Sorry, I think I'm a day late…I forgot all about updating yesterday, even though I had this chapter done! Oops…XD Oh well, it's a lot longer than the others have been, so that makes up for it, right? Oh yeah, and thank you to all that have reviewed! I love reading your comments:D Well then, here is chapter six! (Already!) Enjoy!

Chapter 6: Tears and Ice Cream

Tidus didn't know why he was nervous. Really, there was no reason to be. Still, he couldn't help but feel clammy and warm, despite the fact that it was a rather cool and breezy summer evening.

He stood on Yuna's front step, trying to act as calm and casual as he could. It was weird…he'd never wondered how to act before. Well, he'd never had a real girlfriend before…

But was Yuna a real girlfriend? Or was she really no different from the others, other than a little bit strange…and obviously one who was abused?

He rang the doorbell.

For a long time, there was no answer, but finally, he heard the door being unlocked, but to his surprise, Yuna didn't answer.

Dona did.

Tidus found himself narrowing his eyebrows at her. Anger surged through him, but somehow he kept his emotions to himself, for the most part.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, eying him with a strange sort of satisfaction in her eyes, "And at this time of the day?"

"It's none of your business," Tidus said, "I'm here to see Yuna."

She laughed, and said, "Well, I would hope so. This is her house. Oh, and just a tip, Tidus…" Dona came up very close to him, "She's in her room, crying. She'll want someone there to hold her, if you know what I mean."

With that she walked off.

Tidus watched her for a little while, but then he couldn't contain himself anymore.

"Did you burn Yuna with cigarettes?" he found himself asking.

She turned around swiftly, and stared at him hard, and said, "Who told you that?"

"No one," Tidus lied, "But she has what looks like cigarette burns on her arms. I just thought that you smoked, so maybe…"

"How did you know I smoked?" Dona asked, but pulled out a cigarette as she asked.

"I…smelled it," Tidus lied, but in a way, it was the truth: he'd smelled it on her before.

"Well you know," Dona said with the cigarette stationed between her teeth, "it shows what you know about Yuna. She smokes too."

"What?" Tidus said, shocked, "Yuna?"

"Yeah," Dona said, lighting her cigarette, "She probably burned herself."

"Why would she do that?" Tidus asked.

"Burn herself?" Dona asked, and shrugged, "I don't know. I have to go, Tidus. Go make Yuna feel better. Poor girl. She's so depressed…I think it's because she's sad her mother died, or something."

With that she walked off, leaving Tidus there, staring after her, not knowing what to think.

Taking a deep breath, he decided to ignore Dona and go straight to Yuna. He was going to just pretend Dona hadn't spoken to him, and go about his plan. He was going to find out just what Yuna wanted: Him or just to do him. And either way, if she really wanted to do him, or if there was more to it.

Tidus, you sound like a twelve-year-old even in your head! Tidus couldn't help but think as he walked up the stairs toward Yuna's bedroom.

He found that her door was opened a crack, so he allowed himself to slip in. He didn't have to go far to find her though, because she was lying on her bed, not facing him, looking off at nothing.

Knowing she didn't hear him, he shut the door, but only to get her attention.

She looked startled, and she turned to see him, and then scoffed saying, "Did Dona call you?"

"No," Tidus said, "I came on my own. But I ran into her on my way in."

"Oh? What did she say?" Yuna asked, but she didn't really look like she cared.

"She said you were upset about your mom's death and needed consoling."

Yuna rolled her eyes and said, "My mother died when I was a year old. I don't even remember her. I wouldn't cry about it."

"Dona just wanted to give me a hint or something, huh?" Tidus asked, sitting on the opposite side of Yuna's bed from her.

Yuna didn't answer. She just kept lying there, staring away from Tidus, at nothing but the wall.

"I came to apologize," Tidus said, breaking the silence.

"About what?" Yuna asked, still not bothering to look at him.

"About…Well, making you tell me about things you didn't want to tell me about."

There was no answer from Yuna.

"Um…I wanted to say I'm sorry for…" Tidus didn't know what to say. He wasn't sorry for anything. Maybe sorry for getting involved with her. He tried to tell himself he was there just for a lay, but that wasn't working either. He wasn't even in the mood.

"What else did Dona say to you?" Yuna asked, still not looking at him.

Tidus leaned back and said, "She said you smoke. Is that true?"

At this Yuna turned to look at him, but she was rather emotionless.

"Go look in my handbag," she just said, nodding to a small blue purse that was sitting on her chair.

"Um…" Tidus didn't know what to do, so he just stood up and walked over to the chair and picked up the purse. Of course, he'd never dug through a girl's purse before, so he was rather hesitant.

"Go ahead," Yuna said, watching him.

So Tidus did. It was relatively empty. There was just a brush, a wallet, car keys, a mirror, and…

Tidus couldn't believe it. Tucked inside was a pack of cigarettes.

"I can't believe you smoke," he said, almost dropping the purse, "Even I don't smoke! Of course, that's because it would destroy my blitz game…Not that it stopped Gippal from trying back in eighth grade, not that he smokes now but…"

"Open it," Yuna just said, sitting up, still watching him.

Tidus took the package out, and opened it, only to find that although it was already opened, it was full of cigarettes.

"A new pack?" Tidus asked, giving her a quizzical look.

"It's just in there for looks," Yuna said, turning around and facing the wall again.

"You carry around cigarettes so it looks like you smoke?" Tidus asked, dropping the pack back into her purse.

"Yup. It's in the code. We smoke, so we smoke," Yuna said, "Of course, I have no interest in that habit, so I don't. And then…" She shook her head, signaling once more that she wasn't going to tell him.

"How do you pull that off?" Tidus asked.

"I say, "Oh, I just smoked! I can't smoke another!"' Yuna said, again not looking at Tidus.

"So Dona makes you?" Tidus asked, crossing his arms, "And Leblanc and Rikku?"

Yuna said nothing.

"Rikku can't," Yuna finally said, "Because she has really bad asthma. You wouldn't know it, but she's constantly using her inhaler. Dona tried to put it in the code that we couldn't use inhalers, but…" Again, Yuna drifted off, and wouldn't finish the story.

"But what?" Tidus asked, sitting down.

Yuna looked at him, with a shocked expression on her face, but then she just looked away at the wall again.

Finally, she took a deep breath and said, "It was in the tenth grade. Rikku was constantly using that thing, when it was just us girls, and Dona took it from her, saying that it was dumb and dorky to use it. And then, later that day, Rikku had an asthma attack and didn't have her inhaler." Tears began to form in Yuna's eyes. She swallowed loudly, and she said, "And Rikku almost died because of it. But Dona wouldn't give her the inhaler. And all Leblanc and I could do was stand there while Rikku passed out. I don't know how she made it."

"Why didn't you do something?" Tidus asked.

"I did then!" Yuna cried, "I called the ambulance immediately!"

"Still, just tell Dona to give it back! Are you that afraid of her?"

"It's not just Dona you know!" Yuna cried, but then stopped. She was telling Tidus too much.

"Why won't you just tell me?" Tidus said, sitting down on the bed again, "Are you that afraid of something."

Yuna still refused to answer.

"Damn it, just tell me Yuna!" he cried, shoving his fist hard into the bed.

She looked at him, shocked at his outcry, but still said nothing. She just laid there, absolutely motionless.

Then, she sat up, and glared at Tidus, saying, "Is that all you wanted? Just to know all I could tell you? Is that all you ever wanted?"

"What do you mean?" Tidus asked, now shocked at her own outcry.

"Do you just want to know what happens inside the clique? Do I just interest you because my life is more interesting than yours? What do you want with me?"

Tidus was silent. Was that all he wanted? Did she just interest him? Did she just give his summer some excitement? He'd been telling himself that he just wanted a steady girlfriend for the summer or something, but was that it?

"I don't know what I want," Tidus finally said, softly.

"Then maybe we're in the same boat," Yuna said, crossing her arms, looking angry.

Tidus sighed, and decided that perhaps this would be the perfect time to tell her his intentions. Maybe then he could get a straight answer from her.

"Okay Yuna, here's the deal," Tidus said, "I came here with the soul purpose of having sex. Alright? And here's why: I can't figure out if you must want me, or if you just want me because Dona wants you to want me. Is it Dona, or is it you?"

He expected her to be angry. Or maybe sad. Or, maybe upset, but she just cocked her head to the side, staring at him, as if thoughtful. Maybe she didn't know at all what it was either.

Finally, she sighed and said, "I guess maybe it's a little bit of both."

Well, that hadn't been the answer he'd been expecting…

"At first," Yuna said, looking as if she couldn't think of how to word it, "I didn't want anything to do with you. But Dona said, "Yuna, you need to lose your virginity this summer, and I know just the guy who will take it, and be a gentleman. His name is Tidus. He'll be perfect. He'll come, make you think he loves you, make you okay with the fact that you're losing your virginity, take it, and leave. But you won't be upset, because you won't regret that night."

"So naturally," Yuna continued, "I didn't want to see you at all. Because I was against this new addition to the code. But I…I couldn't do anything about it, so I figured that maybe you were the best to hook up with. And so I did, that night of the party. The soul purpose of that party was for me to have sex with you. But you didn't…I even led you here and to the closet, and wore those clothes…but you still didn't. I think that's when I started to like you…but I don't know…"

She looked at him then, and said, "Why didn't you?"

"Why didn't I what?" Tidus asked, a little jumpy. Of course he knew what she was asking.

"Just take me?" she asked, "I was all yours. I was asking for it."

"I don't know," Tidus said, "It was like I knew you were unwilling…I don't know. I was…content just fooling around without…well, you know…"

"But Dona still wants me to do it," Yuna said, sighing, "But I just don't know if I'm ready, know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I guess," Tidus said, "But why don't you just tell her that?"

"Because. It's in the code," Yuna said, "And I'm scared."

"Why are you scared?" Tidus asked, "She'll hurt you, is that it?"

Yuna nodded, and said, "But it's not just Dona, you know. Leblanc is that way too. Leblanc does whatever Dona does. And Rikku…well, she's scared too."

"Just stay away from them," Tidus said.

"They live right next door," Yuna said, "And I can't just move."

"Why not?" Tidus asked, "You're eighteen, aren't you?"

"Not until August."

"Well, um, tell your dad."

Yuna was silent. "He's the one that wants me to go through this," she said, "Because their dads are someone. They're the ones I'm supposed to hang out with."

"So he beats you when you say you want to leave them?" Tidus asked, and realized from Yuna's shocked expression that he had his very close to the truth, if not right on it.

Yuna didn't answer. She just sat there, staring at nothing.

Finally, she turned to him, looking very emotionless, and said, "Besides, I want to be in that group."

"What? Why?" Tidus asked, shocked.

"Because," Yuna said, "I want to be just like them."

Tidus couldn't believe what he was hearing. From the start, he had figured that she was different from them. But maybe she wasn't at all.

"If you were like them," he said, "You'd let me take you, right here and now."

"If that's what it takes," Yuna said, staring hard at Tidus, "Then I would."

"A-And you'd smoke!" Tidus cried, shocked at her answer.

She shrugged, "I'm doing well enough pretending to."

"A-And you'd—," he was running out of ideas fast. His heart was racing. Had he figured her out all wrong?

Yuna swallowed, saying, and her voice cracked as she said this, "B-But that's just what I tell myself!" At that, she threw her face into her hands, sobbing.

Although seeing her cry pained him, he couldn't help but feel relief. A bluff, that's all any of that had been.

"Yuna," he said, rubbing her back gently as she cried, "Why not just tell me? Everything…Starting with why you're so afraid of them."

She shook her head.

"Maybe someday," she said softly, "But I just can't yet. Please try to understand…"

He wanted to say he couldn't, and continue to coax her, but he just couldn't. So he sat there, quite dumbfounded, unsure of what to say or do.

They sat there, for what seemed like hours, before Tidus finally sighed, and said, "Wanna go out for ice cream or something?"

Yuna laughed, and said, "Ice cream? That was random!"

"I know," Tidus said, laughing as well, "But I've got a craving for it."
"Alright," Yuna laughed, "But I don't think Dona will be happy that that's what we're doing."

"Ah, forget about her," Tidus said, standing up and pulling Yuna with him, "We'll go and enjoy ourselves and not think anything about her."

"Okay," Yuna said with a small smile.

And still holding hands, the couple left her room.