DISCLAIMER: I do not own FFX or FFX-2 or any of the characters or places associated with it. I do, however, own the twisted idea for this story.

DO NOT COPY MY STORIES!!

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I have had problems with my fics being stolen. Reviewers of the Silver Wings trilogy know all about the situation. Please keep an eye out for this story or any of my others posted on any other sites. I only post here and I only use the name "akksgurl". If you think my story has been stolen, please contact me so that I can look into the situation. Thanks a lot in advance for your help.

Author's Notes: I stole a line or two from "The Elephant Love Melody" in Moulin Rouge for this chapter so those lines are not mine. I guess technically they wouldn't even be Moulin' Rouge's because that movie used songs that were already famous…hmm…well anyway, I don't own it.

Zanar Salad Caesar Salad


TWISTED DESTINY
by akksgurl
Chapter Eight: Tension

Tidus was surprised to find himself sprung from the hospital within four days of the incident. He figured they'd want to keep him there for as long as possible, but instead they let him go home. He had strict instructions, of course. He couldn't play blitzball, he couldn't attempt to bend his knee, he had to use crutches when he walked but preferably be wheeled in the wheelchair they gave to him, and most importantly he couldn't do anything that would put unnecessary stress on his knee.

Basically, all the blonde found himself able to do was lay in his bed and stare at the ceiling or the mind-numbing programming on the S.V. He was so bored. Tidus hated to be bored. Yet he knew that life was continuing without him.

Shuyin had blitzball practice.

Lenne was preparing to start a new tour.

Yuna…

Tidus smiled to himself. She'd slept in his room that night after they kissed, curled up tightly next to him with her head buried in the crook of his arm. It was the first time in his life that he could remember actually sleeping next to a girl without having done anything else. Then again, there wasn't really much else he could do. The doctors insinuated that doing that the 'usual' way would put too much stress on his knee and Tidus doubted Yuna was into trying new things. Besides, he wasn't sure if he wanted to try new things with her…just yet anyway. He liked Yuna just the way she was.

He was definitely bored, though. Maybe he could call Yuna and get her to rent a movie for them to watch. Liking that idea more and more as the seconds passed, Tidus scooted up as high as he could manage on his bed and twisted his torso slightly to reach the phone sitting next to him.

"I hope you're hungry because I brought a lot of food!"

Tidus stopped with his finger just centimeters away from the first button in Yuna's phone number as Reanna walked into the room carrying two huge trays in her arms. He settled the phone back in the cradle and glanced from the trays to Reanna's face with a quizzical expression, "What is all that?" he asked before settling on a question he felt was more important, "Why aren't you in practice?"

Reanna settled the trays at the foot of the bed next to Tidus' left foot and then proceeded to open her coat pocket where she had stored some paper plates in the hidden pocket, "It's food." She replied with a grin, "And practice is over."

"Then where's Shu?"

Reanna shrugged, "Not my turn to watch him, stud. He's probably with Lenne. Isn't he always with Lenne?"

Tidus nodded with a grin, "Yeah…he's pretty whipped."

"Being in love doesn't make you whipped, Tidus." Reanna reprimanded him as she settled a large sandwich from the first tray onto one of the plates, "I mean…you're madly in love and you aren't whipped."

"I'm not in love." He hissed back, more sharply than he had intended as he accepted the plate from her. It wasn't that he thought love was a bad thing. Love was fine in obscure romantic movies that had no basis in reality, but love in general he was against. Love made you do stupid things and act stupidly and forget what was really important. Love is what killed his mother. Love for that arrogant bastard of a father of his. Sure, Shuyin had gotten lucky with Lenne, but that didn't mean the bottom couldn't drop out at any moment.

"Sure…" teased Reanna as she ladled his plate with a healthy handful of chips.

Tidus sighed, "I like Yuna. I really do. I…I just don't see the point in screwing it all up with that whole 'love' thing."

Reanna grinned at him as she took a huge bite of her sandwich. Her eyes sparkled with mirth and she swallowed before saying, "You're the only person I know that hates love."

"I don't hate it. I just don't see the point."

Reanna stood suddenly and flung her arms in the air in passionate display of something Tidus wasn't so sure of, "Love is a many splendered thing. Love lifts us up where we belong. All you need is love."

Tidus rolled his eyes, "Love is just a game."

Reanna sobered as she put a handful of chips in her mouth. Tidus hated watching the girl eat. It was disgusting, yet at the same time it was mildly humorous as he wondered how someone as skinny as her could eat so much and not be the size of Zanarkand. She licked her lips, "Just because your mom and dad had a dysfunctional relationship doesn't mean love is this horrible institution bent on destroying otherwise sane and rational people."

"I never said that." He replied.

"Then what did you say?"

"I said that I just don't believe in it. I don't like the idea of not having control over my emotions."

Reanna sighed, "Well, I hate to tell you this but you can't stop yourself from falling in love if its meant to happen. There's just nothing that can be done."

"We'll just have to see about that, won't we?" Tidus retorted.

Reanna nodded and then scooted up closer to him, "How about a bet. If in one month you're not in love with Yuna then I'll give you anything you want. No questions asked. Vice versa if I'm right."

"As long as you don't want sex, you've got yourself a deal." Teased Tidus with a smirk.

Reanna feigned insult, "You used to love it when I'd want sex. Am I that unappealing now that you've got yourself a sweet little innocent?"

"Nah…" replied Tidus, "You were always unappealing."

Reanna let out an insulted yelp and smacked him playfully on the cheek, "That was a low blow!

Tidus laughed and grabbed Reanna's wrist to keep her from going in for another mock punch. She lifted her other hand and he grabbed that, forcing her forward until her face was pressed against his chest when they heard a throat being cleared at the doorway.

Tidus looked up. Shuyin, Lenne, and Yuna were all standing there staring at him. Yuna looked the most upset of all of them and for a moment Tidus couldn't figure out why until he realized that Reanna was straddling him, he had both her wrists in his hands and her face was pressed against his chest where his shirt was coming unbuttoned from the play wrestling.

"Um…" he stammered as he shoved Reanna off of him a little more forcefully than he wanted as she went sprawling onto the other side of the bed in a heap. He quickly straightened his shirt as best he could and gave Yuna his most dashing of smiles, "Hi Yuna. I was just going to call you, actually."

"Yeah, it looks like it." Was Shuyin's sarcastic reply as he eyed Tidus and Reanna up quizzically.

"I was…but Reanna stopped by with food."

Lenne raised a brow, "And you had to wrestle it from her?"

"No." hissed Tidus angrily. He liked Lenne but he hated it when she butted into his business. She was Shuyin's girlfriend, not his. She shouldn't butt in where she wasn't wanted.

Reanna stood up then and straightened her shirt, "We were just playing around, Yuna. Nothing to worry about. I'm not interested in stealing your boyfriend away."

That was the first time that Tidus had ever thought about himself and Yuna in that way. Things had been different after their kiss but he hadn't put a title to it. They'd just gone back to being friends, except occasionally they'd kiss or just smile at each other for no real reason. He hadn't really thought about it, but Reanna was right. He guessed that he could be considered Yuna's boyfriend. Which made Yuna his…girlfriend.

Man…he liked the sound of that.

Yuna shrugged and spoke for the first time since walking in, "You're a part of his life and I have to be okay with that. If you and Tidus say there's nothing to worry about then I won't worry about anything."

Reanna grinned, "Great. I'm glad to hear that." She turned to Tidus and smiled, "You better keep her. If she's willing to put up with your constant stupidity then she's one in a million."

"Thanks a lot, Reanna." Tidus replied sarcastically as she gave him a conspiratory wink and left.

As soon as the female was out of the room, Shuyin let out a moan of annoyance, "Geez, Ti. I just don't get you sometimes."

Tidus glared at his brother, "I didn't do anything wrong and I'm tired of you making it sound like I did."

"Messing around with your ex is something wrong."

"I wasn't messing around with her? She's my friend, Shuyin!"

"Guys!" came a feminine shout. Tidus thought for a moment it was Lenne but realized with a shock that the loud voice came from Yuna. She had her hands lifted in an attempt to ward off the argument they were having, "Just stop it. We settled this a few minutes ago and there's no reason to keep going with it." She smiled at Shuyin, "I appreciate you trying to…do whatever you're trying to do, but it's really not necessary."

Lenne smiled at Shuyin, "Let's give them a few minutes along, huh?"

Shuyin nodded and left although Tidus could tell he didn't want to. Once the door closed behind his twin, Tidus patted the bed next to him for Yuna to sit down. Slowly, Yuna crossed the room to him and took the seat offered. He slipped his fingers through hers and brought her hand to his lips, "You believe me, don't you?"

"I'm not sure, honestly. I'm new at this." She sighed and lay down next to him, curling her arm over his chest and putting her head under his chin, "I trust you. I just don't know about her. How can you ever trust a girl who'd leave her boyfriend for another guy?"

Tidus sighed, "They told you about Werner." It wasn't question. It was a statement. Tidus should have realized.

"Yes." She whispered into his skin as she pulled herself closer to him, "But what I want to know is…did you know at the time?"

Tidus shook his head, "No. I didn't think anybody as ugly as Werner would have ever had a girl. It just didn't occur to me. And I had originally thought Reanna…uh…played for the 'other team' if you catch my drift, so I just figured that's what everybody thought so she would never have really dated."

When Yuna laughed, her entire body shook and Tidus loved feeling her laugh against him. Not just because her entire body was rubbing against him in a very provocative way, but also because he loved knowing she was happy. She took a deep breath after her laughter died, "I can see where you'd think that about her."

Tidus wrapped his free arm around Yuna's waist, "So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company today?"

She sighed against him, "Shuyin said that he thought it might do you good to get out of the house for a while so he suggested that we all go to Nagi."

Tidus lifted a brow, "Nagi? I can barely walk and he expects me to go over Mt. Gagazet?"

"We'd take the airship, dummy." Yuna teased as she lifted her head to look in his eyes, "And you'd go in your chair so you wouldn't have to walk."

"Will you push me?" Tidus asked.

"Sure."

His eyes filled with unbridled lust as he smirked at her, "Even if I want to be pushed into the nearest darkened corner?"

"Shuyin would have to come with us." Replied Yuna who promptly started to giggle at Tidus' disgusted gape, "We might get jumped by killers and I wouldn't be able to protect you. We'd have to keep Shuyin close by."

Tidus scoffed, "Fine…kill the mood."

"So, do you want to go?" Yuna asked as she rolled her eyes.

"Sure. Why not?"

000000000000000000000000000000000

It was more difficult to push Tidus around in his wheelchair than Yuna had originally anticipated. For one thing, the chair had a metal stand kicked out from the front for Tidus' leg to stretch out on, effectively giving her a fleshly blockade to tight turns. Secondly, the roads in Nagi weren't paved so every bump and rock caused the entire chair to shake and wobble. Tidus nearly slid off several times until Shuyin took off his belt and wrapped it around his brother and the back of the chair to hold him in. And finally, Tidus was a lot heavier than he looked. Sure, it was probably all muscle but that didn't change the fact that Yuna was pushing around 170 plus pounds of man and metal. So as a result of all of that, Yuna's was completely exhausted by the time the group decided to break from shopping and take lunch in the diner Tidus had invited her to just before she had run away like an idiot.

"Table for four please." Lenne told the host as the door shut quietly behind Yuna. The restaurant wasn't fancy by any stretch, but it was clean and that strange cold air was coming out of the vents above her just as it had done in Balamb.

Tidus twisted his head to look up at her, "Hey Yuna…can you scoot up a little? It's too cold to stand under the air conditioning vent."

Air conditioning?

Hmm...so that's what it was called.

Kind of a dumb name.

"Right this way, please." The host said as he grabbed up four menus and led the group into the dining area.

Once again, maneuvering Tidus around the tables was proving to be a difficulty. His foot ended up hitting numerous chairs – and the rumps of some elderly men – before she finally got him wedged nicely between the wall and the table so that he could eat comfortably.

"Hey Yuna?" Tidus whispered as she took a seat on his right, "Do you think you could take this belt off of me so I can lift my arms up?"

Yuna giggled, "Sorry…" Quickly she unhooked the belt and let it fall into Tidus' lap as he pushed up on the armrests to scoot into a more comfortable position.

"Thanks…" he whispered into her ear.

Now…Yuna had heard of strange things people did when they dated. Nonwithstanding the simple fact that Tidus didn't think it odd for his brother and Lenne to … become occupied … within five minutes of leaving a room. Yet for the life of her, Yuna had never heard of a man running his tongue along a woman's ear. So Yuna had absolutely no idea how to react when after Tidus' brief word of thanks, he slipped his tongue casually into her ear and ran it slowly along the outside before planting a chaste kiss on the lobe and turning back to his menu as if nothing strange had occurred.

Yuna sat frozen with her eyes staring at the menu until it blurred before her. She was afraid to do anything for fear that she'd either giggle happily like a little girl or blush crimson like…well, like Yuna.

"Are you okay?" asked Shuyin as he took a sip from the water-glass their waitress had brought for them.

Yuna nodded, "Y…yes…"

Lenne grinned over her water glass and shook her head at Tidus, "I saw what you did, you bad boy."

"What did he do?" Shuyin questioned.

"He stuck his tongue in her ear."

"Tidus!" yelped Shuyin as he choked on another sip of the water he had tried to take before Lenne responded. He leaned in with a wicked smirk, "It's really not appropriate in a restaurant. You got on me and Lenne."

Tidus laughed, "Lenne had her hand down your pants. I think it's a little different."

"Eh…" was Shuyin's response, his hand moving in a nonchalant motion.

Although Yuna was sure that this lighthearted banter was supposed to make her feel more comfortable, she found Tidus' announcement to be far too much information and her face felt hot. Tidus leaned over and kissed her cheek, whispering softly, "Now don't start blushing on me. I didn't even put my tongue in any of the naughty places."

Was it possible to die from simply blushing too much?

Yuna was beginning to think she'd be the first person to have that happen.

"Are you all ready to order?"

"Yes!" Yuna cried and then she blushed even harder when the waiter looked at her oddly. With a steadying breath, Yuna said, "I'd like Zanar Salad, please."

"I'll have a burger, well done." Tidus said.

"I'll have the same." Agreed Shuyin.

"And I'll have the special." Ordered Lenne.

The waiter took their menus and walked back in the direction he came. Yuna mindlessly followed his movements so that she could keep herself from blushing at Tidus' comment.

Blushing because it embarrassed her.

Blushing because she liked the thought.

From around the corner came four tall men. They looked like they were almost in some kind of a gang. They were all wearing varying versions of the same outfit; a red pantsuit and a red cap set off by a black dress-shirt and black shoes. They resembled the Bevellian uniforms Yuna was used to seeing back home except that these were a much more rudimentary version. It was almost as if they were trying to dress like the soldiers.

Then Yuna recognized the one. It was Werner from the blitzball game. She quickly averted her eyes so as not to draw attention to the group but it was too late. She could sense their approach before she heard their footsteps.

"Well…well…well. Out and about already?" Werner asked, leaning over and resting his palms on the table.

Tidus smiled serenely, "No worse for wear, I suppose. And yourself?"

Werner sneered at him and moved a little closer to the table with his hip resting just inches from Yuna's nose. He was much, much taller than she'd originally assumed. And much uglier than she'd thought, "So what are you doing in Nagi, Bacohl. Zanarkand trash should stay in Zanarkand."

"Last time I checked, Nagi was in Zanarkand territory." Snorted Shuyin.

"Was I talking to you, Repeat?"

Lenne wrinkled her nose, "Repeat?"

Werner laughed, "Yeah. Pete…" he said, pointing to Tidus, "and Repeat."

"Oh…" replied Lenne, drolly, "How clever of you. Must have taken you all day to come up with that."

His fists slammed down on the table, "Listen you little bitch. Just because you're some sort of famous slut doesn't mean a damn thing to me and my boys. Zanarkand folk are just a bunch of trash and we Bevellians aren't going to put up with it for much longer." He motioned to Tidus' knee, "Don't make us do that to you." He whispered as he and his group turned.

"You know…" Tidus replied calmly, "If this is about Reanna, don't you think we can settle this calmly. I'm not even with her anymore and I didn't know about you when I was."

Werner turned and glared at Tidus, "Do you honestly think that I'd still be upset over that little tramp? She was a good lay. That's it. But now, Pete, we've got this little issue of Zanarkand trash polluting our air."

Tidus sighed, "Well, right now you're polluting our table. You can go now Werner."

Fists slammed down directly in front of Yuna, "How dare you!" Werner suddenly grabbed Yuna's hair and yanked her to her feet.

Tidus tried to get up but couldn't with his leg so Shuyin shot to his feet, "Let her go. She's got nothing to do with this."

Werner pulled Yuna's head back until she thought her spine was going to break. His breath smelled of onions and beer as he hissed in her face, "You'd better tell your boyfriend to watch his mouth or he'll be watching pieces of you scatter all over the Zanarkand winds."

And just as quickly as he'd grabbed her, he dropped her into a sobbing and quivering puddle on the floor as he and his followers left. Tidus reached for her but couldn't get to her, "Yuna…"

Shuyin helped her to her feet as the restaurant's manager ran over, "I'm so sorry about all of this. Is there anything I can do?"

Shuyin guided Yuna over to Tidus and she silently slid into his arms as he held her tightly. She sat gently on his lap and buried her face in his neck, breathing in the manly scent of his skin and savoring the feel of his fingers sliding up and down her spine in a soothing gesture.

"We'll just take the check, thanks." Lenne answered the manager as she leaned over and ran a hand down Yuna's hair.

"Oh…oh…oh…" the manager cooed, "It's on the house. I'm so sorry for the trouble!"

Tidus lips pressed Yuna's forehead, "Come on, baby. Let's get out of here." And without another word, Tidus began to maneuver the chair himself by pushing the wheels. It wasn't the swiftest of movements, but it allowed for Yuna to keep herself pressed firmly against him as the fear of the last few minutes formed into a deep and passionate horror.

It was only a matter of time now.

The seeds of hate were already planted.

The wheels were already in motion.

The end was near.