Okay guys, this one's a little early. It's because I didn't want to have to update on Monday and Wednesday, because I have class those nights. Plus, you guys are all so sweet in your reviews that I thought why not get this chapter out quick? Plus I had it written, so...yeah, why not?

You know, there's really a lot I want to say about this fic. It hasn't turned out exactly how I pictured it to, but the inspiration I have for it is really apparent to me. Usually it's kind of like, "Wow, my inspiration is telling me to make a sad chapter, so here comes a sad chapter." A lot of this (but not all--please keep that in mind! Haha...) is based off of real experiences. I don't feel like I've gotten the emotion across though, although perhaps I've gotten some of it out there. Tidus is like a love-at-first-sight kind of thing. But at the same time, there's something about him (the fact that he's a great blitzball player) that seems off-limits to Yuna. She gets almost star-struck. But then she realizes that she would do anything to be around him, and when she gets the chances, she wants to be with him. Even still, there's something that makes Yuna feel unable to actually be anything more to Tidus than a one-night kind of thing. Which is why she acts the way she kind of acts for most of this chapter. (Wow, LONG explanation, huh? Did that even make sense?) I really wanted this to be played off as if Yuna knows what she's doing with Tidus is wrong, but she can't keep herself from just going for it, know what I mean? And perhaps it'll actually pay off...But only perhaps...

Anyway, sorry to bore you all to tears with the long introduction. As if this chapter wasn't long enough! Haha... Well, enjoy!

Chapter 10: The Unwanted Emotions

"Seriously Tidus, if you don't pick yourself out of this dump, we're going to lose tomorrow," Gippal yawned and threw another chip in his mouth. The two were watching the sphere, although Tidus wasn't really into it.

"If it's over a girl, call her and make-up," Gippal continued, "'cause the game is more important than some chick, right?"

"It's not a chick," Tidus just mumbled.

"Than what is it?"

Tidus pouted. His friend knew him too well.

"This is unlike you," Gippal just continued, not waiting for Tidus to answer, "Whether it's a girl or not, you've never been down before. What gives? It's the last game, you know. We gotta win it for the seniors."

Tidus nodded and said, "Yeah, I guess…"

"So don't be so down," Gippal said, although Gippal's voice wasn't as bright as before.

"Gip, did you know I have a fiancé?" Tidus asked his friend.

Gippal laughed and said, "Okay, sure Ti."

"No really," Tidus said again, "I do have one. Her name's Dona."

"The girl you were with last weekend?" Gippal asked.

"Yeah," Tidus said.

"Dude, she's a bad influence," Gippal said, "I was getting ticked 'cause she kept shoving alcohol down your throat. Yevon, could you imagine how pissed Coach would be if he found out?"

"She's my fiancé," Tidus said again, "She's been my fiancé since I was like seven years old."

"No way," Gippal said, "Like a forced marriage?"

"Yeah, her grandpa was my old man's coach or something. My dad told him that I would marry his granddaughter if he would up my dad in the rankings."

"Well your dad's dead, and I'm sure her granddad is too," Gippal just said, "It was probably a stupid drunken bet."

"Yeah but she thinks we're gettin' married soon," Tidus said, "Even though I told her we couldn't get married until we were a lot older."

"Tell her you're not," Gippal said, and he laughed, "Are you serious? This sounds a little crazy, Tidus."

"I wish I was just making it," Tidus simply moaned.

"Whatever," Gippal said, "But you gotta get your mind off of it. That's upsetting though, about your 'fiancé'. I mean, what about Yuna, or whatever her name is?"

"Yuna who?" Tidus just said, and he scrunched down in his chair.

"I talk to her cousin a lot," Gippal said, "Apparently Yuna has the hots for you."

"Who doesn't?" Tidus said, rolling his eyes.

"True," Gippal said, "But you got the hots for her, don't you?"

"No," Tidus said.

"Dude, don't lie," Gippal said, shaking his head, "I know you too well."

Tidus sighed, and sat up in the chair, and said, "She won't come to the last game, Gip. And she wouldn't give me a chance to explain myself."

Gippal laughed and said, "So? Just forget about her. She's not your fiancé, and you just said you didn't like her or anything…"

"Shut-up Gippal," Tidus cried, "You know I like her!"

Gippal laughed again and said, "Then stop denying it!"

"Isn't it too weird?" Tidus asked, "B-Besides, I can't like her. You know what I mean."

Gippal's eyes dimmed, and he nodded slowly.

"Yeah," he said, "I do know what you mean…"

-

"Come on Yunie, it's the last home game!" Rikku cried, causing Yuna to hold the phone far from her ear, "This is your last chance to see a game with these guys!"

"Seriously Rikku, I don't know who's called more, Baralai or you," Yuna said, rolling her eyes, "Baralai's been begging me, you've been begging me, and…" She trailed. Hadn't Tidus seemingly begged her as well?

"Then what's holding you back?" Rikku cried, "What do you have to do on Friday that's better than a blitzball game?"

"I've had my share of blitzball," Yuna simply stated.

"Just because of moronic Tidus?" Rikku cried, "Forget him Yunie! Forget him and come enjoy the game!"

Yuna sighed and said softly, "Actually Rikku, I think I will be there."

"Great!" Rikku said.

"My dad's making me go with Baralai," Yuna said with a sigh, "So we can patch things up."

"Oh," Rikku said, sounding disappointed, "Well, come see me anyway! I'll introduce you to some of my friends!"

"Okay," Yuna said, "So I'll see you then. Bye."

She hung up then, and took a deep breath. It was true. She had come home from school just the day before—the day she had seen Tidus—only to find that Baralai was there, talking to her father.

From there, her father had forced her to apologize to Baralai, and had made her agree to go with the game on Friday. He didn't understand though. No one did.

Finding herself pouting, although she knew it wouldn't do her any good, she went up to her room, and closed the door tightly behind her.

She wanted to move one. She had to move on. Yuna laughed to herself and sat down on her bed. Surely she was losing it.

She looked up then, only to see the jersey sitting across from her on her dresser. She stood up and walked over to it, looking at it thoughtfully, as she had so many times. She traced Tidus' signature with her finger, and then pounded her fist on it. She then took it and threw it across the room, and angrily sat down on her bed.

She laid back then, and said softly to herself, "First chance I get, I'm selling that thing."

With that, she attempted to take a nap.

-

If things had been awkward before, things were even more awkward now. Baralai sat a little ways away from Yuna, and she sat a little ways away from him. They had barely uttered a word to each other, either.

Yuna knew she was expected to apologize. For some reason, she couldn't manage to do it, even though she honestly had been wrong. She had been very wrong to do what she had done, and she needed to tell Baralai that, for her own good.

She had played it over in her mind the night before. She was going to tell Baralai how sorry she was, and hope that by doing that, she would move away from Tidus. Now that she was actually there, however, she couldn't bring herself to tell him. She just couldn't.

Part of her worried…She was afraid to let Tidus go.

Shaking her head, Yuna knew she was still being foolish. She just wished she would learn.

Baralai turned to Yuna then, and said, "It's kind of sad that this is the last game already. Well, besides play-offs. This is the last time we'll see a lot of these guys."

Yuna looked out, but realized she didn't really know anyone out there except for Tidus and Gippal.

"That is sad," Yuna admitted, "But that's how it is, right?"

"Right," Baralai said, "But it gets kind of…Emotional, know what I mean? For the players down there."

Yuna looked down into the sphere, and felt herself nod. There was probably much more to it.

"This will be Tidus' last weekend here too," Baralai said then, and he was seemingly watching Yuna's expressions.

"Huh?" Yuna said, looking confused despite herself.

"After the season," Baralai said, "He's off to Zanarkand. To play professionally."

"Oh, I guess I knew that," Yuna said softly, for she had. She had just managed to forget, "I doubt he is very emotional though," Yuna said, shrugging.

She bit her lip then. She knew that this was when she had to apologize.

"Look Baralai," she said very softly, "I'm sorry. I got really caught up in everything. Tidus gave me attention, and I welcomed it. I'm really sorry."

Baralai just gave her a smile, and said, "It's alright. It's not like you two did anything, right?"

Yuna was silent, for perhaps too long, before she finally said, "Right."

Baralai didn't seem satisfied. He leaned his elbow on the window and rested his head in his hand.

"What does he have that I don't?" Baralai managed.

Yuna looked at the ground. She almost felt sorry for the guy. Perhaps he really did like her?

"I don't know," Yuna said, "Nothing, I'm sure. He's a jerk, like you said. He has a fiancé, you know, but he wouldn't tell anybody that. He'll lie, and he's completely unfaithful to his really nice fiancé!"

"Sounds like him," Baralai just said, "But even I didn't know he had a fiancé."

"Oh, he does," Yuna said, rolling her eyes, "And she's really nice, too. She goes to St. Yunalesca."

"You seem to know a lot about her," Baralai said.

"I met her," Yuna said, "Last weekend."

"Oh," Baralai just said, "And Tidus is the one that told you she was his fiancé?"

"No…Well…" Yuna trailed. It had been Tidus, actually…

Silence fell on the two then, so Yuna decided to focus her attention on the game. Not on Tidus, but on the game. The Basilisks were working hard, and the game was scored one-to-one.

"It'd be really awesome if we could pull out a win," Baralai said, glancing up at the scoreboard.

"Hey, what's wrong with Gippal?" Yuna suddenly asked, for she noticed that a guy had just gone past him, and Gippal was cradling his hand. As soon as those words had left Yuna's mouth, Tidus came from no where, and jumped on the guy that had just hit Gippal.

Everybody seemed to stand there, and before long, the entire team was fighting, while Gippal still cradled his hand. The water was turning red around Gippal.

"His hand's cut," Baralai said, and both he and Yuna were standing, staring awestruck at the fight.

Yuna looked quickly at the giant screen, only to see Gippal swimming off, while blood gushed from a giant cut in his hand.

"That doesn't look good," Baralai murmured.

Yuna immediately turned her attention back to the fights that had broke out.

"Why don't the refs stop them?" Yuna cried, for she noticed that Tidus was still beating hard on the guy.

"It looks like they're trying," Baralai said.

The refs sure enough had broken up most of the fighting, except for Tidus. Yuna noticed blood was now coming from the seemingly helpless guy that Tidus was pummeling.

The ref finally pulled Tidus away from the guy, only to have Tidus jump back on him.

"What happened?" Yuna asked.

"I don't know," Baralai said, shaking his head, "How did Gippal's hand get cut?"

The ref and Tidus were now arguing, and the guy that Tidus had been beaten had to be assisted out of the water by his teammates.

"What is going on?" Yuna asked, and she noticed that most of those in the stands too were looking around confused.

"Uh…Play will be resumed shortly!" the announcer's voice suddenly boomed, "First though, penalties have been assessed to…"

"That has to be a record for penalties," Baralai said, cutting him off, "Maybe they'll tell what happened."

"And Tidus will be getting a five-minute major as well as an expulsion from the game."

"That means he won't be able to play tomorrow either," Baralai said, shaking his head, "We really need him."

"Where is he now?" Yuna asked.

"In the locker room no doubt," Baralai said.

"What about Gippal?" Yuna asked.

"Looks to me like he may have severed a tendon," Baralai said with a shrug, "He'll be heading off to the hospital."

"Will Tidus go with him?"

"Why would he do that?" Baralai asked.

"They're like best friends!" Yuna said. She felt like she was going crazy. What had just happened? How had Gippal's hand gotten severed? Why had Tidus jumped on that guy like he had? Why had Tidus beat that guy like he had?

"He has to stay there," Baralai just said, "Yuna, where are you going?"

Yuna hadn't even realized it, but she had grabbed her handbag, and was already halfway to the door.

She stopped, however, upon hearing Baralai's voice, and said, "I want to find out what happened. I'm going to go ask Rikku. Maybe she saw something."

Baralai simply stood there, and he sighed and said, "Do you really like him that much?"

Yuna just shook her head, attempting to look confused, and she said, "I'll be back soon."

With that, she ran out of the box.

-

She figured it was very against the rules for her to see Tidus when he was supposed to be in trouble, but she didn't care. If it hurt him any, she would do whatever she could to right things again.

She had forgotten her anger with him, and the fact that she needed to forget about him.

She ran down the hallways to the locker room, shocked that she knew the way as well as she did. She had only been there twice… Or had it been more? She couldn't even remember.

Yuna didn't knock or anything. She simply burst into the locker room, only to stop dead in her tracks in the doorway.

Tidus was kicking a locker, and she noticed that many were dented.

"T-Tidus!" she said, "Stop that!"

He did, and he turned around to face her, and then he sank to his knees.

"He didn't even get a penalty!" he cried, "Did you see what he did?"

Yuna walked up to the blitzball player, wondering if he had lost his mind. She bent down next to him, and said, "I didn't see Tidus. What did he do?"

"He pulled out a knife," Tidus said, "And he cut his hand. But no one saw! The cameras weren't on it or anything!"

"Can't Gippal tell what he did?"

"He didn't see either," Tidus said miserably, "The refs are out to get us anyway."

"Won't your coach get mad? Can't he argue it?"

Tidus looked at the ground and said, "Even if that guy does get thrown out, even if it's for life, it doesn't change what happened. Gippal's gonna be out for a long time. And I'll never get to play here again."

Tidus was pouting, Yuna realized, and he looked like he was about to cry.

"Why are you here anyway?" Tidus asked her then, "I thought you weren't coming."

"I don't know why I'm here," Yuna said softly, "If you don't want me here, I'll leave."

"N-No," Tidus said, "I'm glad you're here."

Yuna gave him a small smile, but he didn't return her smile. In fact, he didn't even see her smile.

"I have to play tomorrow," he said, "I have to!"

"It's alright Tidus," Yuna said, attempting to calm him down, "As long as you're here for the play-offs. That's the important thing, right?"

"What about Gippal," he just said, shaking his head, "He'll never be able to play again!"

"Sure he will," Yuna said, smiling.

"Not with me!" Tidus cried, "These were our last games together, and now he's… I'm gonna find that guy, and I'm gonna kill him."

"Tidus!" Yuna said, "Relax, it's alright. You don't know that Gippal is seriously injured!"

Tidus leaned back and said, "You don't understand, Yuna. This is my last few games with these guys! Ever. I will never play with them again. Ever. And now I don't even get to play. Gippal is my best friend. And we can't even play together. Because of that shit-head."

Yuna could tell there was even more Tidus wanted to say. He had his lip curved under his front teeth and was chomping down hard on it. His eyebrows were pushed forward, and never had she seen him look so upset, so confused.

"At least I beat the living shit outta him," Tidus finally said, and then punched a locker again, causing a loud crushing sound to omit from it.

Yuna bit her own lip, only much softer, and said, "Tidus, I have to go back."

"Y-You really don't want to hear me out?" Tidus asked, sounding very surprised, "I swear to Yevon Yuna, I can explain everything."

"It's alright," Yuna said, "I already messed up once. I can't mess up again."

Tidus shook his head and said, "Just a quick dinner Yuna, that's all I'm asking for. I promise. I promise I won't go back on my word!"

"Baralai and I are back together," Yuna said, "And it has to be that way. I have to go, Tidus."

She gave him a little wave, and then turned around, and started toward the door, attempting to feel proud of herself.

She heard Tidus swallow loudly, and he said, "Alright, go. I can't stop you. But you should know that I'm…I'm really happy you came. I didn't think I'd ever see you again."

Yuna stopped and looked back at him. Their eyes met, and Tidus continued, without looking away, "I tried to convince myself that you meant nothing to me, but I know that's not the truth. I really…I really like you, Yuna. A lot."

Yuna managed to keep herself firm, and she said, "That may be, but you have a fiancé, and I have a boyfriend."

"We can get rid of both of them," Tidus said, and Yuna noticed her curved his fingers into a fist, and determination shone in his eyes, "Everything else is gone now. I don't want to lose you too. I'll get rid of her."

"But she's so sweet!" Yuna cried, now fighting to retain herself, "You can't just do that to her Tidus! And Baralai—he's never done anything to deserve how I treat him!"

"Dona isn't sweet!" Tidus said, "You don't know her, Yuna! And Baralai, do you even like that guy? There. There's a reason for not treating him like a boyfriend. If you don't like him, don't date him. It's as simple as that. I realize that now. Why can't you?"

Yuna swallowed, and said, "Because I can't trust you."

"Why not?" Tidus cried, "When have I ever lied to you?"

"You told me you never had a girlfriend!" Yuna said, now fighting back tears, "You really broke my heart, Tidus!"

Tidus shook his head with a small smile on his lips and said, "I didn't lie Yuna. I have never had a girlfriend. Dona isn't my girlfriend. She's my fiancé. In my case, that's a huge difference. It was an arranged marriage Yuna. Arranged by my drunken-ass father and her dick-wad of a grandfather. That's all."

Now tears really were threatening to fall. Yuna swallowed and said, "Why couldn't you have just told me that?"

"You didn't give me the chance to!" Tidus said, "It's…It's something I've never really told anybody. Except for Gippal, but I don't think he believed me anyway. And you probably don't either…"

"I want to…" Yuna simply trailed.

"Then do," Tidus said, taking a step closer to her, "I have nothing to lose, Yuna. My best friend is in the hospital, and I can't do anything to help him. I can't play for the rest of this game or tomorrow's, and this was my last time playing with these guys here. It's really emotional, you know? I have never had friends until these guys. I don't want to leave them. But I have to, because let's face it, I'm not smart enough to do anything but play blitz. It's what I've been training for since before I could walk. I have to do it. Why the hell would I lie to you? To get you in bed with me? I already accomplished that. I could be with anybody out there in those stands. Why would I go through all this trouble just to lull you to bed again?"

Yuna shook her head. She didn't want to believe him. She did believe him, but she didn't want to. She had finally managed to accept what had happened, and what was going to happen. Now everything was flipping back again, in her favor. Why couldn't she simply accept it as the truth and go from there?

Tears began to well in her eyes and she said, "I believe you Tidus, I really do. But it's…Not as easy as believing."

Tidus looked defeated, but only momentarily. He looked up at the ceiling, as in thought, before finally looking down and saying, "Then make it as easy as that."

Yuna opened her mouth. She couldn't just do that, could she?

Without warning, Tidus took a step even closer to her, and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into an embrace. She couldn't move, couldn't fight, but she also couldn't bring herself to hug him back.

"I'm not going to let you go," Tidus said, "You just have to accept that."

Yuna wanted to return the embrace. With her tears finally giving way and falling down her cheek, she finally managed to put her arms around him as well.

"Alright," she said, trying not to let Tidus tell that she was crying, "I'm yours."

The two heard the door open to the locker room, and Yuna waited for Tidus to jump away from her, but he didn't. He just held onto her tighter, and she did as well.

Tidus, who was facing the door, loosened his grip on her then, and he said, "The game must have ended. We just shocked a freshman from the team. I guess you'd better go before the rest of the team gets here."

"Alright," Yuna said, giving him a meek little smile.

"Wait for me outside," Tidus said, smiling a little smile, "I promise I won't be long."

"Alright," Yuna said again, and she then headed quickly out the door, and into the snow that was falling down lightly.