Here's chapter 6! This chapter's a little slowish, but for the most part, I think it turned out okay, despite my mild writer's block. Oh well. Enjoy! (Oh, by the way, again, italics are usually thoughts!)

Chapter 6: Just Friends

"Hey Yuna!" he greeted her, his mouth full of chips, "How was your first day of school?"

"What are you doing in my house?" Yuna yelled at him, "And those are my chips!"

"Just thought I'd stop by," he said, and Yuna wondered how he could be so casual about the matter.

"How did you even get in here?" Yuna asked, "And how did you know where I lived?"

"Lucky guess," Tidus just said, "And you like, left the door unlocked."

"But..." Yuna shook her head, closing her eyes. Was she simply imagining everything?

"What took you so long to get home, anyway?"

Yuna ignored his question. "What if my father was home?" she shot at him, "He wouldn't be too happy to have you stopping by! What are you even doing anyway?"

"Watching this game," he said, nodding toward the Blitzball game on the sphere screen, "And besides, I figured your old man would be away at that big convention."

"What are you, some kind of stalker?" Yuna cried, picking up the remote and turning off the sphere, causing Tidus to turn his full attention to her.

"Hey, don't get any wrong ideas," Tidus said, and his somewhat cheeky attitude seemed to drop, "I...Came because I wanted to...Ask you something."

"Like what?" Yuna returned to the strange startled feeling that she always seemed to be in when he was around.

"Uh...It's just that...Since that night at the party, I haven't been able to stop thinking about you..."

Yuna's heart sped at his words, but she hid it, and swallowed, saying, "Oh?"

"Yeah. So, I finally decided to find you...And...Yeah, here I am...I forgot school started today..."

"You skipped your first day of school to see me?" Yuna said, only to be interrupted.

"Er, I don't go to school," he said, "I dropped out after last year. There's no reason for me to go."

"Oh..." Yuna just said softly, "Well, uh, what was it you wanted to ask me?"

Tidus' face suddenly turned red, and there was a strange, awkward silence.

"Uh, I wanted to ask you," Tidus said, blushing even deeper red, "If you thought about me, too."

"Of course I thought about you!" Yuna was silent. She didn't know how to answer Tidus' question. Okay, so she did know how to answer his question, but she felt a strange pang in her heart, and she wasn't quite sure if she really wanted to tell him her thoughts.

"Well," she started, and finally decided that if he was being honest to her, then he deserved the hear the truth, "Yes, I did think about you...A lot..."

"Okay, so, it's settled," Tidus stood up.

"What's settled?" Yuna returned to her startled position.

"Well, you thought about me, and I thought about you. But why? I mean...It's just not possible. Why you? Why me?"

"You're not making a lot of sense," Yuna said to the rambling Tidus, who was now pacing back and forth across the room.

"I mean..." Tidus stopped and faced Yuna, "I...I think we have a lot in common, family wise," Tidus finally said, "And...I need someone I can talk to...And you do too, am I right?"

Yuna's eyes left his, as she looked at the ground. He was right. She needed someone desperately who she could talk to.

"You are right," Yuna said softly.

"Well, when am I wrong?" Tidus said, and Yuna could see the cheeky gleam reappear in his blue eyes, "Anyway, I just thought that maybe we could be friends. You know, talk to each other and such."

Yuna felt her heart drop. Yet, at the same time, she knew that it was for the best. Yes, friends. It was perfect.

"Yes, I agree," Yuna said, nodding her head.

"Okay," Tidus said, nodding, "We're friends. Well, then I suppose I'll tell you the second reason I stopped by."

Yuna's heart sped up again, although this time Yuna completely ignored it.

"What?"

"My old man, Jecht, he used to be the star player of the Zanarkand Abes. Then, he got kicked off the team, 'cause he got drunk a lot, and then he moved himself and me here. Then, a year ago I got signed with the Bevelle Brutes, and quit school. Now, all my old man does is gets drunk, spends my money, and tells me how worthless I am. Anyway, today he's real bad, 'cause last night he got dumped by some chick, and he was looking kind of...Rough. I mean, I thought he might beat me or something."

"Your father beats you?" Yuna interrupted, suddenly feeling guilty that only a day ago she had been wishing that Braska wasn't her father.

"Not usually...," Tidus said, "I mean, it's been a while, but I knew if I stuck around I'd get it. So, I left. But I didn't know where to go. So, I came here. I mean, at the time, you were the only thing on my mind."

Yuna blushed, not knowing what to say. "We're just friends," she reminded herself.

"When will your father, um, calm down?" Yuna asked.

Tidus looked sad, and he said, "I don't know. I just had to get away though, know what I mean?"

Yuna nodded. She supposed she did, although she wondered if she did truthfully.

"I was hoping," Tidus continued, "That I could hang around here for a while."

"Of course you can!" Yuna said quickly, "I mean, it'd be terrible if your father beat you. Would he really do that?" She almost laughed at herself. She must sound so naive and stupid.

"Hard to believe, I know," Tidus said, "It's hard for anyone to believe. I mean, Jecht's still pretty popular. So many people look up to him."

Tidus sighed, but then smiled and said, "It's a nice place you've got here. I knew most rich people lived around here, but I didn't expect you guys to have this large of a house."

"What about you? Surely you live in the lap of luxury?" Yuna asked, cupping her hands under her head, as she sat down on the couch and placed her chin in her hands on the couch's armrest.

"Well, I don't know if you'd exactly call it luxury, but yeah, our house is pretty decent sized. Not quite as large as your place, but definitely close."

Then, suddenly Tidus looked as if he were about to cry, but he smiled at Yuna, and, with a sigh, said, with his voice cracking slightly, "I've never really told anyone that my old man has beat me before."

Yuna honestly thought he was going to cry, and she felt like crying herself.

"It must be tough," she said, "But I think I kind of know how you feel. Your mother, she...Died, right?"

Tidus nodded, still looking sad.

"Yeah," he said softly, "And...Yeah..."

"That's okay if you don't want to talk about that yet," Yuna said quickly, afraid that she had pried into Tidus' business far enough as it was, "But if it makes you feel any better, my mother died, also."

"It's okay," Tidus said then, "I've never really talked about it before. My mother died when I was seven. My old man was away at some tournament, and my mom...She was murdered."

"Murdered?" Yuna hadn't meant to interrupt, but she couldn't even tell if she had heard right.

"Yeah," Tidus said slowly, "When my dad came home then, that was the first time he beat me. He told me that it was all my fault my mother had died. And I believed it for a long time, being that it wasn't until I was like thirteen that I found out how she had really died. I went through my childhood thinking that my mother really had died from me."

"That's terrible that your father would do that to you," Yuna said softly, and Tidus stared off into the distance, at nothing in particular.

"Yeah," he finally said softly. "Yeah" seems be his favorite word," Yuna decided, "or else he's just really shy about this whole matter."

"How about you?" Tidus asked then, breaking the small silence that had been occurring, "When did your mom die?"

"My mother died when I was seven also," Yuna said softly, "But she was sick. She was sick for a very, very long time."

"Oh," Tidus said, "At least you knew that it wasn't you who killed her."

Yuna had a tear slip down her face, but she had to laugh at what Tidus had just said, although it wasn't funny at all. It just happened to be the tone of his voice that made her laugh.

"I figured I could make you laugh," Tidus said, smirkingly.

"Well you did!" Yuna said, quickly wiping away her tear, "But I shouldn't have laughed. It wasn't very polite of me..."

"Naw, I tried to make it funny," Tidus said, smiling his smirk of a smile, "So, how rough was you old man on you after he caught us together...Uh..."

"Oh, he was incredibly sore!" Yuna said, surprised at how she could feel giddy about it like she was, "I thought for sure he was going to smack me, or something. We haven't uttered a word to each other since that incident."

"What made him so mad anyway?" Tidus questioned, "I'm sure if it had been your cousin I was kissing, he wouldn't have cared."

Yuna cringed at the mention of Rikku, but decided to brush Rikku out of her mind, and continue on subject.

"You weren't Seymour," Yuna said, answering Tidus' question, "Seymour's the son of Maester Jyscal, and is my next door neighbor. My father thought I was with him. But Seymour's just a major creep."

"I see, I guess," Tidus said, suppressing a smile, "I've heard of that Jyscal, isn't he a guado?"

"Yeah," Yuna said, looking at Tidus, "You aren't racist toward guados, are you?"

"Oh no," Tidus said, "It's just I was thinking about how it would look for a guado and a human to have a kid."

"Go look at Seymour," Yuna said, pointing her thumb in the direction of Seymour's house, "He's the child of a guado and a human."

"Oh," Tidus said, somewhat startled, "Sorry..."

"It's okay," Yuna said, "He's kind of weird. I feel kind of sorry for him though, but only kind of."

A moment of silence passed between the two, and a quite awkward silence at that. It seemed to Yuna that every single moment of silence seemed awkward when Tidus was around.

She smiled then, as she realized how truly glad she was to see him. It was strange, really. She didn't even know him, but then again, she felt as if she knew him better than she knew anyone else. She also realized then that if he wasn't there, she would be terribly lonely.

The hallow walls of her house would have been so bland and boring, but with someone else there, it seemed to cheer the place up. She found herself hoping Tidus would never leave.

"When do you need to go home?" Yuna found herself ask him anxiously, breaking through the awkward silence.

Tidus looked at her, as if surprised by her question, and looked at the watch that was on his left arm.

"Soon," he said, almost sadly.

"Oh," Yuna said, trying without much luck to hide her disappointment, "You know, once you leave, I'll be all alone."

"Well, if you want," Tidus said, almost anxiously himself, "You can come with me!"

"Come with you?" Yuna seemed confused at his offer.

"Yeah! You know, we can go get something to eat, or something, and then, yeah."

Yuna smiled to herself, not knowing what to say. She was surprised at how childish Tidus could act, and she decided that he probably usually didn't act that way. She didn't care: she decided she liked that aspect of him. Still, she could tell that without her, he was just as lonely as she was without him.

It was strange to Yuna. Already, the two had this...Bond. Already, Yuna felt as if she couldn't live her life without Tidus, although she didn't know what it was about him. Without even knowing much about him, she could tell that he would always be there to lend her an ear when she had something to say, or to lend his shoulder when she needed something to cry on. Smiling, she nodded, and accepted Tidus' offer, although she found herself wondering if he felt the exact same way toward her that she felt toward him.

"Okay then!" Tidus said, smiling gleefully, obviously glad that Yuna had accepted his offer, "You paying, or me?"

"Depends," Yuna said, smiling, "Where are we going?"

"That depends on whether or not you're paying," Tidus said, raising his eyebrows, "If I'm payin', we're goin' to the cheapest place in all of Spira, but if you're paying..."

"That's not fair!" Yuna protested, "How about we'll just pay for ourselves? Besides, I thought you had a lot of money!"

"I do," Tidus said, and if to prove himself, said, "So, I'll pay for it, 'kay?"

"'Kay," Yuna agreed, grabbing her light jacket and following Tidus out the door.

They were walking towards Tidus' car, a different car than the one that had hit Yuna's, and Yuna was about to climb in, when Tidus stopped dead in his tracks.

"Damn," he said, his sudden outburst causing Yuna to jump slightly.

"What's wrong?" Yuna asked him, as Tidus began fumbling around in his pockets.

"I don't have any money on me," he said, and was looking somewhat embarrassed, "No problem though. We'll just stop by my place quick, if that's okay with you. My old man should be like passed out on the couch or something around now."

"Um, okay," Yuna said, although not to surely. Still, she found that she actually somewhat wanted to go to his house, feeling that it would allow her to find out more about the man she was suddenly so attached to.

They both climbed into the car, and went speeding out of Yuna's driveway. They passed Seymour's large house, and Yuna saw Seymour outside with the new guy, Baralai, and both of them seemed to be looking at Seymour's yard, or something.

"That your neighbor? The blue-haired one?" Tidus asked, noticing that Yuna was looking at them.

"Yeah," Yuna said softly. Her phone went off then, and she pulled it out of her handbag, but didn't recognize the number. She decided to pick it up, but as she looked out the back window, wished she hadn't.

"Who are you with?" It was Seymour's voice, and just as Seymour's house was pulling into the distance, Yuna realized he was talking on a cell phone from his yard.

"What does it matter to you?" Yuna replied nastily, causing Tidus to giver her a questioning look. Yuna rolled her eyes at Tidus, to tell him who it was, and Tidus just nodded, turning his attention back to the rode.

"That wasn't Gippal. Didn't your father tell you that you couldn't go anywhere unless it had to be with your flit boyfriend or me?"

"What are you, my babysitter?" Yuna asked, "Besides, I'm with...Yuri. He's a new guy."

Again Tidus gave Yuna a questioning look, and again Yuna rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, me and him are working on a project together. Any other stupid questions?"

"You should be home studying. This year, Baralai's going to definitely become our senior class valedictorian."

Yuna didn't answer. She just hung up the phone.

"He's so childish," she moaned to Tidus, "That was my stupid neighbor. He's so retarded."

"Yeah, he looked that way," Tidus had a weird smile on his face, and he said, "Is he like your number one fan?"

"I guess so," Yuna replied, as the two were crossing the river that divided Bevelle in half.

"I live right up here," Tidus explained, as the two entered a neighborhood Yuna had never been in before. The houses were all large, and quite colorful and bright.

"You live in such a...Nice neighborhood," Yuna said, softly.

"Naw. This is where like all the prostitutes and stuff live."

"Oh..." Yuna said, and Tidus let out a little laugh.

"Yeah, you know, the ones who get paid pretty good money."

"That's nice," Yuna said, again softly, although obviously sarcastically.

"Here's my place," Tidus said, pulling into a nice house, and Yuna felt her eyes widen at it.

"It's really gorgeous," she said, "Not so stuck up, like my house is."

"Yeah, whatever," Tidus just said, more to himself, "I'll only be a second, but you can come in anyway, if you want."

"Okay," Yuna said softly, and followed Tidus into the house.

It was quite messy, and Yuna smiled as Tidus blushed, saying that it had been a while since they'd had a maid around.

The two walked into the living room, and Tidus automatically stopped, looking somewhat afraid. His father was there, sitting on the couch, with a beer in his hands, and turned and looked at the two.

"Who you got there?" he slurred, and Tidus suddenly looked very angry.

"Nobody that your slimy hands better touch," Tidus said, bitterly, and grabbed his wallet, which had been laying on the table by the couch. Tidus flipped it open, and then looked angrily at his dad.

"How much did you spend?" he cried at his dad.

"Only a couple hundred," came Tidus' father's reply, "But I needed it. Oh, by the way, I'm throwing myself a party tonight. So, you might want to go lay low, or something."

Yuna looked over at Tidus, who was shaking uncontrollebly.

"Uh, Tidus?" Yuna just said, looking at the angry Tidus.

"Forget it. Come on Yuna," Tidus said, taking her hand, which surprised her, "Let's just get out of here, now."

He dragged her out the door, and led her to her side of the car, and then walked briskly to his side, climbed in, and slammed the door shut.

Somewhat slowly, for she was feeling confused, Yuna climbed into the car, and barely had time to shut the door before Tidus sped out of his driveway.

"Is something wrong?" Yuna asked him.

"No, nothing's wrong," Tidus said, but Yuna could tell he was blinking quickly, obviously trying to blink away tears, "It's just that...I'm broke. And tonight..."

His voice cracked, and Yuna was sure he was going to cry, although no tears came to his eyes.

"Your father doesn't want you around, because of his party?" Yuna asked, feeling somewhat confused.

"It's my house," Tidus said through gritted teeth.

Not knowing why, or even what, she was going to say, Yuna opened her mouth, and six words poured out of it quickly, almost as one syllable.

"You can stay at my house!"

Tidus' blue eyes lit up.

"Really?" he asked.

Yuna felt like taking it back. But it was a question that had been going through her head. She hadn't wanted Tidus to leave. Ever. She didn't even want to think of how lonely the large house in which she lived in would be.

"Yeah, really."

Tidus sighed in relief. "Great," he said, smiling at the girl next to him, "Thanks."

"No big deal," she said, although it was. If Seymour noticed that he didn't leave all night, knowing Seymour's perverted mind, Seymour would get the wrong idea and tell Lord Braska all about it.

Deciding to shrug it off, Yuna decided not to go back on her word. She didn't know it then, but allowing Tidus to stay with her was the first step toward a long year ahead of her.