Disclaimer: Same as always. Moo. (Lori- Ha! I stole your word!)

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Chapter four

My heart's shed tears of scarlet and blue,

The universe is ending but I have no clue.

I'm so confused, I just don't know what to do,

But sit and dream of an eternity with you…

"Yuna," Lulu called to me, but I ignored her. I had the next verse of my song in my head, and I was too busy fine-tuning it to worry about what was going on around me. "Yuna," she repeated, more loudly this time.

I quickly looked up. "What?" I asked, blinking to clear my head.

"You've barely touched your lunch. Are you feeling alright?"

"Oh," I said quickly. "Yes. I'm fine. I was just thinking." I gave a little bow. "I'm sorry."

She paused before answering. "About him again?"

I looked down. "Sort of."

"Sort of?" Lulu raised her thin eyebrows. "You either are, or you are not, correct?"

I shrugged, not raising my eyes. Lulu sighed. "Yuna, I'm not trying to make you feel bad. I just…" She sighed again, at a loss for words, like a mother who had been chastising her child for getting a bad mark on a test.

"It's been almost six months, Yunie," Rikku explained quietly. "Shouldn't you… well… you know, get on with your life? I… I don't think he's coming back Yuna. If he was going to, he would've by now, you know?"

"I know," I said, quietly. And I did; I just wasn't really ready to give up hope. Not yet. But when I told them this, Rikku and Lulu exchanged worried glances. "Besides," I said, in an attempt to lighten the mood, "I wasn't thinking about him. I was thinking about that song I'm writing. Remember, Rikku? The one you said was sad? I just thought of another verse. I'll be right back." I hurried out of the kitchen and up the stairs to my room.

Once there, I sat down at my desk and, grabbing a scrap of paper, quickly scribbled down the verse I had thought of. Its notes were different than the other two I had written; I promptly dubbed it the chorus.

I stood and walked a few feet to the left of the desk to lean against the sill of my open window. I didn't want to go downstairs, to Lulu's pitying expressions and Rikku's horrible attempts at making conversation. I sighed, gazing absently out at the coast. It was so beautiful, so peaceful, with the sunlight glinting off the ocean and the sea birds swaying gently in the breeze. The quiet lapping of the water as it hit playfully against the coast, then retreating back, as though playing tag with the sand, was rhythmic and calming. I closed my eyes, allowing the cadence of the sea to overtake me. I grew even more serene with every beat, every call of one gull to another, every bell that rung somewhere out in the harbor. Soon I smiled, falling onto my bed and into a deep sleep.

I had a stranger dream than I'd had in a long time. I was walking the beach, my shoes off and hanging uselessly from my fingertips. I had adopted flip-flopped sandals during the summer, instead of the hot boots that made my feet sweat, even in winter. I was quietly humming the Hymn of the Fayth to myself, looking out over the water.

"Hey," Tidus's voice came floating on the breeze from behind me. "What're ya doin' out here by yourself?"

A small part of my mind reasoned that he shouldn't be here, that he was dead, but I brutally shoved these thoughts away. I was obviously dreaming, and it was my dream; if Tidus wanted to be in it, it was fine with me.

I just smiled and shrugged. "I don't know. Just wanted to be alone, I guess."

He grinned cheekily. "Can I be alone with you?"

I blinked, smiling. "That didn't exactly make sense, Tidus."

Again he smiled. "I know," he said simply, before grabbing me around the waist and lifting me up. He twirled me in the air, and I laughed at the silly smile on his face. "You're certainly happy," I commented once he put me down.

"Well, when you come back from the dead to be with the woman you love, you're usually happy about it."

"Back… from the dead?" I asked, the reasonable part of my mind leaping into overdrive. That's not possible, it said. People can't come back from the dead. It's not possible. Once they're on the Farplane, they don't come back. That's it, they're done.

Tidus, unaware of my internal conflict, laughed again. "What, you didn't think I was just sitting somewhere since we defeated Sin, did you?"

My brain couldn't process all of this at once. It just wasn't possible.

Suddenly, everything began to fade. I couldn't feel the wind against my face or the sand beneath my feat. Soon I couldn't see the beach or the ocean. Before I knew it, Tidus, too would fade. Just like he did on the airship…

"No," I murmured, grabbing his arms, as though it would keep my dream from ending. "No…" I squeezed my eyes shut…

… And opened them to the sound of a loud banging on the door. "Yunie!" Rikku's voice sounded panicked, as though there was something extremely scary outside the room that was trying to eat them. Or something to that effect.

"Yunie!" Rikku cried again. "Hurry, Yuna, there's something you have to see! Quick!"

That got me up. I stood and practically threw the door open. Instead of looking panicked, or even remotely frightened, she looked as though she had just seen the best thing in Spira. "Uh, what's up, Rikku?" I asked, confused, sleep making my voice thick. She didn't answer me; she simply looked me up and down, then sighed, shaking her head, and pulled me into her room, located conveniently right across the hall.

Once inside, she closed the door and began rummaging through the bottom of her closet. "Rikku, what---?" I began but she interrupted me.

"There's someone here to see you."

I sighed, knowing what she was getting at. This whole "getting on with my life" thing she was talking about at lunch. She had probably gotten one of her old boyfriends to come over and see me. Yevon knew she had enough to spare. "Rikku, I don't want to see any more suitors," I said crossly.

"You'll wanna see this one," was all she said.

There were a few moments of silence as I pondered what she had meant had Rikku continued to search through her closet.

"Ah-hah!" She exclaimed in triumph, holding up what it must have been that she was looking for. It was a plain white shirt shaped in a triangle and backless- a halter-top. "Put it on," my cousin instructed and, in a daze, I obeyed.

Then she began to look through her dresser. I wondered how she had gotten a-hold of so many clothes, but then remembered that she had plenty of sisters and other female relatives who could have given her things.

Rikku held out a pair of black pants that looked as though they would come to just above the knee on me. I simply pulled off my skirt and replaced it with the Capri pants. Rikku looked over me again. "No," she murmured to herself, "It's too boring." With that, she started searching through her clothes again, then sighed and pulled me back to my own room. She then began rummaging through my nicely organized closet. She looked into the back of it, and pulled out an extremely short skirt that I had forgotten I had. "Ah-hah!" she exclaimed again. "I have a shirt that would match this perfectly! Come on!" She called over her shoulder, already at her door. I hurried to follow.

About ten minutes later found me in Rikku's room, standing in front of her full-length mirror, staring at my reflection and wondering how she managed to do it. She had convinced me to wear the skirt and one of her barely-there shirts (It was one she'd made herself and consisted of only a strip of with sleeves attached) that covered only as much as it had to, and even then, not well; a little jewelry, and a fine dusting of makeup. I spun slowly, hardly believing that it was really me looking back from the mirror.

I looked up; Rikku was smiling at me. I smiled back and said, "Rikku, my dear, has anyone ever told you that you work wonders?"

She smiled. "Yes, yes, I know, I try."

We stood there, smiling at each other, for a few moments more, then Rikku grabbed my hand, pulling me out of her room. "Come on, I didn't get you all dressed up because I felt like it! Let's go!"

And I was hoping she'd forgotten.

--

I slowly made my way downstairs, feeling horrible. The last thing I wanted right now were more suitors, acting like I was some sort of trophy. But my thoughts changed when I saw who it was. I gasped his name, nearly silent, and he looked up, smiling slightly at me. "Hello, Yuna," he said simply, his blue eyes apprehensive.

For a moment I was in shock, but I recovered quickly. "Hello yourself, Sir Tidus," I said coolly, neither my eyes nor my voice showing the confused questions that were bouncing around my head. Was this why I had had that dream? Was it a premonition? Why was he here? Why now? What had brought him back? Had I somehow done it subconsciously? Was I still dreaming? Or, was it really possible? Could he really be here, in my house, with me? I couldn't believe any of it.

"H… how are you?" He asked quietly.

"I'm fine… now that you're here." I hoped such a response would make him relax.

It did. He visibly calmed; he smiled, looking slightly thankful.

That was it. His smile was all it took. I practically fell down the rest of the stairs between us and into his arms. My calm mask evaporated; I started sobbing into his shoulder. I whispered his name in between my sobs. I felt him stroke the back of my head, heard him hushing me, telling me it was alright, that he was back for good. Eventually my sobs diminished to sniffles, and I pulled away, meeting his cerulean eyes with my dichromatic ones. I smiled shakily up at him. "I'm so glad you're back," I whispered, afraid I'd start crying again.

Tidus grinned at me. "I'm glad to back." Then his expression grew serious. " Yuna, there's something I never told you; I love you. I think you knew, and I hope you've never doubted it for a moment. I love you more than anything."

I had known, or at least, I'd suspected, but to hear him say it, to hear those three small words escape him mouth, mad me the happiest girl on Spira, I knew it. No one could possibly be as happy as I was right then. I smiled, tears re-forming in my eyes, and grabbed his hand. "I knew," I said softly, "I just needed to hear you say it. And I love you, too... which I guess you also know."

He pulled me into his arms and gently pressed his lips to mine. I returned the kiss warmly, wrapping my arms around his neck. He pinned me gently against a nearby wall, for some reason unknown to me, resting his hands on my hips. A thought struck me suddenly. I had never once thought that he was a fraud, some Spiran who was just role-playing the blitzer. Somehow I had known that this was really him, that he wasn't a fake. He was really here, really kissing me. I heard a girly giggle from behind him and pulled back at the same time Tidus did. Rikku was standing in the doorway, her palms pressed together and held so that her index fingers were touching her lips. I blushed slightly, then went over hugged her. I whispered "Thank you" in her ear and pulled back.

She smiled at me. "Why don't you show him around?" she suggested.

I smiled. "Great idea." I turned and grabbed Tidus's hand, smiling. "Rikku," I said, my back to her, "why don't you go talk to your sources about getting mass amounts of food? We're having party, in honor of Sir Tidus's return!"

She squealed with joy. "Yes, ma'am!" She agreed, and I heard her bounding out the back door.

I turned my attention back to Tidus. "Come on," I coaxed, pulling him out of the entrance hall and into a dining room, and, in turn, the small kitchen, explaining small, needless details. Lulu was standing in front of a piece of machina called a stove, over which she was cooking something in a big pot. "Ever since people found out that Yevon lied to all of us, they've accepted machina and, as it turned out, even Yevonites have been making it for years! They just didn't tell anybody about it!" I explained. He smiled, but I could tell he wasn't really interested. I pulled him to a small staircase in the corner of the room that led to the top floor, where the bedrooms are. I motioned to three of the four doors. "That's Rikku, Lulu, and Wakka's room," I explained.

"Wakka lives here?" He said, a note in his voice that I couldn't even hope to decipher.

"Well, not usually. It's actually just a guest room. He's getting some machina installed into his house, so he's staying here for a little while. But the construction's almost done; he should be able to move out soon."

Tidus nodded and looked to the fourth door. "And… that's your room?" I nodded and he paused. "Can I see it?" he asked after a moment. I nodded slowly and opened the door.

He looked around for a second, his eyes falling on first my desk, then the small couch near one of the windows, and finally my bed, where they stayed longest. I realized I was still holding his hand. I used it to guide him over to the bed, before sitting down on it and motioning for him to do the same.

Once we were both sitting, I leaned against him, my eyes closed. He stroked my hair with one hand, his other on my waist. I looked up and smiled, then reached up and kissed him. He kissed me back, and the next thing I knew, I was pinned under him on the bed and fumbling with his clothes. Suddenly realizing what was happening, I gasped and pushed him away. He fell to the floor and looked up at me, confusion playing across his face. I stood and reached a hand down to help him up. "I'm sorry," I said, blushing, "I was just surprised. I didn't want to… you know… go that far. Sorry."

Tidus took my hand and I helped him up. "It's okay," he said. "To tell the truth, I didn't mean for that to happen, either. But it won't again, right?"

I nodded. "Right."

We stood in silence for a moment, looking at each other, neither of us knowing what to say or do. I was relieved when Rikku knocked on the door, asking if she could come in.

"Yes, come in," I called to her, dropping Tidus's hand from my grip.

If Rikku thought it was strange that we were just standing in my room, doing nothing, especially after that kiss we'd shared downstairs, she said nothing about it. "I talked to Lulu and a bunch of people from the town; they said they think a party would be a great idea. Oh, and by the way, Lora and Jeren say 'hi.'"

"Oh, okay. I'll come help."

Rikku smiled at me and nodded. "Okay," she agreed, and walked out the door. I quickly followed, escaping the room and the awkward silence that had filled it.

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A/N: Hey! Told ya it'd take me a while! And I told the chapters would get longer! And they have! I would've continued, but I didn't exactly know where to go from here. So... yeah. There ya go! ^_^

~E.N.