Sahrah: Happy New Year, everyone! Whew. I decided to skip a holiday chapter, because they're so cliché (uhuh, yeah, because I'm always so original). At this point, I wish to remind you all that this story will only be about ten chapters long, give or take. Also, I try to be more realistic than other fics, so don't expect our creepy villain to go free for too long. Expect many pointless and fluffy chapters.

Editor: I always expect that.

Sahrah: Shut up! Anyway, here we are, chapter three. VERY slight Rikku/Gippal fluff in this chappie. I don't own any of the characters (except for Ray) or The Phantom of the Opera (you'll see what I mean). Tidus's Point of View.

Chapter 3: Waiting

Soon, it was nearing the end of January. It had not been very cold, and no more events occurred. As Ray had predicted, the police trail went cold; apparently a student got high and then murdered the teacher, overdosed, and died. That was that.

I was walking past Rikku and Gippal's room, when I heard them singing a weird duet.

"…I am the mask you wear," Rikku sang.

"It's me they hear…" Gippal added. I poked my head in. That's what they get for leaving the door open.

"What the hell are you singing?" I asked.

"The Phantom of the Opera, you uncultured fool! It's the musical we're performing in our acting class. Whoever gets the leads will be offered the parts in their senior year on Broadway! Instant fame!" Rikku exclaimed, waving what appeared to be her script around wildly.

"I make a perfect Phantom," grinned Gippal. "My eye with the patch is freaky looking. I don't even need makeup!"

"You're perfect, darling," drawled the Al Bhed girl flirtatiously, throwing her arms around his shoulders dramatically. "I'm going to be Christine, the beautiful and talented heroine, who is forced to choose between the mysterious and sardonic Opera Ghost, the Phantom, and the kind, handsome patron of the troupe, Raul, whom she loves fiercely. Of course, she ends up with Raul and the Phantom disappears, but whatever."

I cocked my head to the side. "If… if the Phantom is the bad guy, why are you trying out for him? Why not be the guy that the girl ends up with?"

"The Phantom has a much better part," offered Gippal.

"Okay. Well, good luck with that, I'm going to be late." With that, I left to the sound of Rikku hitting high notes rather well (she would soon be giving Lenne and Yuna a run for their money in the ways of singing).

I walked out and gasped. It was the first snow of the winter. I pulled my scarf up around my face and watched as my breath drifted away, a white cloud among the snowflakes.

"Hello, Tidus." A voice cold enough to match the weather startled me. I glanced to my left; leaning against the building was Ray Ericson. He had a scowl on his face, and his eyebrows angled drastically downwards, angry and harsh.

"Ericson," I nodded, staying calm.

"I have a bone to pick with you," he snapped.

"Oh?"

"Yes. It's about Yuna."

"Oh, you mean my girlfriend?" Oh come on. You would have rubbed it in his desperate-looking face too.

His lip twitched. "Yes," he said venomously. "I want you to stay away from her."

I burst out laughing. Ray watched me before I stopped. "Oh, you were serious about that?"

"Never been more serious, Watanuki."

"That's a shame. Yuna and I live in the same apartment, share the same bed (we have been for years) and go to the same school. Not to mention we're in love."

"You hog her all to yourself, you abhorrent toad!" he shouted suddenly. "You're not the only one who loves her, you know! Such a pig! Arrogant, too!"

I rolled my eyes. "I'm late. I have to meet a friend of mine. I'm buying a ring for Yuna. Goodbye."

Then he surprised me. With speed I never expected, he lunged forward and swung a punch that just barely missed.

"Careful there, you might hurt someone," I pointed out. Note to self- do not piss off crazy people.

He snarled something inaudible, and then threw another strike, hitting my arm. I punched back. Years of Blitzball reflexes will do that. Then he did something else I didn't expect; he whacked me in the head with a metal pole.

My sight blurred, and I briefly lost consciousness. I recovered, ignoring the run of blood down the side of my face and jumped backwards as he swung again.

"Chill out, man! Let's just- let's just talk about this for a sec!" I called to him desperately. He was armed, and I was hurt. It would not end well.

"Chill out my ass! You'll get what you deserve!" he screamed at me, and hit me again, in the arm. I yelled; it hurt. With the pole he had, it was likely that my arm was broken, or at least sprained.

He was grinning sadistically as he swung once more. I dodged it, but I fell on the ground. My blood was running thickly, matting my hair, and rolling into my chapped lips. It was warm, much warmer than my cold fingers. The blood loss was making me dizzy and cold, and the weather didn't help.

Ray swung at my head, hit my hands out of his way mercilessly, and then swung again, making contact with my ear. I screamed out loud. (Not a very manly thing to do, but he almost shattered my face. You'd have screamed too.)

He would have easily broken my skull as I blacked out, but luckily, at that moment, Gippal and Rikku were taking a break and leaving to get some coffee. I'm not quite sure what happened after that, but I woke up in the infirmary a few hours later, so it couldn't have ended too badly.

Yuna's Point of View

I sat at the side of his bed. How many times had it ended like this? Tidus asleep in a hospital bed, or the nurse's office, or wherever else, injured by someone who wanted me. Too many times.

I was getting rather sick of being the desperate damsel in distress, waiting bedside for my hero to wake up.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "Why does this keep happening to us?" I smiled sadly. But I didn't cry. Long ago, my tears had drained. Drained, of course, for crying over him.

"Why do you trouble me so much, you idiot?" I continued softly. "You make me worry. Scared. All of the time. I know this feeling all too well, you know." I closed my eyes. "We're always waiting for each other, y'know?

"Waiting for the other to wake up, or get better…" I shook my head and stood up.

After Gippal and Rikku had come outside, they witnessed Ray smacking Tidus with a thick metal pole. Tidus had fainted quickly, and Ray had stepped on his arm, causing Tidus to groan loudly even in his state of unconsciousness.

Gippal had acted first. He jumped at Ray and disarmed him, throwing the pole towards Rikku, who had taken it, whipped out her cell phone, and called the dean of the school. Gippal held Ray in a headlock while Rikku packed snow on the broken arm in hopes to reduce the swelling, and she pressed one of her gloves to the injury on his head.

The nurse and five faculty members had arrived a few minutes later with a stretcher. Tidus was taken to the infirmary, and Ray had been taken to the dean's office.

Apparently, Tidus had a slight concussion, was expected to wake up in a few hours, and Ray would be serving 1000 hours of community service for assault and attempted murder.

I sighed.

"It's getting late. I'll come see you tomorrow, sweetie," I said to his sleeping form. There was a bandage around his head and his arm, and he was shirtless (the nurse couldn't reach his arm through the coat.)

I slept alone for the first time in years. It was lonely, for starters, but I dreaded it. With Tidus in the bed with me, I had always felt safe, always guarded, always protected. I was not afraid of whatever would come.

The bed was cold, too, and I curled up into a tiny ball under the thick blanket, clutching my own arms. I was still waiting for him. My body couldn't sleep. It was waiting, too. I was silent, until early morning, when I fell into an exhausted, dreamless sleep.

The next morning I rushed to the infirmary, not stopping to grab any breakfast. The nurse told me that Tidus had woken up in the very early morning (possibly at the same time I had fallen asleep) and he was still a bit out of it.

"Tidus!" I whispered as I opened the door to the room he was in. He was sitting up in the bed, head turned to face the window, his fingers tracing patterns on his blanket. At the sound of my voice, he turned and saw me. For a moment he looked confused, and then he grinned.

"O-oh, hi, Yuna."

"Oh my Yevon, I'm so glad you're okay!" I ran up and kissed him, hugged him gently, and then stopped. Something was wrong. He looked astounded, shocked, overjoyed, and breathless.

"Yuna, I… Wow, that… Okay, um…"

I blinked. "Something wrong?"

"Um… well, I… you just… you just ran up and kissed me!"

I furrowed my eyebrows. "I do that all the time. Why wouldn't I kiss my boyfriend?"

"Boyfriend!?" he half shouted it. "Yuna, I mean, I do like you… a lot… and I was going to ask you out, but… I mean… what are you talking about?"

"What am I talking about!? What are you talking about?"

He blinked. "I was going to ask you out, but you don't go out with people ever, and you practically hate guys, especially guys like me, but, well… if you are afraid to get involved with guys, why the hell did you just kiss me and call me your boyfriend!? I don't understand!" He shook his head.

I blinked. "Tidus, how old are you?"

"Eighteen, same as you. Yuna, are you okay?"

I swallowed hard. "Tidus, where are we right now?"

"The nurse's office at Bevelle High…"

I clapped my hand over my mouth and bolted. I ran out of the room and up to the nurse.

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH HIM!?" I shrieked hysterically, my lost tears returning like birds after a long winter. "WHY DOESN'T HE REMEMBER ME?!"

She looked baffled. "Yuna, dear, what are you talking about?"

"TIDUS! HE THINKS HE'S STILL A SENIOR IN HIGHSCHOOL! HE DOESN'T REMEMBER ANYTHING! EVERYTHING WE WENT THROUGH, ALL THE… HE FORGOT! IT'S ALL GONE! DO SOMETHING!" I shook the nurse (Doctor Paurelle) and screamed, crying. She raised her hand and slapped me across the face.

"I'm sorry, Yuna, but you were going into shock hysterics. Let me go see what's wrong."

I stood shaking as she entered his room and closed the door. Then I waited. I kept waiting. After half an hour, she emerged.

"Slight memory loss is common in concussions like Tidus's," Dr. Paurelle told me. "His memory will come back, but you can speed it up by telling him things, showing him pictures, and the like. He's rather confused right now, but he said something about 'the girl of his dreams' and I'm kind of hoping he means you or this could get awkward."

I rushed back in. Tidus hadn't moved, but he grinned when I came in.

"Tidus, I have to tell you something. A lot of things, actually."

He nodded.

"Tidus, we're not eighteen years old. We're both twenty-one years old. We've been going out since the summer of our senior year in highschool. Your brother, Shuyin and his girlfriend, Lenne, had a baby girl named Emma and got married. Our friends Paine and Baralai are going out, and so are Rikku, my cousin, and Gippal. We're all going to Zanarkand University, and you and I are sharing an apartment… and a bed, come to think of it."

I smiled a little. "You just received a minor concussion because of this guy named Ray Ericson. He wants to go out with me, and for some reason, he ended up beating you with a metal rod. He murdered my Forensics teacher to get his point across to us. For a while he had been writing love letters to me, then he wrote threatening ones to you."

I smiled a bit more, and a tear escaped my eye. He reached out and brushed it away.

"Care to fill me in exactly we did between now and then?" he asked softly. "It all sounds kind of crazy, and I'm sure there are parts of it I won't believe, but if you're saying it, it must be true."

I nodded. "Are you scared?" I whispered. "There are four years of your life missing from your memory… are you afraid?"

He grinned and shook his head. "Nah. I'm sure I've been through worse, if all this drama you're spitting out is correct."

I closed my eyes and slipped my hand into his. "You certainly have, love. Shall I tell our story as best I can?"

He nodded.

"I remember it fairly well. We were in math class, and had just finished a test. You passed me a note, and accused me of being a lesbian—"

"Wait, a lesbian? Why did I say that?"

"Because I didn't get into relationships with guys at that point. Don't interrupt! Anyway. You invited me to the dance/party/Blitzball thing, and after constant nagging, I finally said yes. Not before, of course, Paine threatening to harm you."

"Well that does sound like her."

"Stop interrupting, damn you! Okay, so we went to the dance, you dropped me off on your motorbike—"

"IT'S NOT A DEATHTRAP!" he blurted out. "Sorry, sorry, no interrupting, I know—"

"No, Tidus, wait… I always call your bike a deathtrap, just because it pisses you off…"

"Huh. I guess I do remember some stuff. I remember candles and a red room, and snow…"

"Could be. That night when you drove me home, you asked me to be your girlfriend, and I said yes. Two days after that, you, Shuyin, Gippal, Wakka, YRP and L2 left for a trip to Paine's winter house."

"I think… didn't a guy hit on my brother while we were down there?"

"Yes! Oh, but so much more happened, and it's not all fun and games. Do you want to hear about it?"

"I want to know everything, Yuna."

I smiled. "Good. So, rewinding, the night you asked me out, you also found out about this guy named Seymour."

"Who's Seymour?"

I blinked and laughed. "I envy you."

I told him about Seymour. I told him about everything. I even added some things I hadn't told him before. I wanted him to know everything. I was so tired of waiting. I stopped telling him things at the part where Shuyin and Lenne got married. It was getting late, and I had to go tell the others what had happened.

He went back to sleep; the nurse told me he could come back to our apartment the following day. I nodded.

As I walked back to my apartment, I stopped. Ray was leaning against a wall.

"What good is a boyfriend who can't even remember his history with you?" he asked mockingly. "You're better off with me."

"Oh? Am I better off with someone who murdered my teacher, gave my boyfriend a concussion, threatened my niece, and convinced a druggie to commit suicide? Or am I better off with someone who loves me, lost his memory by protecting me, and has protected me time and time again? He may not remember right now. But I do. And unless you plan to beat me with a metal rod as well, that won't change."

I laughed a bit. "My feelings won't change. But if you want, you can just keep waiting."

Sahrah: Three cheers for angst!

Editor: How about no.

Sahrah: Fine. Yevon. Anyways, tomorrow is my half birthday, but I figured that you guys deserve a present instead, so here it is—a new chapter! And so you know, I was listening to some very angsty emo music while writing this chapter. Review please!