Okay, I told you it would get posted soon. I'm writing, I promise! But curse my education for getting in the way all of the time. Bah Humbug! Well, just know that if I didn't have to get my ass out of bed and go to school tomorrow, I would be up until well after three in the morning to write and finish this chapter. But since I have it all planned out, I might be done in just a couple of days, so who knows? Okay, okay, you can stop throwing books at the computer screen. I'm writing, I swear…
I do not own Final Fantasy X or any characters thereof. Now leave me the heck alone before I pummel you into the floor.
~*~
Chapter 11
Turn, Turn, Turn
Lunch proved to be its' usual chaotic state. Yuna and Rikku sat at their normal table away from everyone else. They usually sat outside in the courtyard with Lulu, but the cold weather made them decide to eat indoors today. Lulu had also taken to sitting with Wakka, leaving her two friends feeling somewhat abandoned.
Yuna sad slumped over in her seat, leaning her entire backside over the back of her stool and gripping the edge of the stool with her hands between her legs. Anyone watching her would think she was a contortionist but she found it a rather comfortable way to stretch her legs and stay seated at the same time.
"I never really thought of Lu as a person to ditch her friends for a guy," Rikku said with a heavy sigh. "But then again… this one's high-maintenance."
"Lulu is high-maintenance?" Yuna asked, astonished. Lulu was very undemanding and didn't require very much attention, although, Yuna decided, in a relationship she might be skittish since she was so unsure of herself. She would probably need a little reassurance that she was loved.
"Actually, I was thinking Wakka was," she said, glancing over to where they were hunched over a book together and talking back and forth. "Gonna take a lot of work to make that relationship go. Yevon Catholic and a BlackMage. It's like oil and water."
Yuna nodded, then glanced over. She could kind of tell what they were saying by watching their lips, since she could connect words with movements of the mouth. It was something Kimahri had taught her at a young age along with tracking and hunting skills. After a moment, both Wakka and Lulu noticed her watching them. She saw Lulu lean into him and say something. Yuna could just barely make it out.
"Don't worry—from that angle they can't see under the table."
Curious, Yuna pretended to pick up something off of the floor in order to catch a glimpse of exactly what was going on under the table. Both of their hands were resting on Lulu's knee and they hands were interlocked. Yuna let out a quiet little squeak.
"What, Yunie?" Rikku asked. "What? Tell me."
"Lulu and Wakka are over there holding hands underneath the table!" She squeaked quetly.
"Who'd'a thunk?" Someone behind them said. Yuna almost jumped over the table. But she knew that voice: Tidus.
Since the Blitz season was over, the team was no longer grouped together at the lunch period with their cheerleaders. Instead they'd dispersed back to their normal herds and Tidus was left to wander since he still didn't get along great with the other members of the team.
"Mind if I sit down? Datto is over there giving me the Evil Eye," he said, pointing to a guy from the Blitz team who was glaring evilly at him. Yuna nodded.
"It's all right with me."
Motioning towards Lulu and Wakka seated together, and alone, he enquired, "What're they up to?"
"Holding hands under the table," Rikku giggled. "Isn't it way cute?"
"Them?" Tidus gasped. "But—isn't Lulu a BlackMage?" He scratched his head, confused. "Yea, you told me she is… right? Or am I crazy?"
"Could be both," Rikku suggested. "Anyway, Lulu's a BlackMage. It's confusing us too. I coulda sworn he would rather swallow his own sneakers than associate with something so blasphemous as a BlackMage."
Tidus bit his lip to keep from sniggering. He kind of thought that, too. "Ah, cheer up. In three days, we get the hell outta here for Winter Break, That's something, right?"
Yuna nodded. She was still slightly agonizing over Christmas, since she wanted to get him something but she hadn't the slightest idea what. What she considered giving him was something Ronso-made. Her room was full of things that the Ronsos had given her but that she doubted she would ever use: countless pouches, bone carvings, beaded and shell jewelry, woven blankets… every imaginable piece of goods. He might like something like that.
Tidus, too, agonized over what to get for Yuna. Unlike her, he did not have exotic goods laying about his house. He thought on this for the rest of the day, and for the rest of the next day, too. He wandered into his house after school to find a wet and disgruntled Auron at the top of the stairs, glaring daggers down at him.
"I haven't been home all day, so whatever went wrong is probably your fault, not mine," Tidus said casually.
"That stupid cat isn't letting me into my bathroom again!" He hollered. "She hasn't let me in there in two weeks and I hate having to use your bathroom! You keep dirty magazines on the countertop!"
"The swimsuit issues of 'Sports Illustrated' isn't exactly 'dirty,' Auron."
"It is when every one is there from the last five years!" He sighed, exasperated. "Look, if something doesn't get done with that cat, she's gonna have to go."
Tidus sighed. "All right, I'll go upstairs and see what's up, okay?" Before Auron answered, he bolted up the stairs and into his bathroom. As Auron said, Gadget was upstairs, sitting at the bathroom door as soon as she heard him coming. She hissed a little but when she saw it wasn't Auron come with the intention of turning the shower on, she mellowed down and disappeared back into the bathroom. Now very curious, Tidus peeked into the bathroom and saw the tabby leap into the shower and close the curtain with her teeth.
"Whatcha hiding in there, Gadget?" He asked, carefully going over to inspect. He really had no idea what she was up to until he pulled back the curtain and saw Gadget standing over four kittens. "Whoa! Gadget! When did you have these?" He asked, as if she could answer.
Two brave kittens got up and tried to climb up the sides of the shower to get to him, to see who he was and if he was edible. Three of the kittens were tabby and one was solid black. He had no idea who the father of these kittens could be, since Ace was fixed and they weren't outside cats. He shook his head. Cats were just like that.
He noticed a fifth kitten after the other two had gotten up to come and see him. This one was a calico, and very small—the runt of the small litter. He reached over to pick it up, and suddenly had an idea. Christmas was in a few days, and these kittens had to be at least five weeks old, if not older. Even though Yuna had a dog the size of a small station wagon, she could probably take in a kitten…
Yuna walked into her favorite little restaurant after work on Friday night. It was the last day of school that day and she was glad that they would have two and some odd weeks to sleep in and not go to school. For her that meant no work, no teachers, no projects—and no Seymour. And there was always Tidus she could look forward to. They'd been bumping into each other everywhere over the last few weeks. At movies, outside of the art supply place where she worked, on the beach, in the park, and even sometimes outside of her house. She knew that they weren't all coincidence, but she did wonder how he always knew where she would be.
She sat down at a table and ordered a chocolate shake and began to read her book that she'd brought along. She loved this place. It was so small and homey and there were old magazine and newspaper articles hanging up all over the place, old fliers, posters, movie advertisements, and even one of her paintings covering the walls. Some of the clippings and fliers dated sixty or more years old. People just donated them for the restaurant to hang on the walls.
She looked around the place every so often, just to keep an eye on the time. She found out that Brother was cooking dinner tonight so she volunteered to do extra work, and conveniently arrive home late after getting some real food here before she went and subjected herself to the smell of Brother's cooking skills. Or lack thereof. When she looked up again, she saw a familiar figure.
"Tidus?" She looked over at the booth two spots away from hers. The man standing there turned about, startled. It was, in fact, who she thought it was.
"Hey, Yuna," he said quietly, sounding a little embarrassed. She wondered briefly why he was—after all, he'd probably planned this little rendezvous, as well.
"What're you doing here?" She asked.
"I work here."
This surprised her. She didn't know that he worked here. She came here a lot and she hadn't seen him. Maybe it was because of her timing, and she'd only come on the days that he hadn't been there.
"Hey, Reina!" Someone yelled to Tidus from the kitchen. "I'm not payin' you to stand around and talk! Get in here and help me out!"
"I gotta run," he said quickly, then looked at his watch. "My shift ends in fifteen minutes. Think you'll still be here then?" He sounded hopeful.
She honestly knew that she probably wouldn't be there, but she decided to be nice anyway. "For you? Sure." She smiled a little and he grinned back before disappearing into the kitchen. Sure enough, in fifteen minutes Tidus wandered up to her table in his normal garb and carrying a small duffel bag over one shoulder.
"Hey," he said casually. "Mind if I sit down?"
"Go ahead," she told him, poking at her mostly-melted milkshake with a straw. She'd been so absorbed in reading her book and daydreaming about him that she'd let it turn into chocolate milk. "So when'd you start working here, anyways?" She asked. "I'm here all the time and I've never seen you before."
"A while… since August. Maybe we're just on different schedules," he suggested with a shrug.
"Maybe. I'm usually here after work when I work late on Fridays and Saturdays and sometimes Tuesdays."
"See, I'm in here Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays," he said. "Maybe I'll see about getting says shuffled so we bump into each other a little more often?" He suggested. Yuna rolled her eyes.
"I've bumped into you more times in the last few weeks than I have anyone else in the last few months," she told him. She wasn't really bitter about it, just confused. She thought that he was merely playing the part of her boyfriend in school so that Seymour would let her be, which turned out not to work all that well after all. But he was putting on this "act" everywhere, even when they were alone, or just with Rikku and Lulu, who already knew of their arrangement. He didn't have to put up the act with them and she had no idea why he would sit there with his arm around her if he didn't really have to.
"So why'd you make a special trip today? You get stuck working overtime or something?" He asked, poking at the ice piled in his soda with a straw. He really wasn't hungry because he'd spent all night pilfering scraps in the kitchen. But he was thirsty and at least he wouldn't be sitting there like an idiot with nothing to do.
"I volunteered for overtime," she admitted. "It's Brother's night to cook. I shudder to think what's he's done to the kitchen. If there still is one when I get back…" She shuddered. The glanced at her watch and her eyes went wide. "Aw, crud, it's after eight. I gotta get home before Brother calls the police and says I was kidnapped."
"I should go, too," Tidus said, getting up. They both left separate tabs for their food and walked out into the cool night air. Even though it was the end of December, the air was still heavy and humid, but was quite cold. Yuna had traded her fur-lined denim jacket for a black suede one that fastened up the front with both a zipper and a handful of metal rings.
"How'd you get here?" She asked him, pulling her helmet from her bag. "I don't see your car. Did your guardian drive you?"
"Nah. He took away my car keys again and I hadda take a bus."
There was a pause.
"Buses here are pretty unreliable," she told him, holding her helmet under her arm and against her hip. She chewed a little on her lower lip, thinking something over in her mind. "If you can fit into a helmet I can give you a ride home," she offered.
"You serious?" He asked. He'd kind of been hoping he'd get to ride on her bike sometime. He always thought motorcycles were chick magnets but now that he kind of already had a girl, he found it ironic that he drove the little Beetle and she drove a motorbike.
"Sure. If you can't fit into one, though, I won't drive you. I can wait with you until the bus comes but I won't drive you."
"Done deal."
She made her way to her bike and tossed him a helmet. "That's mine but it might fit you. It's a little big on me." She dug into her bag for Rikku's helmet, which she had forgotten to give back. It was bright purple, which suited her just fine. She just figured that Tidus wouldn't be caught dead in a purple helmet so she gave him her black one instead.
Mercifully, the helmet fit him and he didn't have to cram it on like he feared. He was determined to fit into it anyway, no matter what, since he was not about to pass up an opportunity like this, which would probably never ever come again.
"You ready?" She asked, sitting up on the front of the bike and letting him settle behind her. "Whatever you do, don't throw your weight. You most definitely weigh more than I do, so the bike might tip." She glanced back at him but she couldn't see through the tint of the visor. "Got that?"
"Yep. Lets get a move on!"
The bike sped off down the street into the night.
Because of the noise and the helmets, they didn't talk on the ride, so both had that time to think. Tidus was leaning slightly forward on Yuna's back, his arms around her waist to keep from flying off of the back, although in reality Yuna was not really a good anchor. Yuna felt her skin grow goose bumps that she was pretty sure he could feel right through her jacket. How and why was he doing this to her? There was no denying her feelings for him—at least not to herself. She wouldn't say them out loud no matter what happened. Meanwhile, Tidus was trying to decide how he would get Yuna to admit that she liked him. He'd seen that look in her eye in just about every romantic tragedy he'd ever seen. She figured that he wouldn't like her even though he had all but blatantly told her—
The bike rolled to a stop at the end of the driveway. A light was on at the bottom floor so he knew that Auron was definitely home.
"Thanks for the ride," he said, and began to dismount. Yun turned herself 180 degrees and sat facing him without her helmet. He gulped. He'd seen the look that was in her eyes now in movies, too. In just about every Hitchcock film in existence.
"Tidus, what are you playing at?" She asked him soundly, not wasting any time. "What's this all about, hm?"
"What's what all about?" He asked her.
"Are you just acting? Or are we actually going out?" She snapped.
There was quite a pause there, and out of the corner of his eye, Tidus saw Auron looking out of the front window. He sighed.
"I… I guess we're actually going out," he replied. Then he added in a timid little voice, "Please?"
Yuna raised her eyebrows. He was actually serious about this, wasn't he? A slow smile spread across her lips.
"Okay," she said. She gave him a peck on the cheek before he got off of the bike and headed for his front door. When he turned back to wave to her, she'd already left and sped down to road towards her own house.
"Tidus, were you just kissing another guy out there?" Auron snapped the second he closed the door.
"Whatever happened to, 'Hello, were you just kissing another guy out there'?" Tidus asked with some humor. After that little talk with Yuna, there was nothing that could ruin his mood. "And no, it wasn't a guy. It was a girl. She gave me a ride home."
"On a bike?" He asked.
"Yea." He sighed. Auron really had a thing against homosexuality. "Look, I'm straight. Nothing to worry about, okay?" He rolled his eyes.
"All right…" Auron said.
He paused. He needed a little advice and he was pretty desperate… desperate enough to ask Auron for advice. He didn't want Rikku or Lulu, but especially Rikku finding out that he had practically begged Yuna to go out with him. She would probably spread it to half of the school.
"Hey, Auron?"
"Hm?"
"I gotta ask you something," he winced for Auron's sure-to-come cynical comment.
"You need my advice? Does this have something to do with that girl you asked to the Homecoming dance and the one that drove you home?"
"It's the same girl."
"Then what's the problem?"
"How do I go out with someone, but keep it… well… quiet?"
Auron actually looked him right in the eye for his answer. "You're asking the wrong man," he said flatly. "The first time a girl said she'd go out with me, I announced it to the school over the PA and wrote her name on my bicep with a blue marker." He paused. "Of course, it wasn't for another two and a half years that a girl would actually go out with me…"
Tidus sighed. So much for that idea. He'd probably have to just keep it quiet on his own, because he really didn't need the insane amount of attention that fell upon most couples at the school and he knew Yuna wouldn't want it either.
Yuna sat on her front steps with a box in a her lap, waiting for Tidus to arrive. He'd called her a few minutes earlier, telling her that he had something to give her and that she should wait for him so that he could get his car keys from Auron. Butterflies swarmed her stomach and she felt a mix of excitement and nervousness. She decided to wait outside instead of just inside the front door because Rikku had gotten a note from Gippal telling her to turn to one of the local stations at 4:30 pm. Yuna glanced at her watch when she heard her cousin squealing inside the house. Her watch read 11:56 am. She sighed. It was going to be quite a long day.
Tidus, meanwhile, was sick of waiting for Auron to get out of bed. He'd been out until very early in the morning at work working overtime, and was exhausted, so he couldn't get his keys back. Finally, he crept into his guardians' room and stood at the foot of his bed.
"Auron?" He whispered. Auron only made a grumbling noise and rolled onto his stomach. He tried again. "Hey, Auron?"
Auron wasn't completely awake nor did he seem to know what was going on. "All right, get dressed," he muttered. "I'll drive you home."
"Auron!" Tidus covered his ears with his hands and closed his eyes, trying to rid his mind of the image that was beginning to form. "Auron. It's me! Tidus!"
"Tidus?" He groaned and grabbed his pillow, tossing it at him. "Do me a favor and drive this lady home. The keys to your car are in my jacket pocket. The one in the sleeve. And don't slam the door on your way out."
Having found out what he wanted to begin with, he grabbed his keys and a shoebox with some scuffling coming from inside and left to go see Yuna. He was out a little later than he'd wanted to be, but at least he got his keys back. When he reached Yuna's house, he saw her sitting on her front porch with her dog, looking around the corner with a worried look on her face. She probably figured he'd stood her up.
"Hey, Yuna!" He called from his car window. When she looked his way, she smiled warmly and relief washed over her face. So he hadn't stood her up after all. She shoved Ursa back into the house so that she wouldn't bowl him over when he got out of the car. Instead the dog sat at the screen door, crying pitifully like she'd just been abandoned.
"Hello," she said shyly. She was unsure how to act around him, now that their "dating" was no longer an act. She had the box tucked under one arm and noticed he was holding a clumsily-wrapped shoebox with a few holes poked in the top. She tilted her head slightly to one side as he handed her the box and she handed him his.
"You'll have to open it now. I don't think it'll wait until Christmas," he said.
"That's all right… you can open yours, too. I wasn't sure about what to get you. I asked Rikku and she said you'd like it." She held the box Tidus had given her gently in her arms and she could swear she heard something scuffling around inside. Was it alive? He seemed to be waiting for her to open it, so she carefully removed the lid. A tiny calico kitten with big yellow eyes sat inside, a red bow tied around her neck. Her heart melted. "Tidus…" she whispered, picking the little animal up and holding her gently. "Where did…?"
"My cat had kittens. That one is the runt. The other kittens kept bullying her and I thought that you might like her…" he trailed off, as if uncertain.
"I don't know what to say…" she whispered, petting the little kitten on the head with two fingers. "Thank you." She watched Tidus as he reached into the box she'd given him and pulled out a Ronso-made soft leather pouch with gray rabbit fur lining the bottom and glass beadwork on the flap. He inspected it with a careful eye. The pouch was on a belt, so he could wear it without looking like he was wearing a ladies' purse. He felt something inside, so he reached in and pulled out a bone carving—half of a bear, standing and looking straight ahead.
"Thanks, Yuna," he said, putting his free hand around her shoulders and hugging her.
"I have the other half," she told him, reaching into her pocket and pulling out the other half of the bone-carved bear. The two halves made a whole. "Kimahri gave it to me… a long time ago," she explained. "He told me to give one half of it to someone special." She felt herself blush.
"Hey, you wanna walk down to the park?" He asked. He could tell right away that that put her at ease.
"Sure. I'll just tell Rikku where I'm going. Maybe she'll be listening." She stuck her head into the house. "Pypa! Where are you? I'm going to the park. I'll be back later. Ursa's been fed." She doubted very much that her cousin was even listening, but Brother had probably heard her and would relay the message.
"Yuna, where are you leaving to?" He stood in the doorway, glaring daggers at Tidus.
"Just to the park. I'll be back later."
"When?"
"Just later. Don't worry, I'll be fine."
"Fine. Be that way!" Brother stormed back into the house. "I try to keep you safe, and you go off with some blond guy! What thanks is that?"
"He annoys me," Yuna explained. "Just ignore him. He just wants my attention."
At that time, Wakka was standing in the veterinary hospital where Lulu worked, holding a red book with a ribbon tied around it. He wanted to give it to her personally, but he'd been standing there waiting for her to come for a while, but whenever a receptionist called her from the back she wouldn't come. Finally, the receptionist at the desk turned to him.
"Look, if you just leave that here, I can give it to her when she comes back. She must be busy right now or she'd've come."
Wakka sighed and looked down at his feet. He'd hoped to be able to give this to her himself, but obviously that wouldn't happen. "All right. Tell her… just tell her Wakka came by, okay?" He left the book on the tabletop and left the building. The receptionist took it and put it on her desk before going back to her computer.
"I really hate kennel duty," Lulu said, coming in from the back. She wore a plain black dress with her lab coat over top of it and her hair tied back into the bun and many braids. "Next time, I'll say I'm doing file work." She sat down at her own desk and went through her papers.
"Oh, by the way, Lulu, someone came in here a few minutes ago. He wanted me to give you this," the other woman handed over the red leather book. Lulu looked at it, confused, before picking it up. In the red leather cover, picked out in gold lettering, was the title, A Midsummer Night's Dream. The pages were lined in gold and the book itself looked quite old. She'd seen this book before in an old bookstore up the street but she would never have bought it for herself because she already owned a copy of A Midsummer Night's Dream and because she never really thought to buy it herself, granted she liked it very much.
"Who left it?" She asked, untying the ribbon and gently opening the book. A slip of paper fell out into her lap, and she picked it up. The paper read, "Not because you need it but because you want it."
"Some guy. He had funny red hair and a real thick island accent."
"Wakka?" She asked.
"That's it. You know him?"
"I think I'm dating him." She kept the rest of her thought to herself: I think I love him.
~*~
Okay, that really took a lot longer than I would have liked. I'd've gotten this sucker posted on the first day of spring break, honest! But you see… Thursday night I went into the hospital with a kidney stone, which is a very, very long story which ends at about eleven Saturday morning, but… anyway. Here it is now. I'm totally doped up on pain medication because this sucker is stuck in place. I have surgery Wednesday to break it up so after that I'll be able to start on the next chapter. I dunno what I'm going to do after report cards come out though. I'm failing chem. but I've got pretty good grades everywhere else, so I think I can schmooze my way into not getting banned from the computer.
By the way, I tried not to make Wakka and Lulu have a "Love At First Sight" thing going on, but we all know Lulu is was too level headed to believe in that so she'll try and keep her wits about her. But we all know what'll happen in the end, don't we? ^_~