Hey, thanks for all the reviews and for all the nice things everyone said. I have had several people telling me to do my speechmarks properly, and I don't mean to be rude but I GET IT already!!! I'm not being lazy or anything, but that is the way I do it. However, for those of you who find this annoying I'm sorry and for this chapter I will do it your way.

By popular demand, Gippal, Nooj and Baralai will be mentioned in this chapter and feature later on into the story. Paine will now be making more appearances and there will be a development on the WakkaxLulu thing.

(WARNING!) This chapter I did not write beforehand so it has nothing to do with the original plot - apart from the ending of the chapter. But I thought it may help clear a few things up so I could introduce some of the new characters and stuff. Sorry if it's naff, but the next few chapters will be much better! I promise! :)

(Some Al Bhed further in, I'll put translations at the end!)

Chapter 12!!!

Shifting restlessly in her bed, Yuna felt beads of sweat dampening her nightshirt, making it stick annoyingly to her overheated skin. The dream she was having was obviously upsetting her as a small whimper escaped her lips, rousing Rikku from her sleep to see what had woken her. Wiping blearily at her sleepy eyes she glanced over to her watch - though she didn't want to speculate how late or early in the morning it was.

Sighing in exasperation she rolled out of bed and padded quietly over to Yuna. Seeing the look of fear contorting her cousin's face she reached out to the brunette's shoulders and gently shook her.

'Yunie. Yunie...wake up...' she whispered quietly so as not to wake Lenne.

After a few more shakes Yuna's scared eyes finally opened. Looking up to Rikku's swirly green orbs she was about to ask what the blonde was doing when Rikku placed a hand over her mouth and gestured for her to be quiet. Then pointing to the door she saw Yuna nod in consent and throw off her covers before silently following the blonde out of the room and into the living area. Flicking on the kitchen lights and sitting side by side the two girls looked to eachother for answers.

Yawning tiredly Yuna asked, "What's up Rikku? Why did you wake me?"

"You were having a nightmare, don't tell me you already forgot about it!" Rikku explained.

Lowering her gaze to her lap Yuna thought back to the terrible dream she had been having barely minutes ago. what she had seen had horrified her with it's fabrication, but at the same time had felt so real that it may happen anytime now.

'Well, all of us were at this club I think - there were drinks and lots of people dancing...and Lenne was singing this song. We were all having fun. I was dancing with - " she paused suddenly. Yuna hadn't wanted to reveal that she'd in fact been dancing with a certain blonde. He'd been her tightly, gently swaying her from side to side in a slow circle to Lenne's enchanting melody.

But she wasn't about to tell Rikku that - that guilty pleasure was hers.

"Yuna? Come on, spill!" Rikku smiled.

Looking up to Rikku with a slight smirk on her face, Yuna continued, "I was dancing with...this guy..." she hoped that would satisfy her cousin for now, "then somehow I ended up outside." The smile fell from her face as she recalled what had happened next. It was the worst part of her dream, the part that had scared her most. "I was upset about something - I don't remember what, but Shuyin came...with Seymour."

Rikku saw how the name seemed bitter in Yuna's mouth as she forced herself to say it. The blonde had heard about the incident with Yuna and Seymour the same day it had happened and knew what he had tried to do to her cousin. She also knew that if he ever tried that again it wouldn't just be Paine, Lulu and Tidus kicking his ass.

"What happened?" Rikku pressed her on gently.

Hesitating, Yuna tried to explain as best she could, "they came towards me. But there was something about Shuyin...he didn't seem himself. There was this look in his eyes...it scared me. Plus the fact that he was Seymour makes it sound even crazier. I know it would never happen, Shuyin doesn't even like Seymour, but, what if it did happen?" Yuna implored worriedly.

Taking her cousin's hand in her own, Rikku replied assuredly, "It wouldn't happen. Like you said, Shuyin doesn't even like Seymour - no - one does. So why would he now? He knows what Seymour tried to do and he will never forgive him for that. It was only a dream Yunie. Don't worry".

Amazed at the way Rikku sounded Yuna seemed calmed by her words. Pulling her into a friendly embrace and thanked her.

"Well its different from the other dreams with him in it you've told me of!" Rikku teased.

Pulling away from her cousin Yuna smiled, "You asked!"

"I s'pose I did! So, down to the really juicy stuff! Who was the mystery guy you were dancing with? Shuyin before he became scary, stalker guy, or Tidus?"

Staring at her cousin, Yuna was mildly shocked at how blunt the blonde could be. One minute she was being this comforting and friendly person and the next she was back to her normal gossiping self.

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me! Which one?"

Standing up and trying to escape her cousin's accusing stare, Yuna headed over to the fridge and began to pour herself a glass of juice.

"Come on. You think I wouldn't notice? I'm your cousin! I know you better than anybody!" she protested in amusement following Yuna over to the kitchen worktop.

Placing the now empty glass down on the counter she turned to face Rikku straight on. Still not wanting to give away her secret Yuna lied, "I couldn't see, his face was in shadows".

Arching her eyebrow, Yuna crumbled under the blonde's intense stare, "okay! Tidus", she finally murmured.

'A - HA! E ghaf ed!" Rikku cried loudly.

Slapping a hand over the blonde's mouth Yuna silenced her excited cries.

"Sorry", she mumbled looking around to see if anyone had woken up once Yuna had removed her protective hand.

Stepping away from Rikku, the brunette placed her empty glass into the sink, meaning to wash it up later.

"So where does this leave Shuyin?"

Whipping round to face Rikku again Yuna looked confused. What was she on about now?

"Huh?"

"Do you still like Shuyin or are you after Tidus now?" she explained.

Pondering this thought a moment Yuna realised how infrequently she'd been thinking of the blonde, while Tidus had taken up permanent residence. when she still attended Besaid High Shuyin would have been on her mind every waking moment, but now she rarely thought of him. Did this mean she didn't...?

"I guess I never thought about it till now...I don't know."

"Well considering all the time you spend with him, the looks, the hero complex he has for you, the touching, the feeling - the list could go on! But my guess is that you do like him!" she replied openly, for the second time speaking her mind without regard for how loud she was becoming.

"Rikku!"

Holding her hands up in defence, Rikku protested, "hey, I'm just stating the facts!"

Chuckling to herself, the sound of a door opening made both girls jump. Out of the shadows emerged Paine, slightly surprised to see the girls up. Dressed in only a dark, strappy top and shorts she quietly walked over to the two girls.

"Hey Rikku. Yuna".

"Morning", Yuna smiled ironically.

"Hi Paine, what are you doing up?" Rikku waved.

Ruby eyes rose to meet inquisitive emerald ones as Paine stated matter of factly, "you two woke me up".

Gasping, Yuna clasped her hands over her mouth, surprised they had been that loud and scared that they may have been overheard, "you didn't - "

"No," she cut in, brushing a stray lock of her dark hair from her eyes, "but what were you talking about?"

"Boys, but I've just been, so now it's Rikku's turn!" Yuna admitted smiling mischievously down at her cousin. Paine also looked down at her friend, watching amusedly as the blonde began to gape like a fish, unable to say a thing in her defence.

"Come on Rikku, I want to know. You never tell me who you like. Please tell us!" Yuna pleaded innocently.

Turning her back on the two girls, Rikku spoke defiantly, "No".

"You mean, she's never told you about Gippal, Yuna?" Paine teased, seeing Rikku fly back around, her cheeks flushed and her lower jaw left wide open. In that moment Yuna knew Paine had hit something secret.

"Paine, crid ib!" Rikku whispered through clenched teeth and then innocently laughing at Yuna.

"Gippal, huh?" Yuna nodded, "I've never seen him before, who is he?"

Looking at Rikku's obvious discomfort, Paine smiled playfully, "Unfortunately, they both sit next to me in Machina Physics. Him, Nooj and Baralai used to go to the same high school as me, we used to be close. So whenever I see Gippal he bugs me about Rikku," Paine explained to Yuna, indicating the blonde.

Smiling at Paine's hidden friendly side, Yuna nodded and looked back to Rikku who was fidgeting uncomfortably on the spot.

"Paine!" the blonde whined.

This caused the two girls to start laughing hard, clutching their stomachs. Though Rikku tried to fight it, she couldn't and soon joined in despite herself.

"Wakka! Shut up!" came a male voice out of the darkness.

"Oof, hey what's going on?" Wakka replied sleepily.

"You were snoring! Shut up!"

"No need to kick me though, ya? Brudda...you need to learn to control your temper Shuyin!" he replied lying his head down on the pillow again.

There was an exasperated sigh and finally Shuyin drifted back off to sleep. Hearing a quiet voice float across the room, Wakka turned his attention to Tidus," just ignore him Wakka. He's very protective about getting enough beauty sleep to look good for Lenne".

"I can tell, he's such a stiff, ya? Hey Tidus, do I snore that bad?"

"I hate to admit it man, but yeah, you do," Tidus confessed with a chuckle.

"Oh brudda".

"Hey don't worry bout it - you didn't wake me, I was already up", Tidus promised cheerfully.

Confused, Wakka could just make out Tidus' form through the darkness, leaning his arm against the pillow and resting his head in his hand. "Why?"

"Uh - " Tidus faltered, unsure whether to tell Wakka the real reason he was up, "I was...thinking".

"Oh, and would 'thinking' include Yuna girl?" Wakka asked smiling through the dark at the blonde. Making no reply to Wakka's rather personal question silence filled the room.

Finally, Tidus answered, "yes".

Smiling even more broadly at him, Wakka continued, "hey man, s'ok. I know what it's like."

"Oh yeah, Lulu...Nothing seems to be happening between you two. What's up with that?" Tidus asked quietly so no - one would hear.

Hesitant at first, Wakka took a moment to answer, "I'm a chicken, ya? I can't even go up to her without having to make some lame joke or remark. I'm never gonna be able to tell her, y'know?"

"Wakka, you're not a chicken. You're just nervous. I'm the same; most of the time I get thrown into these awkward moments with Yuna, and all you can do is go with the flow. Just go up to her one day and ask her something, like, 'what have you got next period?' Y'know, stuff that will interest her and make her talk to you", Tidus tried to explain. Though he was no expert himself at least he could give Wakka a little bit of help.

"Thanks brudda," Wakka said genuinely.

"No problem," Tidus replied, lying on his back to stare up at the ceiling. After a minute Wakka fell asleep again. Ignoring Wakka's constant snoring, Tidus continued to stare up at the ceiling, pondering ways to talk to Yuna in the morning. Hopefully it wouldn't be too hard.

Hopefully.
It was mid afternoon on a Saturday and all the flatmates were either doing homework, chatting in the living room or watching yet another rerun on the s.v. Yuna was sitting with Wakka and Tidus, talking about the latest match the Zanarkand Abes had won, seeing how excited the guys were that their team were back on a winning streak. Suddenly Wakka's attention wavered as Lulu entered the room, and headed over to Paine who was talking to Rikku in the corner of the room.

Turning to look at Tidus beside him who nodded and gave him an encouraging, "go for it", the orange headed athlete got up and strode over to the mysterious dark haired girl. Turning to look over at Tidus, confused, Yuna moved closer to the blonde to whisper something in his ear.

"What's going on?"

Smiling at her, Tidus placed a hand by the side of his mouth so that no - one else would hear what he was about to say and copied Yuna's action, "Wakka has a thing for Lulu. I told him to talk to her."

Looking back over to Wakka, who was nervously twiddling his thumbs behind his back, Yuna saw Lulu smile at him as they began to talk. Happy to see her friends getting along with eachother, Yuna looked back up to Tidus who was still happily watching her. Blushing, the brunette turned to watch the couple again, and realising what he was doing, Tidus also turned to see Wakka turn back around. Looking thoroughly pleased with himself and giving Tidus an okay sign he began heading back over to his seat. Shaking his head and wiping his face, Tidus laughed along with Yuna as they saw the goofy look spread across their friend's face.

A loud ringing came from behind the sofa, making Yuna jump.

"I'll get it!" Rikku yelled, sprinting towards the noisy machine. Picking up the old fashioned receiver, Rikku answered the voice on the other end of the line. "Hello? Oh hi! Uh - huh...okay. Hang on. Yunie! It's for."

Looking to Tidus in surprise, Yuna felt everyone staring at her in anticipation. It wasn't that often, if ever that she got phone calls, so of course the first thing she felt confusion that someone wanted to talk to her.

Tentatively she rose from the sofa and crossed the room. Taking the hand device from Rikku and thanking her, Yuna placed it to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Yuna, it's me Braska. How are you?"

"Dad? Um, I'm fine. Why are you calling?" Yuna asked confusedly.

"Ah". He went silent for a moment.

"Dad?"

"Sorry. It's your mother...she's been asking for you, Yuna".

"Well put her on the line, then."

"I can't do that, Yuna".

"Why not?" Yuna asked suspiciously.

"Yuna, your mother has become very sick".

Unbelieving, Yuna looked over to Rikku who was watching her carefully, trying to find out what her Uncle wanted.

"What do you mean? Is she okay?" Yuna whispered desperately, feeling scared tears well in her eyes.

As if he hadn't heard her last comment, Braska continued, hiding his sad tone with a cough, "could you please come home, Yuna".

Speechless, Yuna almost dropped the receiver as the blow of the message finally hit her.

End of Chapter 12

Ha - ha! Cliff-hanger!!! Now you're all going to have to wait till I feel generous enough to put the next chapter up!!! (Evil cackle). Until next time! Bye!

PS: Al Bhed used by Rikku earlier on;

"A - HA! E ghaf ed!" = "A - HA! I knew it!"

"Paine, crid ib!" = "Paine, shut up!"