Okay, this chapter goes by really fast, but that's because I didn't want to bore you guys with fillers, and decided to just get straight to the point! The problem is, I only have about three more chapters' worth after this one. Oh well, I'll just have to spend a lot of time thinking! Anyway, I hope you enjoy! Here's another long one for ya!

Chapter 7: The Not-So Unwanted Night

"Yuna, how do you explain this?" Yuna heard her father's voice roar from downstairs. Yuna moaned and rolled over. It was far too early for this.

She heard her father coming up the stairs though, so she rubbed her eyes a few times, and braced herself.

The door slammed open, and her father stood there, wearing a very stern face.

"What?" Yuna asked with a yawn.

Her father flung out the newspaper, and it was no surprise to Yuna what was on it. It was the sports section, and there was a blurb about the game, and then of course, a certain picture.

"How do you explain this?" her father asked.

"Oh! Let me see that!" Yuna cried, and she took the paper from her father, "How's Tidus' knee? Will he be able to play this weekend?"

Her father looked dumbfounded.

"Aren't you going to explain yourself?" he asked, "What were you doing in that locker room?"

"Huh? Oh, I was seeing if Tidus was okay."

"Who is Tidus?"

"A friend of mine," Yuna just said, although she didn't really know how to classify their relationship, "Um…I met him through Baralai, kind of."

"What do you mean, kind of?"

Braska's eyes then went to Yuna's dresser, and Yuna felt her heart stop. Of course he would see the jersey. Sure enough, he did, for he walked over to it, and said, "Why do you have this?"

"I won it," Yuna said quickly, "Baralai and I did."

"I'm throwing it away," Braska said, "It's indecent for you to have this."

"No!" Yuna cried, throwing the paper aside, "That is very important to me?"

Braska shook his head, and said, "What is going on with you, Yuna? You're in this man's locker room, you have his jersey… Who is he?"

"I told you, he's a friend, and nothing else," Yuna said, "Baralai and I…Had dinner with him once or twice…"

"So Baralai knows him?"

"Of course," Yuna said, although that wasn't necessarily the full truth, "Now may I have that back?"

Braska didn't say anything. He put the jersey back on the dresser though, and shook his head at his daughter.

"I have an important meeting in fifteen minutes," he said, "When I get back, we are going to have a talk."

"Okay," Yuna just said, but she didn't look at him. She simply took that newspaper and began to skim through it, attempting to find out about Tidus' condition.

Braska shook his head, and still had a dumbfounded look on his face. Yuna figured he had no idea what to do: she had never acted out before.

She heard him close the door behind him, and he was then gone.

Yuna sat up and continued to skim. Sure enough, she found Tidus' little interview, where he talked not only about his injury, but about her as well.

According to the article, there was no doubt that Tidus would play in the Zanarkand matches. However, the article said that they were unable to release how bad his injury was.

Yuna bit her lip nervously. What if he was pushing himself too hard? She didn't fully understand what the big deal was. After all, if he didn't play in Zanarkand, he would still be there, right? Wouldn't that just give her more time to be with him? She wanted to smack herself, of course. It wasn't about her. She had to get that through her head.

And besides, who said Tidus wanted to be with her anyway?

She sighed and got ready for a day of doing nothing but bumming around, counting down the days until Zanarkand.

-

Her father must have forgotten all about the newspaper, for he didn't talk to her about it at all that night. Instead, he simply went tiredly to his office, where he remained most of the night.

Of course, that had been three days ago.

Yuna sighed, and shifted uncomfortably. How dreadfully she wanted class to be over with.

It seemed to her that the week was going by painfully slow. All she wanted was for the weekend to come.

She had met Rikku that day for lunch, and they had discussed all of their plans. They wouldn't make it to the Friday game, but they'd be at the Saturday game. They'd spend most of Saturday on the bus, going to the game, and then they'd spend the night, and come back the next day. Yuna was slightly upset to miss the Friday game, but she figured being able to go to the Saturday game was better than nothing.

She needed the weekend to come, for her own sanitary. She didn't know what was wrong with her. All she could think of was a certain blitzball player. It was as if he had brainwashed her or something, making it so she could only think of him. She was obsessed, and she'd known it from the first time she saw his blue eyes.

What scared her the most was how truly his she was. Everything was ruined, and possibly because of him. Baralai was to be her husband—she knew this—but now he probably hated her, and if Baralai wasn't to be her husband, who would be? Yuna would often sink into daydreams of herself marrying Tidus, and having little blitzball-playing babies, but she knew this was nothing more than a daydream. It wasn't a possibility. It wasn't. Tidus had his own separate life and she had her own. She was simply star struck, even though he wasn't really a star. Yet.

Perhaps she felt the way she did because of the fact that he was a blitzball player. Perhaps that was the only reason she felt the way she did toward him. Not to mention that he was good looking, and seemingly coming onto her. She bit her lip nervously. She knew what all of this was going to lead to.

But she was ready for it.

She was finally dismissed, and once again, she basically ran out of her classroom, and into the slightly warmer weather.

She was happy that the weather was warming up. However, she knew that it meant the end of the blitzball season. She mentally counted how many games were left (she had pretty much memorized their schedule), and realized there was the game in Zanarkand, and then two home games after that, and their regular season would be over.

Sighing, she pulled her backpack onto her shoulders and wished she had found out about blitzball a lot sooner. A lot sooner.

At that moment, Yuna heard a honk, and turned around only to see Tidus waving at her from the window of his car.

"Hey!" she said, almost losing herself entirely. She was sure her heart was no longer beating, and it would only be seconds before she collapsed.

"Hey," he said back.

"How's the knee?" Yuna asked, for she hadn't been thinking of much other than his injury.

Tidus shrugged, and said, "I don't know. I'll definitely be playing this weekend though. You coming?"

"Yeah!" Yuna said, "I'll totally be there."

"Great," Tidus said, "You coming on the fan bus?"

"Yeah," Yuna said.

"Cool," Tidus said, "Well, I gotta get groceries." He rolled his eyes and said, "Gip's addicted to these little wolf-fiend-shaped crackers. It's pretty embarrassing buying 'em, but he's hung over, and he says they're the only thing that makes him feel better."

Yuna just smiled and said, "Well, it's nice of you to get those for him."

"Yeah," Tidus just said, "Well, see you this weekend then?"

"Definitely," Yuna said. Tidus waved, and sped off, leaving her standing there, playing the conversation over in her head, and wishing he would come back.

She watched his car until it was completely out of sight and sighed. She would definitely see him soon. Definitely.

-

"I knew it was worse than you were making out," Gippal leaned against the wall as Tidus came limping in.

"What do you mean?" he just asked, throwing his gear bag down on the ground. The two were the first ones in the locker room, preparing to practice once more before their big game against Zanarkand.

"You're limping," Gippal said, "You probably need crutches."

"I probably do," Tidus agreed, "But I have to play."

"Hey," Gippal said, "Don't push yourself too hard. It'd be better to sit this one out than to risk your entire career. Don't be stupid, Tidus."

"Seriously Gippal, enough with the mom-ness. I can handle myself."

"You're a baby and you know it," Gippal said, "Don't play. I'll tell the coach if that's what you're worried about."

"If I don't play, I won't go," Tidus said, "They won't take me to Zanarkand."

"So, take the weekend off. Relax, enjoy yourself. You never do."

"…I can't," Tidus said, "I've got to play. The scouts gotta see that I'm still in it, right?"

Gippal sighed, and said, "I think they'll see it anyway. You know they're not just gonna drop you."

"You never know…"

"You're more worried about that girl, admit it."

"What girl?"

"I don't know her name! The brown-haired one…The one with the different eye colors."

"Yuna?"

"Yeah, her."

"I don't even think about her," Tidus said, shaking his head.

"Sure you do," Gippal said, "She's going to be at the game, isn't she? You probably want to give her a good show."

"Do not," Tidus said, "Her and I haven't even done anything."

"You never do anything on the first date, Tidus," Gippal said, raising his eyebrows at his friend, "You have some sort of devious plot up your ass, and you know it."

"Do not," Tidus just said, "Now shut-it, and don't tell anyone you saw me limping."

Gippal simply shook his head at his friend, but said nothing more.

-

"I seriously never thought this day would come," Yuna admitted to her cousin.

"I know, me neither!" Rikku chirped, and she stood up, looking at her surroundings, "I'm so excited to get there! How many hours did they say it was?"

The two were sitting on a very packed bus, on their way to Zanarkand. They had already been traveling for an hour, but it seemed so much longer to Yuna.

"Three hours," Yuna said, "So only two more."

It was a short ride, which Yuna was amazingly thankful for. She couldn't stand to wait much longer.

With that in mind, she took a deep breath and leaned back in her seat. The only thing she could think to do was take a nap. Before long, she fell into a pleasant slumber, dreaming of a certain someone.

-

"Oh man, this game is way too close!" Rikku cried, "I can't believe they made another goal! We were totally ahead!"

The score was tied, three-to-three, with only five minutes left in the game. The night before the Basilisks had played, and had lost three-to-four.

"Tidus doesn't seem right," Yuna mumbled, "It's like he can't swim as fast or something."

"He was really stretching out his knee at the beginning," Rikku observed, "I bet it's still bothering him."

"He shouldn't push himself," Yuna said, "He could be seriously injured."

"That won't stop him though," Rikku said, "Like now! He's got the ball!"

Sure enough, Tidus did have the ball. He passed it immediately though, and his teammate caught the ball flawlessly, and went for the goal, but the goalie caught it, which allowed an eruption of applause to go through the stadium.

"It's weird being the away team," Yuna mused, "Everybody's cheering for the wrong team!"

"I know," Rikku said, and then she started up a cheer of "Let's go Basilisks!"

Soon Tidus got the ball again, and once more passed it up to his teammate. His teammate went for the goal, only to have it blocked once more. However, Tidus caught the rebound, and flung the ball, right into the goal.

The Basilisk section jumped up and screamed, for their team was going to win.

"That was awesome!" Rikku cried, "I guess his knee really isn't that bad!"

"Yeah, I guess not," Yuna said, although she still felt that something seemed off. Even as much as she hated to admit it, even to herself, something told her that that goal had simply been a fluke—the ball had been going in the right direction at the right time.

"It's so exciting to win!" Rikku cried, even though there were two minutes left in the game, "Especially after last night's upset. I can't believe we lost! We'll be tied with Zanarkand now for first place. Hmm…I wonder why Tidus didn't just play for Zanarkand? You should ask him Yunie."

"Why would I get the chance to ask him?" Yuna asked, shrugging.

"Because, you know you will," Rikku said, prodding her cousin with her elbow, "You gonna see him tonight?"

"No," Yuna answered, although everything in her heart was screaming "YES!"

"That's a shame," Rikku said, "I'm totally going to go and party with them all tonight!"

"You're not old enough to drink," Yuna reminded her cousin.

"So? Neither are half of the team!" came Rikku's response, "And that doesn't stop them."

"It stops Tidus," Yuna said surely.

"Well, that's him," Rikku just said, "Poor guy—he'd probably be the only one not partying tonight!"

Yuna felt her eyes cloud. Oh how she hoped so.

With that as her final thought, the buzzer buzzed, and the Basilisks fans all cheered, while the many Zanarkand fans simply began to leave.

-

"Okay, Yunie, we're here, in Zanarkand, and able to party with the team, and you just want to sit in here?" Rikku cried as she put on her makeup.

"Yeah," Yuna just said. She was lying on her stomach on her bed, staring aimlessly at the sphere in front of her.

"But Yunie! You'll miss out on all of the fun!" Rikku cried, "Just come with!"

"Don't worry about me," Yuna just said, sighing, "You have fun, Rikku. Oh, and ask Gippal if his hangover got better. Tell him I saw Tidus on his way to the grocery store to get him the koala-shaped crackers.

"What?" Rikku just said, but then she said, "Come on Yunie, stop being such a party pooper!"

"Just go Rikku," Yuna said, smiling at her cousin, "Have fun."

"Alright," Rikku said, "If you're positive…Well, I'll call you and tell you where we end up. So if you want to come, you can come."

"Okay," Yuna said, "See you later."

Her cousin tried a few more times to get her to go, but she finally sighed, said goodbye to Yuna, and left.

As soon as Rikku closed the door behind her, Yuna felt her eyes go to the hotel's phone. Zanarkand was Tidus' hometown, so why wouldn't he be out enjoying himself? He was probably with old friends, or with his teammates, or eating at his favorite restaurant or…

Sighing, Yuna rolled over so that she was on her back and stared at the ceiling. It had been stupid of her to come. She had a lot of studying to do. Why had she even come? What was her goal?

She rolled back onto her stomach and continued to stare at the phone. It would be so easy to call and ask what room Tidus was in. But what good would that do for her? What would she say? She couldn't just tell him that she was pretty much obsessed with him and would do anything for him, now could she?

Finally, she stood up and decided that she had nothing to lose. Literally.

She was just about to pick up the phone, when to her surprise, it rang.

She snatched it up and said with a slight tremble, "Hello?"

"Hey, Yuna?"

Her heart began to beat fast. It was Tidus.

"H-Hey," she just said, "Whatchya doing?"

He didn't answer her. Instead, he said, "I'm in Suite three-oh-five, if you want to come."

She almost dropped the phone. She couldn't go! She couldn't go to his room!

He must have noticed her pause, for he laughed and said, "There's something… Something really important I gotta talk to you about."

Yuna bit her lip nervously, and said, "Okay."

There was a pause then, and a moment of awkward silence, before Tidus said, "Okay, see you in a little bit."

He didn't give her time to say anything, for he hang up the phone.

Yuna sat slowly down on her bed. Had she really just said 'okay'? Was she really going to go?

She found herself rolling her eyes. Of course she was going to go. She had nothing to lose.

She walked quickly toward the door, stopping momentarily by the mirror to check her hair and makeup. Then, she took a deep breath, and headed into the hallway.

His room must have been a floor higher than hers, so she jumped into the elevator, and with a shaky hand, pushed the button for his room.

The elevator stopped, and Yuna almost didn't get out. Of course, she simply took yet another deep breath, and started into the hallway, looking for his number. Soon enough, it came into sight.

Nervously, Yuna reached out her fist, and knocked on his door.

He answered, of course, smiling broadly. Yuna's worries seemed to melt away with that smile, but a new worry hit her. She was his, and she knew it.

She was that weak.

However, she noticed almost immediately that something was off. For one thing, Tidus was completely supporting himself on a crutch.

"Tidus, are you alright?" Yuna asked as he allowed her in.

Tidus shook his head, and said, "No."

He hobbled over to the next room, and Yuna followed. She was shocked to find that he had a very large and nice suite. The room consisted of a living-room type room, which was where they were, complete with nice furnishings of two chairs and a couch. There were two doors from there, which Yuna guessed led to the bathroom and the bedroom.

Tidus took a seat and rested his head in his hands.

"It hurts so bad," he said, through gritted teeth, "But at least we won today, right?"

Yuna took a seat in the chair across from him, and said, "You need to go see a doctor, Tidus. It could get worse."

He ran his hand through his hair and said, in a slightly choked up voice, "…What if they tell me I can't play anymore?"

"I'm sure it's not that bad," Yuna said, "You were out there today and yesterday, right?"

"Yeah but…I was so off," Tidus muttered, "What if I'm always off now? Forever?"

"If you see a doctor, then you'll know for sure," Yuna said, trying to sound hopeful.

Tidus didn't say anything, but he finally sighed and said, "If it's bad, what will I do?"

"I'm sure it's not all that bad," Yuna said, "But you definitely should sit out next weekend. And at practice, too."

"What if I get worse then?"

Yuna laughed and said, "You won't get worse."

"Did everybody leave?" Tidus asked then.

"You mean all of the players? I don't know, but my cousin said a lot of them were going to some club, and she was going with."

"Yeah," Tidus said, "They've left then. They probably won't be back until early tomorrow morning."

"Gippal too?"

"Yeah, he always goes," Tidus said, "How come you didn't go?"

Yuna didn't know what to say. So she bit her lip and told him the truth.

"…Something told me you weren't going to go. I'd rather be with you."

She couldn't face him. She looked down at her feet, unsure of what his reaction was going to be. Perhaps it was time for her to leave. The poor guy seemed depressed anyway. She took a deep breath, and stood up.

"W-Wait!" Tidus said, "Where are you going?"

"I should go," Yuna just said, again biting her lip nervously, "You probably are tired from the game and stuff anyway. I don't want to bother you."

She gave him a slight smile, and started toward the door. To her surprise, Tidus jumped out of his seat, and ran over to her, with a slight limp, and caught her arm.

Shocked by his movements, she looked at him, with her eyes large. His eyes were large too, as if he was surprised by his own actions.

"Don't go," he said, "Stay with me tonight."

Yuna thought she was going to die. She closed her eyes, and reminded herself that she had to be realistic. Even though she knew she was weak, and even though she knew she was already deep in his trap, she also knew that she had to try to break free.

"I'm sorry Tidus," she said, hoping to stand her ground, "But I don't do one-night stands."

"Then this won't be a one-night stand," Tidus said.

The two stared at each other, each not blinking. Then, without warning, Tidus pulled her close to him, and their lips met.

Yuna felt her body give in. She was his. She was completely lost. Anything he wanted, he would get.

A tear slipped down her cheek, but even so, she knew she wasn't going to regret it.

And with that, the night began.