Hullo. The next chapter is here. As always, I would like to thank my absolutely positively wonderful reviewers! I couldn't do this story without you guys. BUT, I would like to dedicate this chapter to a special reviewer. She has reviewed every chapter of my story so far, and it has made me so happy! So, without further ado, I would like to announce the recipient of this dedication ('recipient of this dedication'…that doesn't make much sense, but who cares?). And it is…

MANDYFANFOREVR!

applause and wild screaming

Mandy, thank you sooo much for reviewing every chapter! You have no idea how good it makes me feel! So, this chapter is dedicated to you.

Oh, and much thanks to amagana for the idea of adding flashbacks! That was abrilliant idea, and I think it will make the story work so much better! Thank you again!

Okay, to reveal why I asked that poll question in the last chapter was because...clears throat Okay, I was on this website looking up information on Square Enix's upcoming release, Final Fantasy XII, and was reading when I came upon this.

"…Square-Enix has promised this game is going to be something different and not follow the typical storyline of love between the main characters."

Sniffle It's awful, isn't it? Now, I'm not sure if this information is accurate or not, but this is a very VERY good Final Fantasy site (or at least it seems like it Oo), so I doubt their information would be inaccurate. But I still don't know. If you want to go and see if for yourself, the website is in my profile.

Now, onto the story!

Disclaimer: I don't own FFX or Monopoly.

YUNA POV

"Oh, so you have to baby-sit tonight?"

Lulu and I were sitting in the lunchroom the day after I had gotten the phone call from Mrs. Reing to baby-sit Calli.

I nodded "Yeah, but it shouldn't be for too long. You can come by later if you'd like," I told her.

Lulu smiled and shook her head. "Thanks, but I have a date tonight."

I smiled and raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh, I see…" I said, pretending to be offended. "You're blowing me off for your little boyfriend, eh?"

"Oh, you got me good, Yuna!" Lulu smirked. "I really am sorry I can't meet you tonight, though."

I shook my head at her. "No, don't apologize for doing something that will make you happy. It's wonderful that you have someone special. No one should have to say sorry for something like that."

Lulu smiled softly. "Yes, but…"

"No buts, missy." I said. "You are going on that date whether you like it or not. I will force you if I have to," I said, raising my fist at her in mock determination, then lowered it, remembering that I would have no idea who I was forcing Lulu to go out with. "Oh, by the way, when do I get to meet this mystery man? You said I could, right?"

"Yeah, you'll get to eventually," Lulu said.

"Hey, you haven't even told me his name yet, have you?" I said. "Well, at least give me that little piece of info, huh?"

"Oh, it's Nooj. His name is Nooj," Lulu said, and I could see the blush creeping up onto her face, but was surprised to see that she wasn't smiling.

"Oh, okay," I smiled at her. Then the bell rang, signaling the end of our lunch period. We threw away our garbage and parted to our next classes: mine was English, Lulu's was science.

As I walked down the hallway, I thought that I had heard someone call my name. I turned around, but all I saw was a crowd of students. I shrugged and kept moving. Then I heard it again, and I was sure of it this time. I turned again to see Tidus making his way towards me. I glared at him. He had skipped out on social studies class today, leaving me to do all of the work. And, boy, did that piss me off.

"Hey," Tidus said, finally reaching me. I continued to glare at him. He sighed. "Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry I skipped out on history today, alright? I slept in this morning; I completely forgot about the project." When Tidus saw that my facial expression hadn't changed, he dropped his head. "I'm really sorry, Yuna, okay? I really am."

I was slightly surprised at his last statement. Not because he said that he was sorry; I was sure he had said that plenty of times to try and get out of trouble. I was surprised because it sounded surprisingly sincere. I stopped glaring at him, and averted my gaze to the floor. "Its alright," I said softly. "Just…come tomorrow, okay?"

Tidus didn't say anything. I was guessing he wasn't expecting to be let go this easily. "Oh, ugh, okay, I will. But, ugh…" Tidus said. I looked up at him to see that he was looking somewhere over his shoulder with a pleading look on his face. Then he sighed, and turned back to me. "Well, the reason I came to find you was…I was wondering…if we could get together sometime this week and work on the social studies project."

I was taken back by what Tidus had said. I didn't expect us to actually work together on it outside of school, let alone Tidus be the one to suggest it. But, I guess if he was willing to work…

"Oh, um, alright then," I said nervously.

"Okay. Well, when and where?" Tidus asked.

"Um…" I thought for a moment. Tonight I was babysitting, and I had to work Wednesday, Friday, and this weekend. "The only day I'm available is Thursday." I said.

"Oh, ugh, okay, that sounds fine. Um, where should we have it?" He asked.

"Oh, I guess we could have it at my house," I said. The only reason I offered was because Tidus already knew where I lived, and I really didn't feel like going to his house, so there was no harm done, I guess. I would feel a lot more comfortable at my house, also. "Oh, alright. Should Idrive home with you after school?" Tidus asked. I lowered my head to the floor. "Oh, well the thing is..." I sighed. "I don't...I don't have a car."

I felt foolish admitting it to him, but after seeing my house, did he really expect me to have one?

"What?" Tidus sounded shocked. "You mean you walk to your house everyday?" I nodded.I guess he didthink that I had a car. Yevon, he seemed really unintelligent sometimes."Um, yeah," I said, notlooking at him.

"Wow," Tidus said. "I don't know how you do it. It would kill me. But, anyway, we can justtake my car."

I looked up at him. "Oh, um, alright, that sounds okay,"I said.

Tidus sighed. "Okay, well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow." I nodded, and he ran off. Then I heard the bell ring. I gasped, realizing just then how long we had talked, then sprinted towards class.

TIDUS POV

I sighed as I turned the corner of the hallway after talking to Yuna. "There, are you happy now?" I asked Rikku, who was leaning against the wall waiting for me to get done. It was Rikku who had scolded me for skipping out on class with Yuna, telling me how lonely and sad she had seemed while working by herself, telling me how Yuna probably felt so neglected and depressed when I didn't show. Of course, I knew that all of what Rikku had said was crap, since Yuna probably didn't mind me not being there at all. When I said this to Rikku, she simply said that I should still go and apologize and offer to make it up by getting together outside of school.

"Yup, I am one happy Rikku!"She jumped up happily, seeing that I was done. "See? Don't you feel better now that you've apologized?"

I shrugged. "No, I don't really feel much different about it," I said truthfully. Rikku sighed. "Tidus, you're hopeless," she said, shaking her head.

I glared at her. "I'm hopeless, Rikku? What about you? First, you completely hate the girl, now you're like her bodyguard or something! It doesn't make much sense." Rikku bit her lip.

"Hmph, see? You know I'm right!" I said, and smiled slyly at her. But I was surprised when she didn't throw a comback at me.

"But…well, I do have a reason, you know."

I stopped smiling. Rikku was rocking back and forth on her feet nervously. "A… reason?" I said. "What kind of reason?"

Rikku sighed. "Ugh, well…" she began. I listened to her tentatively. What kind of reason would Rikku have to be nice to Yuna all of the sudden?

"Ugh," Rikku said again. "Well, I…"

I rolled my eyes at her. "Just get on with it, Rikku! It can't be that bad, can it?"

Rikku looked up at me, and I saw that her eyes were shining with tears. "I…I just found out recently that…that Yuna is…"

"Is? Is what?" I asked, leaning forward, eager for her to finish.

"Yuna," Rikku lowered her head to the floor, "Is my cousin."

My eyes got wide. I guess it could be that bad.

YUNA POV

I stretched once I got outside of the school gates. The day seemed to go by particularly slow today, for some reason. All I wanted to do was go home and take a nap, but I couldn't; I had to go to Calli's house now.

I started my way towards Calli's neighborhood. She lived in a neighborhood off of a busy street, so I had to keep really close to the curb so I wouldn't get run over. When I finally reached her neighborhood, I saw something that made me stop dead in my tracks.

There, entering the same neighborhood that I was headed for, was Rikku. Her backpack hung lazily off of her shoulder, and she looked like she was upset about something. I turned to start walkingawayso that she wouldn't see me, but then…

"Yuna?"

Too late. I turned around slowly. Rikku stood looking at me strangely.

"Hey, what're you doing around here? I've never seen you here before," Rikku said, and she started walking towards me. Just shoot me now, Yevon, please,it would make things a lot easier.

"Ugh, well, I babysit someone who lives in this neighborhood," I pointed my thumbat the entrance nervously.

But then Rikku smiled at me. "Oh, okay, that's cool! Well, I live in here, so do you want to walk together?"

I knew itwasn't polite, but I couldn't help but stare at Rikku. She had just asked me to walk with her. That couldn't be good. I remembered one of the other times that Rikku had asked me to do something like that. Let's just say that they didn't turn out real well.

FLASHBACK

"Hey, Yuna, can I sit with you at lunch today?" Fourteen year-old Rikku asked me.

I hesitated at first, but Rikku looked so sincere, that I couldn't help but say yes. Maybe she really did want to be my friend.

"Great!" Rikku smiled. "I'll see you then!"

Lunch time

"Hey, Yuna!" I turned to see Rikku coming to sit down by me. I smiled at her, but then saw that she had two cartons of milk on her tray. "Hey, Rikku, why do you have two milk cartons?" I asked her.

"Because I got one for me, and one for you!" Rikku said, reaching down for one of the milk cartons. My eyes lit up. "Oh my gosh, really? Thank you so…" But my sentence was suddenly cut short as Rikku poured the ice cold milk over my head. I desperately tried to hold back the sob that was threatening to come as the milk engulfed me in a feeling of numbness…and betrayal.

"Whoops, sorry, Yuna!" Rikku mocked an apology. I could feel the tears rolling down my face, and as I stood up and started to run out of the room, I saw someone stick their leg out in front of me. Before I could stop, I felt myself fall face-flat onto the cold hard tiled-floor. Laughter erupted around me as I lifted my head up to see Tidus, Dona, and Barthello all standing above me, smiling evily. More tears ran down my face as I got back onto my feet, running out of the cafeteria as fast as I could.

END FLASHBACK

"Ugh, I think I'll just walk alone," I said, and started to walk quickly into the neighborhood. But, soon enough, I saw that Rikku had caught up to me and was now walking right by my side.

"Oh, c'mon, Yunie, lighten up!" she said, smiling. I sighed and nodded. I really didn't feel like fighting with anyone, so I forced myself to keep my mouth shut, even though I knew that there were a hundred snappy comebacks that I could throw Rikku's way.

"So, who d'ya babysit?" Rikku asked me.

"Oh, ugh, her name is Calli," I said.

"Oh, I know her!" Rikku said happily. "She lives across the street from me! She's such a sweetie, ain't she?"

I gaped at her. She lived right across from Calli? All these years that I had babysat that little girl, and I had never even noticed!

"Yunie?"

I snapped out of my daze. "Huh? Oh, sorry," I said.

"You seem kind of out of it, Yunie. You okay?" Rikku looked at me, and she actually had a concerned look on her face.

Not with you, I'm not okay. "Yes, I'm fine."

"Oh, okay," Rikku said, and turned forward again. I kept looking over my shoulder, as if to make sure there wasn't someone following us with a paintball gun ready to attack at Rikku's command. But nothing ever happened.

After what seemed like an eternity, we finally got to Calli's house. "Well, I guess I'll see ya later, Yunie!" Rikku said, waving good bye. Before I could say anything in response, Rikku had already sprinted across the street and walked into a small white house with green shutters, leaving me standing there with a blank look on my face. Had all of that really just happened? Had Rikku been genuinely nice to me? Shaking my head, I walked up to Calli's house and knocked on their oak door. A moment later, a middle-aged woman with shoulder length red hair and stylish black glasses opened the door.

"Hello, Ms. Reing," I smiled at her.

"Oh, Yuna dear, how nice to see you. I almost thought you weren't going to make it tonight. Is everything alright?" She asked, cocking her head to one side.

"Oh," I smiled sheepishly. "Yes, I'm sorry I just got a little side-tracked, that's all. It won't happen again."

Ms. Reing smiled. "Oh, don't worry about it dear. Now, come on in before you catch a cold. These November winds are brutal!"

"Yes, they are," I agreed as I came inside the house, taking off my shoes and hanging my coat up in their closet, a habit I had developed a while before.

"Okay, well, you know the basics. My cell phone number is on the refrigerator, as well as all of the emergency contacts. Calli is allergic to nuts and strawberries, there are to be no people besides you two in the house while I'm gone, remember to write all the messages down on the pad of paper by the phone, with the name of the person first, then their number, and then…"

"YUNA!" I heard ayell and turned around only to benearly knocked down by none other then Calli. Her timing was perfect; every time I came over Ms. Reing had to explain the rules to me, as if she didn't make me memorize them when we first met. Ms. Reing was a good person, I knew, but she was very over-protective of Calli, and she didn't trust anyone completely, even me.

"Hey, girlie, how are you doing?" I smiled at her. Calli was probably the closest thing to a sister I hadever had. I had started babysitting her when I was only fourteen, and I had put up an ad on the grocery store bulletin board. Ms. Reing had been recently widowed and was in desperate need of some help, so she called me up. We both took an instant liking to each other, and I'd been babysitting Calli every since.

"I'm doing great!" Calli said, looking up at me. "And guess what? I made high honor roll at school!"

"Calli, that's excellent!" I said, kissing her forehead. Calli beamed with pride.

"Alright, I'd better get going now," Ms. Reing said. "Now, Calli, you be a good girl for Yuna, you hear?"

"Yes, Momma," Calli said, ending our embrace and ran up to her mother to kiss her on the cheek.

"Alright. I'll be home in an hour or two. Take good care of my little girl," Ms. Reing winked at me. I smiled. "You don't have to worry about a thing."

Ms. Reing smiled and headed out of the door. I knelt down so that I was eye-level with Calli. "So, what do you feel like doing?" I asked her.

"Hmm…" she said. "How 'bout we play Monopoly?"

"Sounds good!" I smiled and followed her into the living room.

TIDUS POV

I pulled my yellow sports car into the long driveway of my house after school. Okay, so it wasn't really a house.Itwas more like a mansion, but so what? Yes, I was rich thanks to my dad, Jecht Monti, the famous blitzball player. Overall, he and I didn't really get along, but we didn't have an absolutely awful relationship. We just had clashing personalities.

I pulled into our three car garage next to my dad's black truck and parked it. I sighed. I found it incredibly hard to believe that Rikku and Yuna were actually related. I had had it on my mind all day.

"Yuna…is my cousin."

It had taken me a minute to actually process what Rikku had said, but when I did I about fainted. I mean,Yuna and Rikkuwere as different as day and night.I became calmer as Rikku explained the situation to me, but was still uneasy.

FLASHBACK

"Your…your cousin!" I exclaimed. "Yuna's your cousin? No, that can't be right. I mean…you…and Yuna..."

Rikku sighed, wiping her eyes. "I know it's hard to believe. I know it's weird. I've thought it over a thousand times, and I'm still not sure if I can accept it. Especially after…everything."

She didn't have to explain herself. I knew what she was talking about. All of the things we had done to Yuna over these years. This must've been really hard on Rikku, too. I knew that even though she acted like a snot sometimes, she would never hurt a member of her family intentionally.

"Ugh, so how did you find all this out, Rikku?" I asked. "I mean, like, how long have you known and everything? Does Yuna have any idea?"

"No. Yuna doesn't know. And I've only known for about…" Rikku bit her lip in thought. "About three months maybe."

My jaw dropped. She had actually managed to keep her mouth shut about something that important for that long! I couldn't believe it. For as long as I'd known her Rikku had never been able to keep a secret for more then twenty-four hours, let alone three months.

"My dad told me. Yuna's mom was his sister, and my aunt. She didn't even know that my dad, my brother, and I lived in Besaid, andwe didn't knowthat she was here either.Ifall of us had known, thenYuna's mom would've probably hadYuna live with us after she died."

I cringed, though I didn't know why. I had always figured that Yuna's parents were probably dead, but I hadn't known for sure. I guess hearing that it was for surewas just kinda weird for me. "When did Yuna's mom die?" I asked.

Rikku looked away from me. "When Yuna was fourteen. Her mom had had breast cancer, and they couldn't afford treatment. Her father had left Yuna and her mother when Yuna was about six, and didn't even send money or anything."

I let my head hang. Yuna's dad had left her when she was little, and she was only fourteen when her mom had died. I had known her for about a year by then. I tried to remember anything about how Yuna acted at that time, and vaguely remembered Yuna gradually starting to act more and more depressed over the secondhalf of the school year. I also remembered not caring a bit.

"My dad…" Rikku began again. "My dad wanted to take Yuna in, to let her live with us. But, apparently, she already had some sort of guardian. I don't know who it was, but they said that they had legal custody of Yuna, and wouldn't let Yuna move in with us. He said that he'd watch over her. There was nothing we could do about it.But when we came to Yuna's house on Halloween, it seemed like she lived alone."

That was weird. Why would Yuna be living alone if she had a guardian? Did she even really have one? And if she did, why would he keep her from staying with her own family? It didn't make much sense. I'm sure that Rikku and her family would've been good to Yuna.

Then something hit me.

"Rikku, the only reason you're being nice to Yuna is because she's your cousin, isn't it?" I asked bluntly.

Rikku couldn't seem to look at me in the face. "Well, that's how it started, yeah. But now…now I do it because Yunie seems like a really great person, you know? I mean, she's so nice and caring. Remember what she did for Barthello on the first day of school? And she must be so strong, to have survived through all of her heartbreak…"

My eyes got wide. I then realized that not only had Yuna had to suffer her father's abandonment and her mother's death. She had to suffer being tormented by me also…by the one she had loved.

"DAMN IT!" I slapped my forehead in disgust. I had gone and made her life even harder then it already was! I was such an idiot!

Rikku sighed. "I know," she said, as if reading my mind. "That's why we should try to…to make her feel better, ya know? Become friends with her. Hang out with her. Obviously, Dona and Barthello probably won't agree, but who needs 'em anyway? We'll be way better friends to Yunie!" Rikku punched her fist into the air in determination.

I smiled faintly. "Yeah, I guess you're right, Rikku. We really should try to get to know Yuna better."

END FLASHBACK

But the thing was, I had no idea how to go about befriending Yuna. I mean, it was like trying to tame a lion: some people can do it, some people can't. It isn't necessarily because they're bad at it; the lion just might not like them. In other words, Rikku would definitely get on Yuna's good side relatively quickly, because Rikku was naturally good with any and all people. Now, in my case, I was good with people, but not with Yuna's type. I'd never been fond of the silent people; they always annoyed me. Not trying to be a jerk or anything, but they'd always kinda freaked me out. They always seem so bottled up inside, where as I wasn't very good at concealing my feelings for long. If I was happy, I acted like it. If I was angry, I yelled. If I was depressed, I'd cry. Yes, I'd actually cry, much to my dad's disgust.

I got out of my car, locked it, and walked into my house through the garage entrance. I entered the kitchen to find my dad sitting at one of our tables with another person, sipping coffee. That was weird. My dad didn't usually have any guests during theweek. "Hey, Dad, who's…" I began, but then both of them turned towards me, and I saw who was with my dad.

It was Auron.

"Welcome home, son. How was school?" my old-man asked.

"Ugh…it sucked," I said simply. I was too preoccupied with thoughts of why Auron might be at my house right after school. Usually he and my dad would go out for their meetings, and would talk over food. Auron almost never came to our house. Was something wrong? Was that why Auron was here?

"No, Tidus, nothing is wrong, don't worry," Auron said a few seconds later.

Yevon damn it, I really was an easy read. I shook my head and went out of the kitchen into our living room. I went up the stairs and in my room, where I flopped my backpack down on my couch and sat down on my bed with my head in my hands. Why was I feeling like this? Too much was happening all at once, way too much for me to deal with. I wasn't used to stress like this, and I didn't like it one bit.

I went to lay back on my bed, but felt my head hit something. "Ouch," I said, turning over to find my freshmen yearbook. How did it get there? I hadn't looked at it in awhile. That damn Jecht better not have been going through my room or something. I picked it up, and was about to throw it on the floor, when I caught a glimpse of one of the pages.

I smiled sat back down, opening the book to the page with the old Aurochs photo. And there was me in the second row with Wakka, sticking my tongue out and giving Wakka bunny ears. Of course, Wakka was doing the same to me. We thought a lot alike sometimes.

Now happy that my yearbook ended up on my bed, I began flipping through the freshmen photos. I saw Rikku, looking as innocent as always with her big smile, Dona, looking like a slut, and Barthello. I laughed. The poor guy had gotten his picture snapped just as he was about to sneeze. His mouth was wide open, and his eyes were halfway closed.

I kept flipping through the pages for a few more minutes, when I saw a picture that made me stop.

It was Yuna.

I sighed. In the picture, Yuna was wearing a cream sweater, and her hair was down,and a little bit longer then it was now. She had a very small smile on her face; you could tell that she seemed depressed. And as much as I hated to admit it, Yuna looked very beautiful in that picture.

Wait…why did I hate to admit it? Was it because I knew that Yuna was unpopular? Or was it because I felt foolish for thinking it because she hated me so much? Before it probably would've been because no one liked her, but now…I just didn't know.

YUNA POV

I waved at Calli and her mother from the driveway of their house, and started down the road. It was about 5:30, and I had ended up staying over at Calli's house for dinner after Ms. Reing had gotten home. I hadsaid that dinner was enough payment for babysitting Calli, but Ms. Reing had still insisted on giving me money. I looked down at the 20 gil in my hand and smiled. I would put five gil into my Luca trip fund. As of now, I had about thirty gil in the jar that I had labeled at home, and I needed about 75, so I was sure that I would have enough by March.

I reached my house at about 6:00. I took off my backpack and my coat, and walked over to my phone. The message button blinked, so figuring it would probably be from Lulu,I clicked play.

"You have one new message," The recording began. "Message One."

"Hey, Yunie! It's Rikku!" My eyes got wide. "I was thinkin' we could hang out sometime. Ya know, hit the clubs, maybe have a sleepover? Well, let me know! See ya later!" Click.

"End of Message."

I just stood there and stared at my phone. Had I entered some parallel universe? Had aliens kidnapped Rikku and replaced her with some nice, sweet, caring replica? Or…was Rikku simply faking it?

Yes, the story has been sort of boring so far, but the next chapter is when things start to get good . Yep, the excitement starts. I mean, it won't be like BAM and everything happens, but there's going to be a lot more Tidus/Yuna interaction and whatnot. Well, please review! I lurve you all!

Inannalia