4. A Puzzling Coincidence

I haven't seen this look on Tidus' face before, and it really scared me. "What do you know? How do you know it, Tidus?" I walked up to him and he just turned and walked in the other direction. The hurt was starting to go deeper inside of me with each step that he took. "Stop the cryptic act, you're really starting to scare me."

"No, it's just that...Never mind." He stopped walking finally, and I walked up and wrapped my arms around him from behind, hoping for a little affection. Yeah, some affection, he shook me off of him. "I need to think, Yuna."

I couldn't help the stupid tear that fell down my face as I shouted to him, "Tidus, I just got you back. Don't start holding secrets from me again!" I very rarely speak in that tone of voice...and I don't think that Tidus has ever heard me speak that way. I have changed a lot since the days when I was a summoner, and he hasn't see that part of me. Knowing how much I changed without him being there during the process was a very difficult concept for me to grasp. Anger filled my face as Tidus whipped around at me.

"What have I ever held from you before, Yuna?" I turned my back to him as he walked over to me. I know I made him feel bad, but I couldn't help it. My hands covered my face as I wept, I didn't want him to see me crying again, although I obviously was. Hell, he's been back less than a day and he's already seen me cry about three times. I want him to know that I changed into a stronger person and not a weepy helpless one. He walked in front of me and before I had a chance to dodge out of the way he wrapped his arms around me. I didn't put my arms around him, I just hung them to my side. I could hear his heart beating rapidly as my head was against his chest. "Yuna, speak to me."

His tone changed from being reserved and almost hostile to soft and gentle. This was the Tidus that I knew and loved. However, I wasn't going to give in that easily...he couldn't sweet talk his way out of it. Secrets never could fly with me mainly because I liked to hear the truth, no matter how painful it is. I was able to accept the fact that I would die being a summoner and I was fine with it, I'm sure I could handle how Tidus knew Lenne. "What do you want me to say? Don't keep secrets from me, anymore! The last secret you kept from me you kept until I didn't get a chance to..." I trailed off as I spoke. The memory of him disappearing right before my eyes flooded back to me. Tidus put his hands gently on my shoulders and moved me far enough away so he could look at my face. He didn't look in my eyes because I moved my head to the side. I couldn't bear to look at him while bad memories washed through my head. I didn't need to look at him to know that he had a smile on his face to try to make me feel better.

"Yuna, I knew I couldn't tell you that I was going to disappear. It was hard enough for me to come to the realization that I couldn't spend more time with you. Not to mention that the only way to destroy Sin would be to destroy Yu Yevon, and the fayth would stop dreaming after you destroyed Yu Yevon, meaning I would disappear. So if I told you that I would disappear, you wouldn't have destroyed Yu Yevon. You would've been against it." His smile grew as he wiped a tear off of my cheek. "Am I right?"

It was almost scary how correct he was. Ever since I was little, I knew what my pilgrimage meant. Like I told Yunalesca (before we kicked the crap out of her), I lived for the people of Spira and would have died for them, but I didn't want anyone else to give up their life. I was physically and mentally prepared for it to happen due to the years of training...but I wasn't physically and mentally prepared to have the only guy I've ever loved to simply disappear. I think...if Tidus would've told me that the second we destroyed Yu Yevon he would disappear...I think I would've been selfish and not destroyed Yu Yevon, just so I could keep my boyfriend. However, when he told me, it was literally when Yu Yevon was dangling right in front of us and I didn't have time to absorb what he just told me. It wasn't until after I sent all the aeons and Sin that Tidus looked at his fading hands and then looked at me. Oooh, the thought of that just sends shivers down my spine... "Yeah, you're right." I sighed and hugged him again. "Can we make a promise? No more secrets?"

"No more secrets." Tidus kissed me on the forehead and held me tightly against his chest. I looked up at him and raised an eyebrow at him so he would get the point to share the Lenne secret with me. He smiled at me and said, "I, um, guess that means that I have to tell you who Lenne is."

"Yeah, that would be a nice start." Good boy, he got the hint. I let him go and we both started to walk along the shore, hand in hand. "It can't be the same Lenne, so I'm really not worried about it. Just, if it's one of those things like an ex-girlfriend or something, no details."

"No, she wasn't an ex-girlfriend. At least I don't think she was." I looked at him with a confused look on my face. That didn't make any sense at all. Sigh Why are guys so damn confusing?

"What do you mean, you don't think she was? Was it just a fling or something?"

"What I'm trying to say is that I've never met her. She was a dream to me. I constantly dreamed of her, she was a singer in Zanarkand. My Zanarkand." Tidus shook his head and smiled at himself, I'm assuming over the memory. "I guess she was just some young boy's fantasy or something."

"A songstress..." I trailed off. This story was starting to be a little more connected than I wanted it to be. "Um, in your dreams, you didn't end up like dating her or anything did you?"

"That's the funny thing. It was like she knew me. I even had a dream where..." Now it was Tidus' turn to trail off. He smiled again at the thought of the repeated dreams of this young woman. I wasn't too thrilled about these fantasy dreams of his, they made me quite jealous. However, I had to realize that was before he knew me. "A dream of a dream, kind of a funny situation, ya know?"

"Not too funny, actually." I let go of his hand, took a few steps toward the water, and took off my boots. I walked into the water until it was about ankle deep, just letting the gentle waves splash up against my legs. I was just so confused, so I looked over my shoulder to Tidus and continued. "My whole journey was basically to unravel a mystery about a summoner named Lenne and her lover, Shuyin."

"Shuyin?" Tidus looked at me blankly and I nodded. I didn't really have a better reaction at the time. He sat down and started to take off his shoes as well. "Well, she never called me Shuyin in any of the dreams. She always referred to me as Tidus. Might be something different."

He shrugged and I started to walk closer to him. "Okay, random question time. Did you ever have a dream where you both get shot?" Tidus stopped unlacing his shoes, and looked up at me in surprise. He didn't say anything, but finished taking off his shoes. His silence spoke volumes. "Hmm, your stunned silence is very reassuring."

"Yeah, it was the weirdest thing. Like I was playing piano or something like that, and she ran up to me and told me to stop doing whatever I was doing. I always thought it was strange, because all I was doing was playing the piano. I was pretty good too, which is kinda funny because I lack any kind of musical ability whatsoever. Anyway, so as I'm playing, she runs up to whatever it is that I'm sitting on and tells me to stop. I would always look over the piano thing, see her, and she would look over her shoulder at the guards that were running up toward her. I would walk down to her, she ran up to me, we embraced...and we were killed." Tidus stood up and ran his toes through the sand. Without saying a word, I walked over to him and took his hands in mine. He still couldn't look me in the eyes, he only turned his head away. "It was...so real. The feelings and everything. I felt like I was someone she really knew and loved, and I loved her back. I wanted to save her..."

"Everything's connected," I said as I moved so I was in Tidus' line of sight. I had important things to tell him, and in order to make sure that he was going to understand and comprehend what I had to say, I wanted him to see me. "Think about it, everything is the same." He gave me a confused look, and I realized that he didn't know anything about Shuyin and Lenne, because I haven't explained anything yet. I brushed a strand of hair out of my face. "I, um, guess this is a good time to explain to you the story of Lenne and Shuyin."

"Yeah, I guess that would make everything come together in my mind." Tidus sat down in the sand again, so I sat next to him to explain my journey from the past two years. I explained EVERYTHING; The Youth League, New Yevon, Wakka and Lulu's marriage (and he replied to that one with "Damn it!!! I should get credit for that one! I was the one who told Lulu to date Wakka, and she basically said that I was nuts." I then told him that I saw it coming anyway...but he still wanted credit for it), what it was like being High Summoner, how I joined the Gullwings, everything about Paine, The Crimson Squad, Nooj, Gippal (and the so called 'relationship' that he and Rikku had), Leblanc, the Syndicate, Kimahri being an elder, me singing in the Thunder Plains (trying to explain that to him was quite entertaining. Once he found out that it was technically Lenne's voice coming out of me because of the songstress dressphere, he said, "Oh, that makes more sense now." Ha ha ha, what a smartass) and of course the entire story with Shuyin and Lenne. I'm surprised he didn't fall asleep after that story. Seriously, it took me about three hours to tell him everything, although I do have a habit of rambling on and going on random tangents that it probably took about a half hour longer to tell the story. But he followed along and listened to me ramble.

After I was done talking, Tidus exhaled. "Wow. Damn, I missed a lot."

"Yeah, you really did," I said as I smiled. It was almost funny to realize how much happened without him. It was also funny to realize that everything started when I saw a sphere of him. I was trying to find him, I was trying to make me happy, and I saved the world in the process. I guess I'm just an overachiever because I did get what I was going after. "I, um, wish you were there with me. There were so many times where I was scared of what was going to happen, and you weren't there."

"I'm really sorry," he said as he looked down. I made him feel a little bit guilty and I didn't mean to. It wasn't like he chose to be a dream and fade away. "Ow, I have a cramp in my leg, I need to stand."

We both stood up because I was talking for so long and both lost blood flow to our feet. He gently held my hand and we walked into the water and watched the clouds for a minute. I laid my head on his chest and he put his arm around my shoulders. He then wrapped his other arm around me and brought me into a hug. I looked up at him at the same time that he looked down at me, and we both smiled. He started to bring his head down toward mine for a kiss, and when his lips were about a centimeter away from mine, I burst out into laughter.

"What is it?" He sounded almost offended, but I couldn't help the giggles that came out.

"You're not going to throw me in the water again are you?" He smiled and rolled his eyes at me.

"At this rate, maybe I will." I giggled at him, then put my hand on the back of his neck and brought him down into a kiss. It was just like the kiss that he and I shared in the Macalania springs. It was passionate, sweet, and gentle...the best kind of kiss. It was then and there when I realized that my life was finally reaching perfection.