Chapter 2

Running through the forest with Yuna the second time turned out to be notably more painful than the first. Seriously, I mean, once your face has already been scratched to shit by those nasty, tearing branches, the cuts are pretty much just being layered. Painful, I tell you. Painful.

So after Yuna decided my face had been damaged enough, she finally jumped through a wall of brush and back out to the park. Even though my face was bleeding, and I had it in my mind to slap her hard, I'm a gentleman, so I kept my emotions under wraps. After we'd gotten out of the brush, Yuna kept a tight hold on my hand, pulling me along. Because I hated dragging behind, (and being seen holding her hand) I fell into pace beside her, yanked my hand away, and attempted to rub the blood off my face.

Unfortunately, even though I'd run with her through the forest and stood by her little cliff and run through the forest with her again, Yuna still felt we should talk.

"So," she said, "What's next in this plan of yours?"

Well, that surprised me. I expected her to say something like 'I love flowers. They're pretty. Do you like flowers, Tidus? I like flowers.' Apparently, Yuna had a better understanding of common sense and what's important in life than I realize.

"Well..." was all I could think of to say. Actually, I had NO CLUE what the next course of action would be. I decided we could swing it, probably. But I didn't want to say that, because Yuna was looking at me as if I had all the answers and was the most prepared person she'd ever met. For some reason, I just didn't want to let her down... Something about her eyes, I guess. It's kind of easy to find yourself totally lost in two separate coloured eyes, both staring at you together. Neat to look at, is all. Anyway, thinking fast, I managed to come up with something. "We're going to go to the Temple Night Club. Wakka always hangs out there," I told her. She seemed to accept it pretty well.

"When do we go?" she asked. "It's not opening for a few hours." She had a point. I guess we'd have to kill time.

"Let's get some ice-cream," I suggested. It was six and already getting dark. The club didn't open until seven because there's absolutely no use in partying at twelve in the afternoon.

"Ice-cream?" Yuna's eyes lit up. They were . . . Aw, screw it. Despite the fact that she's a woman, and all woman are stupid coquette sluts who are out to seduce you, I know a pair of pretty eyes when I see one. And Yuna's were... Argh. Pretty.

It was odd that she reacted to Ice-Cream the way she did. Next thing I knew, I was being dragged once again, only this time towards the Ice-Cream parlour. Once we were inside, we ordered our Ice-Cream (although Yuna calmed down before we entered.) and sat down. I got Flying Purple Cows (oddly named, but tasty) and Yuna got a Hot Fudge Sundae. I was still really shocked by her eagerness to come. I figured she was probably on one of those forever-lasting diet things , you know?

I was also beginning to wonder at (diet or not) the amount of strength she had. She'd towed me quite a ways. My wrist was beginning to hurt from being yanked. Worse yet, the guy at the counter mistook us for a couple. God. He didn't flat out say it, but I could tell by the look on his face. I guess it made sense because I did pay for Yuna's Ice-Cream. But it was purely out of manners, nothing more.

"So," Yuna said, her words slightly distorted by her mouthful of Ice-Cream. Swallowing it, she continued, "When we get to the club... We just dance a bit so he sees and becomes jealous... and that's pretty much it, huh?" I thought I heard a tinge of sadness on the end of that statement, but decided to write it off as my distraught emotions making everything sad.

"Yeah, I guess," was my answer and we pretty much ate in silence after that. Once we'd finished eating, it was about 20 minutes to seven, so we left for the Temple.

I don't know why it's called the Temple. It's not very holy, that's for sure. There's drinking, and dancing, and the occasional fight or rape in the back room, but there aren't any Sunday Masses. I never really wondered about it before, but now that I was so concentrated on this whole Wakka thing, I really got to thinking about stuff.

So, Yuna and I went in and the first thing we did was sit at the bar. I don't usually drink a whole lot, you know, but I mean, I'd just found out my boyfriend was cheating on me, and the bar was a good place to scout for Wakka. I ordered a beer and Yuna got... Well, Yuna got a cocktail thing; orange liquor and pineapple juice. She tells me it's very tropical tasting. After ten minutes, Wakka showed up.

With Lulu. Go figure.

Pretending not to notice, I yanked Yuna out to the floor, and we began to dance. Well, while I 'didn't' notice him, he certainly noticed us. For a minute he looked angry, but then he just move to somewhere on the dance floor where he didn't think we could see him. Hmph. Time for plan 'accidental run-in.'

Dropping Yuna off at the bar, I wandered through the people in the club. When I got near Wakka, Lulu hid and Wakka 'casually' walked up to me. (God, he was practically shaking. He was obviously nervous, but was trying to act casual)

"Hey... Tidus. What are you doing here. I thought you were spending some 'time indoors,' ya?" he asked me. I almost smiled. I'd told Wakka I was spending time indoors to get to become more in touch with my surroundings at home. I was, really. Getting in touch with my TV. There was a three day Rocky special. Back to back reruns all day of Sylvester Stallone wearing no shirt and running up steps. In touch with my TV...

"Uh...yeah," I replied, "Well, you know, I just kind of wanted to... Get out."

"Oh..." He was clearly thinking of something to say. I waited. "And... Yuna?"

"Hmm?" I asked. "Yuna?" I was trying to make it out as if nothing was wrong. "We're just hanging out."

"I thought you hated girls, ya?"

"I did. For dating. I'm not dating Yuna. Just hanging out."

"Oh." Still thinking of something to say. He was at an awful loss for words.

Cutting him off before he could pry further, I said, "Well, got to go. Yuna and I came to dance, not to do nothing."

Then, I headed for the bar and sat by Yuna. Getting another beer, I started to drink.

"So," she said, playing with her 'tropical' refreshment, "How did it go?"

"Fine." That was it. 'Fine.' God, I guess all my witty remark-making earlier today was just completely bombed. I took another drink from my beer. Frowning, Yuna started telling me all about how she was sure I'd find someone else. Then, she really surprised me by asking something... Odd, I guess.

"Tidus," she said, turning in her seat to face me. "Why do you hate girls?" Once again, I thought I heard some hidden pain in her voice. "I mean, I know you like guys, but... Why do you hate girls? Can't you just be friends with them?... We're not all that bad?"

Like I said before, I was shocked. I mean, I guess Yuna had a right to ask. I wasn't angry or anything, just shocked. Why did I hate girls? Because they're sluts! I couldn't say that, though. Just something about the way she asked it made me feel... Guilty. I'll try to make this seem less mean for her.

"Well, Yuna, " I said, "I don't actually hate girls. I just... Don't like 'em."

"Oh... All of 'em?"

"Yep."

"Oh." Yuna looked back at her drink and began to run her finger around the rim. Now I knew I'd made a mistake.

And I guess, it was up to me to fix it. I took another drink of beer.

"As a... partner-like figure. I mean, I have some girls who are friends..." Yuna looked up at me again. This was it. Practically suicide. "Like you."

Yuna burst into smile, and said "Really?"

"Well... Yeah. Why would I have asked you to help me if you weren't my friend?"

"Cause... You really wanted to get revenge on Wakka?" Hm. She was right on, That was the only reason I'd asked her. Another sip.

"Okay... Well, that's not why I asked you," I lied.

She bought it, and took a huge gulp of her cocktail. She ordered another. When the bartender brought it to us, she asked me if I wanted to try some. Why not? It looked okay, so I took a sip.

It was really good. I immediately ordered my own.

After drinking my cocktail-thing, I turned to Yuna and asked her why she wasn't dating anyone. I didn't actually care, but we needed something to talk about, and I was... kind of curious. I'd thought she was interested in this Seymour guy, but apparently when he asked her out she refused.

"Oh... Well, I guess it's because..." She didn't seem to want to tell me. So, I prompted her a little.

"Weren't you with Seymour?"

"No!... No," she said. "I'm... It's just... Well, Tidus, I guess it's just because the person I'm interested in isn't available."

Oh. Well, that was the last thing I'd been expecting. Who could it be?

"So... Yuna. This person- do I know them?" I leaned closer as if expecting an answer.

Yuna blushed and said, "None of your business!" She took another sip of her cocktail and continued. "But... You... know them, yeah."

Hm. Could it be... Buddy? Nah. Didn't seem like Yuna. I suppose it could've been Brother, but he was her cousin. Gippal, maybe? Gippal. No. He was dating Rikku. Too bad. He was cute. Maybe it was Baralai. But he was with Paine... Um... I was at a loss.

"So who is it?" I asked her.

She blushed.

"I can't tell."

Oh, God. Now this was going to be some crazy mystery thing. I was going to get stuck guessing who Yuna secretly admired. Now I know this seems wrong. Noone was forcing me to guess. But seriously, I was STUCK. Once I got caught up in this stuff, I couldn't get out. Thinking hard, I ordered another tropical cocktail.

What with one thing and another, I ended up sitting at the bar with Yuna, asking and guessing about her crush. I drank about one cocktail for every ten minutes I sat there. As did Yuna. By the end of my guessing spree, we were both thoroughly drunk. Giving up on our Wakka mission, we stumbled out of the bar and headed to my house. Unbeknownst to us, we were seen leaving by the person we'd originally wanted to see us.

The first thing Yuna did when we got back was fall on my coach laughing. I'd just finished telling her the story of the time I'd burned cookies to a point where they went up in flame. They were those cut and bake ones, and I had been 13 at the time. It was quite funny. I fell on the coach beside her and after we'd finished laughing, we turned on the TV.

Yuna eventually fell asleep on the coach. I continued to watch but I must have fallen asleep as well, because the next thing I remember, I was waking up for the second day in a row with a headache only this time, I had a girl lying beside me... A GIRL. For a moment I couldn't remember what had happened, but upon seeing the clothes covering her and myself, relaxed.