Disclaimer: Oh, do I STLL have to put one of these up? Fine, fine, I don't own FFX. Or anything in this story. Well, I do own Jeren, but Lora belongs to herself (::waves:: sorry I didn't wait for you to respond to my e-mail! I had already typed you in and forgot when I uploaded it!)
Thanks Shad! ::huggles:: You know why (or you SHOULD, but…).
Oh, and by the way people, this chap's from Yuna's POV too.
*-.-*
"Hey Yuna," a strong pair of arms wrapped around my waist, and I smiled, recognizing Tidus's voice. I turned and smiled up at him, wrapping my arms around his neck.
"Hey," was my response.
"This place looks great," he said, looking around at our decorations. He frowned when he saw the big black piece of machina and the man standing behind it. "What the heck is that?" he questioned.
"Oh, that? That's something Rikku got a hold of. The Al Bhed call it 'nyteu'. The man standing behind it presses a bunch of buttons on it and music comes out of those things" I motioned to the black speakers places all around the town square.
Tidus smiled slightly. "Sounds like a stereo," he said with a lopsided grin. I looked at him, my eyes voicing the question for me. "A stereo is a thing we had in Zanarkand," he explained. "You have to do the same thing, you know, push buttons, except they were a lot smaller. I had one in my room that I played almost constantly." He sighed, thinking of his old life, and I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. I pulled him closer and almost kissed him, but was immediately interrupted.
"Hey!" shouted Rikku. "You guys aren't here to make out! You're supposed to be helping us set up!"
"Hey, Rikku," called Wakka from one of the food tables, where he was 'setting out' food. "Shut up, ya? The kid just came back ta LIFE!"
Rikku ignored his words. "I thought you were putting out the food, not eating it!" With that she turned back to her job of hanging paper lanterns all around the dance floor.
I laughed. "You know, Tidus, she's right. We ARE supposed to be helping." I let my arms droop from around his neck and reached up to whisper in his ear, "We'll do this later." I made sure to put extra emphasis on "later".
He looked down at me, surprised, and then just grinned. "You bet!"
I laughed again and turned back to selecting songs for the nyteu to play. Of course, most of the songs were in Al Bhed, so I just picked some at random. When I was finished, I turned around to see that Tidus had gone to help Rikku with the paper lanterns. I smiled as I watched them trying to get the lanterns on strings without crumpling the paper at all. It was quite amusing.
--
Some time later, everything was ready, Wakka had stopped eating all the food, and some of the townspeople started arriving. The sun had set and Lulu was casting fire spells one by one on the candles inside the paper lanterns, making everything glow with a rosy light. I smiled, watching the people on the dance floor dance to some techno song in Al Bhed. A new song suddenly came on, a slow song, and the people who had been dancing either coupled up or drifted off the dancefloor. Tidus came over from where he was talking to Letty and Keepa, probably about blitzball, and took my hand. "Wanna dance?" he asked casually.
"Um…" was all I said. I didn't want to tell him what I was really thinking.
"What?" Tidus's eyes were confused, questioning, as he tilted his head to the side.
I looked down. "I… uh… I don't… I don't know…"
"Don't what? Know how to dance?"
I nodded, blushing and not meeting his eyes.
Tidus laughed loudly, and I blushed even more. "How can you not know how to dance?" he asked, still laughing. I was silent. After a moment he noticed my embarrassment and quieted himself. "Hey, that's okay! I'll teach you!"
"Um… okay, I guess." I let him lead me to the dance floor. He placed one of my hands on his shoulder and took my other in his, resting his other palm against my hip. Slowly, he stepped forward with his right foot, informing me that I was supposed to step back with my left. We repeated this movement again, reversing the steps so that my feet came together, as did his. We repeated the step a few more times, so we moved in a box shape. He smiled slightly, obviously proud of both me for learning so quickly and himself for teaching me so well. Is was a lot easier than I thought, and more fun than it looked. "How'd you learn?" I asked, my loud voice barely carrying over the music.
He grinned. "Comes from being a celebrity in Zanarkand. You have to know how to dance, in case someone important asked you to, like a king's daughter. Or something," he added with a slight laugh. "Why didn't you learn?"
I shrugged. "There was no need for me. When I decided to become a summoner, I knew that I wouldn't get married, because I'd be killed defeating Sin. And I wasn't really interested in boys before that."
Nothing more was said. We just danced, looking into each other's eyes. We treasured every second we were together more than we'd treasure a precious gem. He was everything to me.
Our silence was broken when Tidus finally noticed my clothes. "Yuna, what the heck are you wearing?"
I laughed lightly. "Rikku gave it to me." In the hours between when he came back and the party, Rikku had helped me pick out a good outfit. I was now wearing blue shorts that might as well not even be there (Rikku had called them hot pants) and a shirt with a neckline slightly reminiscent of Lulu's dress; it was white and hung off of my shoulders, and the bottom was decorated with a blue sparkling design made of glitter that fell off almost every time I moved. Again I was wearing make-up, but this time it wasn't just a light covering. It was practically a face-mask, with blush, lipstick and lip gloss, and so much eye shadow and eyeliner that I was surprised my eyelids weren't closed from the weight. There was also a sprinkling of glitter along my cheeks and shoulders. It was strange; I had never been this done-up in my life, not even when I "married" Seymour.
Tidus grinned. "Think you'll ever wear anything like this again?"
"Most likely not."
"Aww," he said, pretending to be disappointed. Or maybe he wasn't pretending. I couldn't tell for sure.
The song morphed slowly into an upbeat tune, and I went over to a bonfire that Lulu had lit. I sat down on the sand and Tidus sat next to me, wrapping his arms around my waist. I leaned against him and closed my eyes. We only stayed that way for a minute. Rikku ran up to us and grabbed my hand. "Yuna!" She said, trying to pull me up.
I opened my eyes. "What?"
"Come 'ere!" She said, and I grudgingly stood. Rikku pulled me over to the other side of the bonfire, a little further away from the noise. "Let's sing your song!"
"What?" I exclaimed. I hadn't even finished the song yet, and she wanted me to perform it?
"You know, that song you were singing before. We could, you know, sing it! We both know it! We could sing it a capella!"
"What?"
"You know, without music!"
"Oh."
"So, whaddya say?"
I sighed. "I don't know, Rikku. What if we mess up?"
"We won't! We can go over it right now, if you want."
I bit my lip, thinking. "But how would we do it? Would you sing one verse, then me, and then both of us do the chorus? Or would we both sing the whole time?"
"You'd sing the first verse, then I'll sing the next one, and we'll both do the chorus!"
"Well… okay. But if we mess up, it's your fault!"
I taught her the second verse and the chorus. We had a little problem when I told Rikku that she'd have to sing the last verse, but she said that I should, because it was my song. We quickly figured out solution. I taught Rikku her extra verse, and we ran through again with no problems.
Rikku went and whispered something to Brother, who was in control of the nyteu, and he nodded and stopped the music. Rikku motioned me over, and I went, almost unwillingly.
"Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention, please?" Brother began in unaccented Spiran, which he had spent the past six months learning. Everyone looked up at him expectantly as he continued into the microphone. "We have to very special guest singers here tonight who want to perform a song that, what, they both wrote?" He looked at us questioningly, and Rikku shook her head and motioned to me. "Oh, that Yuna wrote. So, let's give a nice, warm hand of applause to our special guests, Ladies Rikku and Yuna!" The crowd did so, clapping and cheering. Brother brought out another microphone that he must have had hidden somewhere and hooked it up for us. Rikku and I looked at each other. She mouthed "One, two, three."
Right after "three," I began quietly.
"My head stopped working, my mind's all numb,
I feel so stupid, feel so dumb." I looked over at Rikku, who nodded encouragingly. I continued, "Lately there's nothing left to do,
But sit and dream of an eternity with you."
I stepped aside slightly to let Rikku have the microphone.
"Time's catching up to me, catching like a cold," Her voice showed none of the stage fright that mine had.
"The tears I've shed are coming back ten-fold.
Still there's nothing else to do,
But sit and dream of an eternity with you."
She moved over the tiniest bit so that the microphone would catch my voice, too, as we sang the chorus, her voice an octave higher than mine.
"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 and eternity with you!"
Rikku continued with the next verse, still just as sure of herself as before:
"Outside there's rains of fire falling,
In my heart, your flame burns to true.
I can hear my destiny calling,
But I'm stuck dreaming of an eternity with you."
My voice was louder as I sang than it had been last time, as my stage fright was greatly lessened by Rikku's wonderful performance.
"I've wished on every star twice,
For you to come and melt my heart of ice.
That's why I beg and plead for you,
To make my dreams of eternity come true!"
Again, Rikku joined my on the mic to sing the last chorus.
"My heart's shed to many tears for you,
The end has come, I still don't know what to do.
I've been born again, and now I'm asking you,
Will you make all my dreams come true?"
There was a four beat rest, and then we continued, my voice jumping to Rikku's part and hers still an octave higher.
"Will you make all my dreams come true?"
As I sang the last words I looked directly at Tidus, into his eyes, asking the question to him and only him. He seemed to understand my intentions, because gave a tiny nod. And when everyone started cheering, he was the loudest of all. I smiled at him as Rikku and I gave little, almost mocking bows to the audience and rushed of stage.
I ran directly to Tidus, into his open arms. He picked me up and swung me around, then set me down and kissed me. He seemed to know that everyone was watching him, and he dipped me over his arm as a crowd-pleaser. And the crowd was most certainly pleased. There were howls of approval and shouts of "You go man!" and other less appropriate things. When he finally broke off I was so giddy I knew that if he wasn't holding me up I'd have fallen by now. He sat on a log that someone had pulled over to the fireside to serve as a bench and pulled me onto his lap. "You were great," He murmured into my hair, then pulled away and made me face him. "Yuna, I swear I'll make all your dreams come true. I'll be with you forever... For eternity."
I smiled and tried very hard not to cry from happiness. Instead, I lowered my face to his for another wonderful kiss.
--
Hours later, at about one o'clock in the morning, the party started winding down. People went home and we started cleaning up. Or, at least, Rikku, Lulu, and Wakka did. Tidus and I snuck home when no one was watching.
Once there, we immediately ran up the stairs and into my room. I slammed the door shut and Tidus pinned me against it, kissing me hungrily, like we hadn't seen each other for years. Still kissing him, I pulled away from the door and led him to the couch by the window. We collapsed onto it and started to pull at each other's clothes. I wanted to stop so badly. I wasn't ready for this. The thought of what I knew would come if I didn't get up was terrifying, but for some reason I didn't understand in the least, I couldn't pull my lips from his. It was like I was possessed by something I couldn't get rid of. Tidus appeared to by having the same problem. There was something inhuman in his eyes, like he was a wild animal, something that couldn't be controlled. This made my fear escalate to panic. I had no control over myself, I couldn't stop kissing him, couldn't pull my body away from his. All I wanted was for this to stop. Why wouldn't it stop?
The next second I lost all ties to myself, to my humanity. It was like I became some kind of animal. I knew, somehow, that I must have had the same look in my eyes that Tidus held in his.
--
When I woke up, sometime in the afternoon, I was in bed, instead of on the couch, and Tidus was beside me. His arms were wrapped around my shoulders, and mine were around his waist. I blinked a couple of times, trying to remember what had happened the night before. It took me a few seconds, but then everything came back to me at once. I groaned lightly and turned away from Tidus, my brain pounding in my head. I closed my eyes. I felt again the terror that had gripped me the night before. I had had no control over myself. I wondered with distress if that was how it always felt. I had no idea; before last night, I had had no experience in the subject.
A couple minutes later, Tidus woke up. He sat up, rubbing his head, then looked at me. Even though I was facing away from him, I could tell this somehow. "Yuna," he said quietly. I turned to him. He had a confused expression on his face. "What happened last night?"
I turned my head to meet his eyes and motioned to the pile of clothes on the floor by the couch. "Figure it out," I said quietly, then turned away from him again.
"...Oh." he responded simply.
"Yeah," I responded. I felt him stand up and heard him walk over to the couch. I closed my eyes and stopped listening to him, trying to go back to sleep. About a minute later I felt something light come to rest on my legs. I opened my eyes to see a long skirt that was dark blue at the bottom and faded to a powder blue at the top, and a light blue shirt with sleeves that ended just past the elbow, along with a black bra and a pair of underwear. I looked up just in time to see Tidus walk out the door, fully clothed, and close it gently behind him.
I sat up and dressed quickly, then carefully made my bed. Once that was done, I went downstairs to find Tidus leaning casually against the kitchen counter, talking to Rikku and Lulu, who were both sitting at the table, eating breakfast. When I entered, he looked up and smiled warmly. "Morning, sleepy head," he greeted me.
I blushed. "Good morning." I was surprised at how calm my voice sounded, how… normal. It didn't betray the fear and confusion that I was really feeling. I sat down at the table, and Lulu stood and placed a plate of chocobo eggs in front of me. I looked over at Tidus. "Aren't you hungry?"
"Nah," he said with a dismissive gesture. "I'm fine. But you eat. I might have some later, okay?"
I nodded. "Okay." I started eating the plate of eggs in front of me.
I was almost done with my eggs when Lulu asked the question that I had been dreading. "So, where did Tidus sleep last night?" She had said the question casually, but I knew Lulu too well. This was a test. I could tell by the look in her eyes that she knew exactly what had happened the night before. I looked away. "My room," I answered in what I hoped was a casual voice.
Lulu looked at me with her sharp, dark eyes. "And where is he sleeping tonight?"
"Um… the guest room?" I suggested.
Lulu smiled. "Good answer."
The rest of the meal passed in silence. Even Rikku was quiet, for once.
*-.-*
There ya go. Chapter five. This one's long, too.
If you saw my other chapter five, I have one thing to say-
Everything's alright in the end. If it's not alright, it's not the end.