(AN: Okay, I had a lil' break, but I'm back. I was just brainstorming on how to progress it towards the cool ideas I have for later! Ohhhh, betcha wanna know what they are now! Oh well, I've got an ICT test tomorrow which is about 'people'??? and I had a geography test this morning and my hand got all slippery and shaky. Oh well, at least I got that 6 mark question on fold mountains, (No, I'm not a nerd usually), Neway, enjoy! )
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy X or X-2, they all belong to Squaresoft, : -(
Just Friends(A few weeks later)
"Wakie, wakie, rise and shine – it's cup-of-coffee time!!!" Rikku yelled in Yuna's ear.
Yuna shot up with bleary eyes and seriously scrunched up hair.
"W-what – RIKKU!" Yuna said. Rikku gave a childish smile and shoved a cup of coffee into her hands.
"Sorry, but if you didn't wake up even after that, then I would have to set Brother on you." Rikku answered with a scary sense of truth, "Besides, you don't have to dread school anymore by hiding under the covers – you fit in just perfect, like I hoped you would!" Rikku said as she exited the room.
'That's not the point, I was having nice dream... about Tidus – but that's not the point!' Yuna grumbled and dragged herself out of bed and into the bathroom.
Despite their slight delay from Yuna – they both made it to school with about 15 minutes to spare.
"Hey Rikku, hey Yuna – how's it goin?" Wakka practically shouted, from the usual bench.
Lulu rolled her eye's as half the school turned to stare at him.
"Oh, we're doing just fine." Rikku said with ecstatic happiness as she jumped on the bench causing the whole thing to wobble like 10 on the Richer Scale. (A/N: I got geography on the brain)
"Yep, and we made it to school on time, which is a plus!" Yuna added lightly and sat down next to Lulu, "Hey, where's Tidus?"
"Oh... he ummm... well what I mean is... well I –" Wakka started.
"He'll probably come in later, he told me he had a bit of headache." Lulu finished, and Yuna caught her giving a quick glare to Wakka who blushed, but decided not to question it.
"Hey, we're thinking of going out somewhere tonight – wanna come?" Lulu asked.
"Sure!" Rikku answered without hesitation.
"Errrr, sure – but where?" Yuna answered with caution.
"Hmmmmm, I'm not sure but I feel like tonight's a socialising night. We'll pick you up at 7, I'm sure I'll have decided by then – just think of it as a surprise!" Lulu added.
BBBBBBBBRRRRRRRIIIIIINNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yuna's first lesson was science – which was good because she was partnered with Tidus and bad because he wasn't here today.
"Okay class – today we're going to be doing some partner work!" Said Mr Rin, who taught Al Bhed and Science.
'Great, just my luck' Yuna rolled her eyes.
"Is this seat taken?" Asked an icy voice from behind Yuna. It slithered on the 's' and made Yuna feel slightly self-conscious, in a bad way.
Yuna turned around to come face to face with the most ugly looking person she had ever seen. Yuna wasn't one to judge by looks, but this guy had to come first in the 'Spira's Ugliest Man' contest. He had electric blue hair that made his already pale skin look a pasty, blue colour. He had violet eyes, which would have been pretty if it wasn't for the secret plans and purvey emotion in them. He had a cracked smile on his lips that didn't look the slightest bit inviting.
Yuna suddenly realised she had been staring at this guy for quite a while, with her mouth open, and still hadn't answered his question.
"Oh ummm..." Yuna glanced at Tidus' seat from the guy, to the seat again.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I am Seymour." He butted in, and with that he sat down in Tidus' place.
"I-I..." But Yuna felt it was helpless, for Seymour had switched his attention to the front of the class. She just sighed.
Later on they were doing the experiment and Yuna wasn't enjoying herself the slightest bit. Seymour was trying to strike up a conversation about Covalent Bonds between Atoms, but she wasn't listening. Besides, every time she turned her back, she could feel his scary eyes on her, checking her out, which gave her more shivers.
Just as Yuna was writing the temperature after 2 minutes, someone opened the classroom door. It was Tidus. A feeling of relief washed over Yuna – surely this would mean Seymour would leave her alone.
Tidus walked up to Mr Rin and handed him a note. They exchanged a few words, and then Tidus turned to walk over to Yuna – but stopped suddenly. Yuna followed his eyesight to Seymour, who was staring back at Tidus equally. There was a look of pure hatred in each other's eyes. Tidus' usually handsome face was creased with a dark frown and Seymour's hands had clenched into tightly balled fists.
Tidus flicked his glance over to Yuna before walking over to their desk.
"Seymour... you can go now." Tidus said blankly.
"No way, I was here first – you're gonna have to work on your own or with someone else." Said Seymour with smirk in his voice.
"But Yuna's my partner." Answered Tidus with rising anger.
"Make me move then." Said Seymour as his voice began to rise. Yuna didn't like the turn of this conversation.
"Tidus, you're going to have to work with Yuna and Seymour." Said Mr Rin from across the classroom. Both men grunted and Tidus walked round to Yuna's left side, whilst Seymour was on her other.
Yuna gave a relieved sigh at both the controlled argument and the fact that Tidus was here, which would hopefully cease Seymour's purvey glances.
Conversation was tight, but at least it stopped Seymour chatting about Atoms.
Finally the bell rang, and Seymour hurriedly packed up and left.
"Listen Yuna." Said Tidus with a gentle voice caught Yuna's attention easily.
"Yes...."
"Could you promise me to stay away from Seymour? Please." Tidus asked her, a hint of worry apparent.
"I would anyway! But why?" Said Yuna, captivated by those beautiful azure eyes, unable to pull away.
"Trust me, he's not good news. It's a long story, but just promise me you will stay away from him." And with that he pulled away from her eyes to sling his bag over his shoulder and signal for her to lead the way.
'What's Seymour done to Tidus?' Yuna thought as she and Tidus made their way to the usual bench.
She felt warm and happy to have him beside her and risked a quick glance his way – when she saw it – another light purple bruise just slightly under his jaw near his ear on the right. She hadn't seen it before but now her attention was drawn to it in curiosity.
Risking a quick glance hadn't been a good idea, for Tidus felt her eyes on him and turned to meet her gaze. He realised she was looking at his bruise.
"How did you...?" Yuna asked stupidly before thinking, and then trailed off.
Tidus stared at her for a few seconds, in thought.
"Didn't look where I was goin and walked into a door frame." He replied shortly.
'Liar' Yuna thought, ' I can tell you're lying. Why won't you tell me, but you tell Lulu and Wakka? I know I'm new but don't you trust me as a friend yet?'
Yuna let it go, and the end of school dragged on – she couldn't wait for their surprise tonight.
7 O' clock came soon though, and Rikku rushed to the door to answer Lulu. Yuna walked to the front door with a broad smile on her pretty face.
"So where are we goin?" Rikku asked excitedly, jumping up and down on the spot.
"Lets just say, grab your swimming stuff!" Lulu said.
With that, Yuna's smile quickly disappeared.
Lulu saw it disappear and quickly said, "Sorry if that's not what you were expecting but we're so fed up of just going to the bars and clubs – besides none of us have gone swimming properly before, well Tidus and Wakka go swimming at Blitz but that's all practice and no fun!"
Still Yuna couldn't manage to smile.
"Errrrm, it's not that, it's just.... I can't swim - I have a fear of water." Yuna said quietly.
Lulu stayed silent, and Tidus suddenly jumped oven the front garden fence into Yuna's garden and walked up to the porch, with a dazzling smile on his face.
"Okay, shall we go then?" He said happily.
"I'm not so sure we're gonna go now!" Said Lulu.
Yuna suddenly realised what a spoilsport she was being.
"I know – we will all go, I'll come I promise, but I might just stay in the shallow end or on the edge. I really don't want to ruin the fun, I'll just chat with you guys and stuff!" Yuna rushed.
"Are you sure?" Lulu asked hesitantly, "We don't want you to get bored."
"Oh, don't worry – I'm sure I'll have fun watching you guys!" Yuna said playfully – everything was going to be okay!
"Okay, if you're really sure you don't mind?" Tidus said before indicating for them to head over to Wakka's car, in which Wakka sat, completely bored, with his arm draped out the window.
"Let's get goin, ya!" He said and stared the engine.
Everyone was changed and headed out from the changing rooms to the pool, which was completely empty being so late at night – except for Wakka and Tidus who were already in there trying to dunk each other under, and failing!
The sight of even the peaceful water made Yuna shiver. Rikku gave her a reassuring nudge and went to stand over but the pool's edge. Wakka caught sight of them and whistled. Lulu just gave a saucy smile at Wakka and went to stand over by Rikku.
"Good, it's freezing, I'm not going in there!" Rikku moaned after dipping a toe in.
"Tough!!!" Lulu said and shoved her in.
Rikku's screaming was cut short when she hit the water. Yuna couldn't help but giggle uncontrollably.
"You're so gonna pay for that-" Said Rikku as she emerged. But couldn't say anymore as Lulu dived in.
They continued to fight some more, but Yuna still couldn't bring herself to walk over to the ledge on the shallow end.
"You okay?" A gentle voice suddenly asked. Yuna turned to face Tidus, who had got out the water and quietly approached her.
My Yevon, he looked completely gorgeous. He wore some black, baggy trunks with a dark blue stripe on the left right-hand side. His messy hair was still appetising even when damp, and his beautiful eye's look fantastic in the glowing blue light the pool was giving off. Yuna couldn't help but get repercussions of when he saved her from the depth of the Besaid oceans.
"Sort of. I just didn't realise how hard it would actually be – to just simply walk over to the ledge and put my feet in the water!" Yuna said, her voice slightly shaky – whether it was Tidus of the water causing that, she didn't know.
"Do you want some help?"
"Yes!" Yuna said with delight, then realised how happy she sounded and saw Tidus raise a sexy eyebrow at her, "Errr, I mean yes please." She covered up her mistake and blushed.
Tidus just smiled at her and held out his hand for her to hold, which she accepted gratefully. This was probably the only time she had touched him properly – though there was that time where she accidentally clasped his hand in ICT because she was left handed and he was right, so she had placed his hand over his on the mouse.
Tidus led her slowly over to the water, which reflected admirably off his fine abs.
When they got to the edge, she felt herself get dizzy and sway from the beautiful water only a few inches away. Tidus grabbed her before she fell over and for a second they were frozen in each other's arms – Yuna pressed comfortably inside his strong arms that held her tightly, reminding her even more of him picking her up off the ocean floor.
"I feel like I've seen this before!" Tidus joked and Yuna giggled softly.
He let her go and slid into the water, which came up to his mid thigh. He held out his arms to go round her middle. Yuna felt her heart rate quicken and she carefully let herself be held by Tidus as he lowered her onto the ledge. His arms stopped her from falling forward.
It was cold but she got used to it. Reluctantly, Tidus let go of her and gave her a small, gentle smile. He turned to dive into the water to the others, who were unaware of what had just happened and having a splash-fight.
"Tidus-" Yuna found her self blurt.
He turned to meet her eyes and for a second said nothing.
"Yes?"
"Could... C - could you teach me to swim?" Yuna new she was probably asking a lot, and refused to look at him but stared at the rhythmic water.
There was a moment of silence.
"Sure!" He said happily, and she snapped her head up to meet his beautiful eyes.
"Really!"
"No, not really!" Said Tidus with obvious sarcasm in his voice, before smiling and closing the distance between them.
"First, we're gonna practice floating!" He said and slid his arms around her middle, and gently lifted her off the edge.
Yuna's heart went into super speed mode from the water sliding up to the top of her thighs, and Tidus' bare hands on her body.
"Okay, lets go a lil' bit deeper, so you can just touch the floor." He said calmly.
"NO, NO – not deeper than this." Yuna pleaded, "I don't wont to go any deeper." Tension rose in her voice and she clasped her hands tightly around his arms holding her.
"I'll be right here, to catch you – trust me, I won't let anything happen to you." Tidus said gently, holding her gaze with truth.
Yuna felt herself calm down a little and complied. The water slid higher.
"Okay, take a deep breath," Tidus said, and Yuna did, "Can you feel yourself float?" He asked.
Yuna nodded.
"Okay, now release that breath and take another, then try to stay floating. I'm not going to hold you, just have my arms beneath you in case."
Yuna reluctantly took a deep breath and released her hands from his arms. For a second she floated - she was actually floating! But then, she felt herself sink and began to panic. She thrashed about and felt Tidus try to grab her but she was struggling too hard. She grab the nearest thing and wrapped herself tightly around... Tidus.
For a second, her panic ceased and she felt safe, but then she suddenly realised what she was doing and brought her embarrassed gaze up to Tidus' eyes. She had her arms wrapped tightly around his neck and her legs wrapped around his middle. Their lips were only a few centimetres apart – she could easily close the distance...
He raised another eyebrow at her.
"I told you, I'll catch you – so you don't need to thrash about, I'm right here!" Yuna reddened a little, and suddenly realised how quiet it was. She and Tidus simultaneously looked over at the others, who in turn, where all staring at them. Wakka had a cocky grin and Lulu and Rikku were giggling. Wakka then gave a loud wolf whistle!
Now it was Tidus' turn to blush.
"Shut up Wakka, I'm teaching Yuna to swim!" Tidus said hastily.
"Awww, young love!" Sighed Rikku, and Yuna gave her the worst glare ever!
They survived the moment of humiliation, and the others went back to their splash fight, Rikku and Lulu against Wakka.
"A-hem!" Said Tidus, and Yuna realised that she was still wrapped around him.
"Oh, err ... lets continue!" Yuna said.
Several minutes later, Yuna could just about float and didn't have any worries about Tidus not catching her, because, (on several occasions), he had always been there when she had started sinking.
They soon moved onto different floating styles. Yuna could manage a mushroom float for a few seconds, and then tried the starfish float on her back. She had the most trouble with this as she continuously sank.
She tried it one last time, this time – Tidus placed his hand on her back to support her. She lay staring up at the ceiling with the beautiful reflections on it for several minutes. Tidus could just be seen out the corner of her eye, smiling at her.
'What's he smiling about?' Yuna wondered, when suddenly she realised that his hand wasn't supporting her back anymore.
She smiled back at him and continued to lie staring up at the ceiling for a few minutes more, before grabbing hold of his outstretched arm.
"How long ago did you let go of me?" Yuna asked with happiness.
"'Bout a second after you were in the floating position!" He said as he guided her over to the pool steps.
The time had passed quickly without Yuna realising it. It was now 9:30.
The others got out shortly and headed to the changing rooms, Yuna smiled at Tidus, as he headed into the men's changing room, who returned it, showing pearly white teeth and lighting a red-hot fire inside her.
They all got changed and got into the car.
When they reached Yuna and Rikku's, and Tidus' house, the three got out.
"Bye, see ya'll tomorrow!" Wakka and Lulu said, and the others returned it.
Rikku gave a quick wink at Yuna, causing her to blush scarlet, before she headed inside –leaving Yuna with Tidus.
"I had fun tonight, thank you." Yuna said happily to Tidus.
"S'no problem!" He replied lightly, and they glazed at each other for what seemed like an eternity.
"I guess I'll see you at school tomorrow then?" He added.
"Yes... Oh, ummm..." Yuna thought about how she was going to phrase this, "Tidus, could you give me swimming lessons...?" She trailed off, but was unafraid to look him in the eye.
He paused in thought, and for a horrible second Yuna thought he was going to say no.
"Sure! But we'll have to sort out a day when I haven't got Blitz practice... like a Tuesday evening, 'bout 7 o'clock, that way it's not gonna be busy?" He gave her a wonderful smile and she felt like dancing around the street.
"Great, that's fine. Thank you, again!" Yuna replied, trying to suppress her excitement.
"Okay, well... night!"
"Yeah, night..." Yuna gazed up at him and became victim to his captivating eyes, again, and, without thinking what she was doing; she closed the distance between them and gave him a gentle kiss on his cheek.
She felt his soft, smooth skin beneath her lips and his flaxen, gold hair gently tickled her forehead.
For a moment they were frozen, then she stepped back and offered him a small smile, before turning towards her front door. When she reached it she turned again and smiled at him again. He was still stood on the same spot, but he gave her a gorgeous smile too, that told her that he definitely didn't mind that!
She opened the door and shut it behind her. She leaned against it, closed her eyes and sighed.
'We're just friends, just friends... just friends – that kiss?' Yuna opened her eyes to come face to face with Rikku who had a secretive, playful smile on her lips.
"Ohhhh Yunie, I would never have know you would have the guts to do that – especially to someone as hot as him!!!" She teased.
"Hey!"
"Well, did it feel nice?!" Rikku asked with curiosity.
"Yesss..." Yuna said with a dreamy look on her face, before heading up-stairs, leaving Rikku to moan at her for not spilling the beans, again!
'Well, it was only a peck on the cheek – but still, it was amazing!' Yuna thought, before flopping down on her bed.
(AN: Phew, that took forever and about half way through I gave it a rest, but me family were out today looking at fireplaces and sandwiches, (don't ask), so it was a good opportunity to write it all with out interruptions! I've done me ICT test, which was ok-ish, but I borrowed all the pretty highlighters off the boy next to me and did my nails, (he did me right hand), and now it won't come off, dammit. Okies, hope you enjoyed this chapter, feel free the review with criticism, praise or to egg me on, like always! Loves ya all, wish me luck ï