I'm terribly, terribly sorry, but due to a certain lack of interest, I'm putting this story on hold, just for most of the month of November. I'm really, really sorry and all, but I'm just not feeling connected to this story, and I haven't really had much motivation recently...Again, I'm sorry! I will, meanwhile, be writing another story, although I'm not 100 sure which one it is yet. In the meantime, you can read that one if you'd like, or you can check out Ayumi Yuri's story, 'My Eyes are Green With Envy', because I helped her type it and such...I promise I'll restart this by December, because I have some plans with it, and the pause in the story will all make sense. Again, I'm terribly sorry for the delay and all. I just am lacking motivation...Well, enjoy...
Chapter 22: Away From You
"Father, I have to go someplace tonight."
He just looked at her, his dark eyes eying hers with suspicion.
"Oh?" he just said, "And where would that be to?"
"To the 'Young Maesters of Spira Convention', Yuna said, with false pride, as she took out a slip of paper that she'd actually found lying in the hallway of her school. At one time, she had been interested in the convention, but at the current time, she was much more interested in a few other things, noticeably Tidus...
She handed the folded paper to her father, who slipped on his reading glasses and read it softly to himself, making little murmurs here and there, before looking up at Yuna and saying, "And who is taking you there? Shall I arrange an escort for you?"
"Oh," Yuna said, giving a little giggle, doing her best to imitate Rikku whenever she fell in love, "I'm actually going with," Yuna even forced herself to blush, "Seymour..."
Braska eyed his daughter even more suspiciously, obviously not believing her.
"Don't give me that look!" Yuna just said giddily, "Seymour asked me if I'd like to come along, so...you know...naturally, I accepted..." Then, Yuna let out a loud sigh, allowing herself to stare into space.
"Allow me to call him," Braska said, nodding toward the phone, as he picked it up.
"Oh, but Seymour's not home right now," Yuna said, twirling her hair, "He has violin lessons about now...I would know," and at this, Yuna managed another sigh, "Because I've completely memorized his schedule! Father! Can you believe I've lived next to Seymour all my life? And never once have I noticed how sweet, and kind, and attractive, and—."
"In other words," Braska said, looking kind of surprised, "You...Uh...Like, Seymour?"
"Like?" Yuna said, allowing her eyes to go into a dreamy state, "I guess you could say that...But isn't there a more, I don't know, better term than that?"
Braska looked even more amazed, and he said, "What about Tidus?"
"Who?" Yuna said, "Oh, him. Well, he's okay and all, but Seymour is so much...I don't know, better, I suppose." Yuna managed yet another dreamy smile, allowing herself to stare into space again, before suddenly snapping back to reality, and saying, "So, can I?"
"Can you what?"
"Go with Seymour to the convention?"
"I suppose," Braska finally said, "I'll be out of town, as you know, but don't think I won't be checking with Seymour..."
"Oh, you can check with him all you want!" Yuna said, her eyes glowing, although she knew quite well everything about the glow was somewhat fake, "Thank you so much!" At that she leapt out of her seat and gave her father a peck on the cheek before rushing upstairs to her room.
As soon as the door was safely shut behind her, she let out a long sigh of relief. That was easier than she had even figured it would be.
Sighing, she sat herself on her bed, and stared at her reflection in the mirror that was across from her, whispering, "What am I doing?"
Then, she stood up, and silently walked out the door, and yelled quickly to her father that she was heading over to Seymour's, and surprisingly, her father didn't even stop her.
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Usually seeing Tidus was enough to lift her spirits so high, that it would seem as if nothing would bring them down, but this evening was a different case.
"Oh, hi, Yuna," he had said as he greeted her in, acting as if they were indeed on unpleasant terms with each other.
"Hi, Tidus," Yuna had simply said, allowing Tidus to lead her in, "You wanted to speak with me?"
"Yeah, I did," Tidus said, "And you wanted to speak to me, too?"
Yuna only nodded. She cocked her head to one side thoughtfully, sensing that for some reason, Tidus was trying overly hard not to look her in the eyes.
"Uh, do you want to just have a seat here," Tidus said, nodding toward the couch. His father was absent, for once, not that Yuna honestly cared at the moment.
"Sure," Yuna said softly, as she sat down. Tidus just remained standing, his hands shoved mindlessly into his pockets, his eyes still wandering everywhere but to Yuna's own wandering eyes.
"So," Yuna said, after some silence passed between them, "You...uh...are home early?"
"Yeah," Tidus said, and then suddenly looked ready to cry, as he suddenly burst out, "Yuna, I...We can't...I mean..." He looked at the floor, and took his right hand out of his pocket and pulled his hair back out of his face before saying in a soft, almost solemn voice, "We can't see each other anymore..."
Yuna was suddenly on the verge of tears, as his words played over and over in her head. Still, she knew it was the truth. They couldn't. They just couldn't.
"Tidus," she said, her voice quivering as she talked, and she did her best to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat down, "I...I just have to know one thing."
"What," Tidus said, his own voice cracking, although only slightly.
"Did you...Did you..." Yuna couldn't seem to spit it out. Closing her eyes, only to allow a tear to slip down, she finally managed, "Did you mean to betray me?"
Finally Tidus' eyes reached Yuna's as she reopened them, and all Yuna could sense was a strange hurtfulness in Tidus' eyes.
Looking away from her, Tidus said in a whisper, "Yes."
Yuna's eyes popped open in disbelief. Sure, she had supposed it was true, but in a doubtful sort of way.
"You did!" Yuna said, trying not to sound too surprised.
"Yeah, I did," Tidus said, suddenly looking up at Yuna, anger in his eyes, "That's why we can't see each other anymore!"
The tone in his voice was enough for Yuna to start crying, and she was suddenly extremely tense as well.
Finally, through her tears, she only managed a cracked, "Why?"
Tidus' anger seemed to disappear, and he sat down next to her, although keeping his distance, as afraid to be too near to her.
"Because," Tidus just said, "I just wanted to make my old man proud, I guess."
"What does he have to do with anything?" Yuna asked, suddenly feeling angry herself.
"Everything!" Tidus said, and Yuna could tell he was feeling rather angry, although he hid it well, and remained calm, "My old man used to know your old man and all that garbage. I don't know what happened, but for some reason, my old man hates your old man, and made me join Nooj. When he found out that Nooj wanted me to be one of the leaders in our planned assassination of your father, my father couldn't have been prouder of me. Alright? My old man finally was proud of me for something! You have no idea how that felt!"
Yuna just sat there, her eyes staring straight ahead, listening to what Tidus was saying.
"Then, the day after I ran into you, Nooj told me that I was to befriend you and all that garbage, and learn some certain secrets about your old man. Then, Nooj and some others were going to assassinate him."
"So you pretended to like me so that you could kill my father," Yuna said, a mist growing over her already wet eyes.
"Yeah," Tidus said, closing his eyes.
The two sat there, both just trying to swallow impossibly large lumps in their throats, before Yuna finally was able to whisper, "Can I ask you one more thing?"
"What?" Tidus asked, his voice only above a slight whisper.
Yuna swallowed hard, and said, as softly as she could manage, "Did you love me?"
There was no reply from Tidus, who just sat there, still staring straight ahead.
Tidus finally looked at Yuna after a while, and she looked back at him, only to have Tidus say, "Yuna, the answer to your question is 'no.'"
Yuna just nodded. She had expected that answer from him. Letting out a sigh, and quickly wiping off her tears, Yuna stood up, gave Tidus the meekest smile she'd ever managed, and said, "I've got to go. Uh...It was nice meeting you, and everything."
Tidus nodded, and led Yuna to the door. He opened it for her, like the gentleman he was, and even led Yuna out the door.
She was about to descend down the steps toward her car when suddenly Tidus grabbed her arm gently, and pulled her close to him, and whispered, "You asked me, "Did you love me?", and I said "no."' Tidus swallowed, and said, "That's because...I do love you."
Then, he let go of Yuna's arm and walked back into his house, and with a click, locked the door, leaving Yuna standing on his doorstep, staring at the door.
After staring at the closed door for some time, probably just out of shock, Yuna allowed a few more tears to slip down, before climbing into the taxi that she had paid to wait for her.
A/N: This chapter was short, but I wanted to end it there. Just think of this as kind of the end of PART 1, or something. I promise that by December I'll start posting again! (And yet again, I'm terribly sorry for having to put this on hold and all...But you know, lack of motivation...)