the car and looked at Yuna, who looked scared, angry, confused, and downright pissed off.

          "I'm sorry," she said quietly.

          "For what?"

          "I shouldn't have come. I should've known better. He'd follow me. He always does. He always finds out where I am." She put her face in her hands, then took them away and stared blankly out the front windshield. She was breathing shakily and he could tell that she wanted to cry. But she didn't cry. She stayed silent until finally he broke the silence.

          "I'll take you home."

          "No," she said quickly. "Can we… stay here? For just a little while?"

          "Sure."

          Yuna opened the door and got out of the car, going over to a pond that was lit with a single lantern hanging from a gazebo nearby. Tidus followed her.

          "Hey, you know, this isn't your fault."

          "Yes it is."

          "No it's not. It's not your fault, it's Seymour. Seymour's the one you should be mad at."

          Yuna stayed quiet for a minute, looking out at the water and watching a turtle come up for some air before disappearing again under the water. "I hate him." She said in such a venomous tone of voice that Tidus worried that she might mutate and turn into some kind of monster that would destroy the universe. Then he felt like smacking himself. One too many horror movies.

          "Something's gotta be done about him."

          "You have any ideas?" Yuna asked, staring at the water again.

          "No, but I'll think of something."

          She turned slowly. "Thanks," she whispered. A minute passed before she spoke again. "I used to come here all the time when I was little. It's about a mile from my house. I would build wooden boats and bring them down to this pond to try to make them float. They usually sank. Then I'd dive into the water to try and get them back, and I'd come home all wet and muddy, but I'd have my boat back, and Kimahri would always get upset. I'd say that it would never happen again, but every weekend I'd walk a mile down here and try to send another boat out across the water."

          Tidus said nothing, just listened. Sometimes people just needed to talk, and from what he knew of Yuna, there was probably no one around who was willing to listen to her talk. She kept going.

          "I wonder whatever happened to that Yuna. The little carefree girl. I guess she's dead. She must've died when she entered junior high, and rumors about her began to spread. Like a wildfire." She sighed, hanging her head. "You must think… well, I don't know what you must think about me. There's so many rumors that you probably were terrified of me. Most people are."

          "I heard about you from Rikku. She just tells me the truth," Tidus said.

          Instead of being reassuring, this scared Yuna. "She'd better not be using dirt on me. I could blackmail her, too!"

          "Whoa, whoa, calm down," he told her. "Calm down."

          They stood in silence again, but this time it was a comfortable one. Finally, Yuna asked, "Could you take me home? I'd walk but I can't in this dress."

          "Sure," he said with a grin.

          It took them five minutes to get from the park to Yuna's front door. The lights inside were off and the doors were locked, but Yuna had a key. When she got out of the car, Tidus followed and walked her to the door.

          "Thanks," Yuna whispered. "I'd invite you in, but I don't want to wake anyone up."

          "Ah, it's no problem," he said, dismissing it with a wave of the hand. "Auron's a real hellbeast when ya wake him up, so I know how that is."

          "Right then," she said unlocking the door. She opened it slowly, and stepped inside, not once taking her eyes off of him.

          "Right…" Tidus watched her go inside. "Sweet dreams, Yuna."

                                                                                                            ~*~

Hey! I finally finished! And it only took me… what… two weeks? Yeesh, I'm slipping. Well, I've been a bit… uh… sick the last few days. Actually they've been hellish cramps and I've been staying home from school because of them. That's bad. That's really bad. Anyway. I sure hope you guys liked this chapter. Was it worth the wait? And I hope you like the Yuna+Tidus stuff I put in there. Please review! I'll love you forever and ever and ever if you do!

—the Vulpes Lapis