Sorry for taking so long to update! I made the decision to switch from Rikku's POV to Yuna's POV after chapter VI (mostly to force myself to get away from following Gatsby too much) and it's been a struggle! Hopefully I can keep it up... it's just funny how much harder this story is to envision when I'm deviating from Gatsby. But, for now (and the next chapter), enjoy some more Rikku POV! :D

V. Rin

I must have dozed off because the next thing I knew a phone was ringing somewhere. I sat up quickly, trying not to feel disgusted as a string of drool went from my mouth to my arm.

"Ew," I whispered to myself as I grabbed a tissue. I then realized that I was in my cubicle. It was only my third day of work and I had just fallen asleep at my desk.

I glanced around to see if there was any sign that someone had seen me but of course that was impossible to tell. I flipped through my e-mails, praying I wouldn't find one that told me I could see my way out the door.

Everything seemed in order, though. A quick glance at the clock confirmed that I hadn't been asleep for long.

I let out a loud sigh and attempted to get back to work. I wasn't sure I had ever been as tired as I was. The only good thing about being so tired, however, was the fact that I was too exhausted to let my mind run.

And I had plenty to think about.

First of all, there was the fact that Gippal had been texting me. He must have never gone to sleep. Before taking my little nap, I'd found myself trying to text under my desk, hiding the fact that I was on my phone and not working diligently. He wanted me to come to his next game and then go out with him afterwards. I was more than flattered.

Second of all, there was the issue of Tidus. Was I really going to lunch with him? Another quick glance at the clock told me it was fifteen minutes past ten. I supposed at the very least I would show up and see if he was there.

Unfortunately, I looked like I mess. I'd been able to sober up during the hour of sleep I'd managed but I was feeling a bit nauseous. I had taken a shower, combed my hair, thrown on my comfiest work outfit (and the cheapest one I owned—I hoped no one could tell the butt area was almost completely worn through) and made my way to work only five minutes late. Still, I was continuing a pattern of doing anything but creating a good impression my first week.

I straightened myself out, stood up and grabbed another cup of coffee (I was on my third) and made my way back to my desk, ignoring the looks the paralegals gave me. I could hear them snickering and I knew it had something to do with my name and the words "hung over." I put my fingers on my keyboard and told myself that if they knew I had spent the night partying with Gippal, that snickering might quiet up.

My phone buzzed and I felt a little smirk form on my lips. I knew without looking that I had received yet another text from Gippal.

I wandered outside at lunch, feeling completely uncertain. Was I supposed to meet Tidus at the restaurant? Before I could make up my mind as to what I was going to do, I suddenly heard a loud, shrieking sort of honk, the sort of honk that attracts attention from anyone who hears it. I turned toward the sound, only to see Tidus sitting in a car unlike any I had seen before. Unlike all of the brand new cars that dotted the streets of Luca, Tidus' car was certainly vintage. The top was down and he waved at me to come over when he saw me looking at him.

By far the most distinguishing thing about Tidus' car, though, other than the vintage look, was the fact that it was painted a mustard-yellow.

"Hey," I said, walking over to him, feeling a little self-conscious because everyone was looking at him. He seemed to be basking in the attention, though. Honestly, it was even as though the sun rays were shining on him like a spotlight. His sunglasses (which bore the same logo that Yuna's had) seemed to glisten as he looked up at me, a calm, cool smile on his face.

"Hop in," he said.

"I thought we were just going to the place down there?" I asked.

"We are. But you shouldn't have to walk."

I thought that was a little odd, but I shrugged it off and walked over to the passenger seat, crawling in quickly. My body seemed to sink into the leather seats. I couldn't ever recall sitting in a more comfortable automobile chair. I thought of the cheap upholstery in my grandfather's car and shuddered.

Tidus sped off then, taking off as though we needed to get somewhere very quickly. Then, he slowed and pulled over along the curb, right in front of the restaurant. He put the car in park.

Not wanting to be rude, but also worried he would get in trouble, I was quick to sputter, "Um, I don't think you're actually allowed to park here."

Tidus gave me a weird look—a rather shocked look. Then, he turned the car off and pulled his keys out.

"I can, um, park wherever I want," he just said. The look he was giving me seemed to suggest that anybody could park wherever they wanted and it had been foolish of me to say anything. I was going to ask him why he was so sure it was okay for him to park anywhere, but thought better of it.

We both climbed out of the car then.

"Do you like it?" Tidus asked me as I joined him on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant. He was looking at me, and at first I wasn't sure what he meant, but somehow I just knew he was talking about the car—what else would he be talking about?

"Yes, it's a very nice car," I said.

"There were only three made like this in the world," he explained, patting the hood gently. "One crashed years ago and the other is in a museum."

"Aren't you worried about crashing this one?"

"Of course not," he answered. He grinned at me, then, a grin that was so boyish that it almost looked naïve.

"I hope you don't mind," he said then, just as we were about to walk into the restaurant, "that I'm also meeting with a friend. You'll like him."

I had no idea how Tidus would know what I liked or didn't like, but I went ahead and followed him into the restaurant. We were immediately led to a table at the corner, where a gentleman was sitting. I recognized almost immediately that he was Al Bhed. His blonde hair could be seen from under a hate and was light, as though just about to gray, and his face was smooth and tan.

"Rikku, this is my good friend Mr. Rin," Tidus said.

The man looked up at me and smiled a wide, hearty smile.

"Is this the girl?" the man asked, his voice booming despite the fact that his body seemed so small and fragile.

Tidus instantly looked embarrassed and I felt a bit embarrassed too.

"No, no," Tidus said quickly.

"I-It's nice to meet you," I simply said.

"Have a seat," Tidus said then, pulling my chair out for me. I couldn't help but give him a surprised look—I hadn't had a man pull a chair out for me… ever.

"I got a call today from Bevelle," the man (he must have been about late-middle age; perhaps just turned fifty but hiding the fact nicely)—said to Tidus.

"Not now, Rin. Not in front of our guest," Tidus said, somewhat coolly.

"No, no, of course not," Rin said. "But, they have placed a call."

Tidus suddenly stood up very quickly, almost in a clumsy way. He gathered himself, though, turned to me, smiled, and said, "I'll be right back."

He walked away quickly, then, and I watched him leave, wondering what was so important that he had to walk away to as quickly as he had driven.

"So, Rikku was it?" Rin said, turning his attention to me. "Are you looking for a business connection?"

"Um… I, um, I work at the law firm just down there," I said, feeling a bit nervous as I pointed in the direction of my office.

"Oh. No interest in making any money on the side?"

My interest was suddenly piqued. What sort of money on the side? Was Tidus involved in some sort of schemes?

My mind ran fast as I tried to think of a way to get some information out of this Rin about Tidus.

"No, not me," I said, answering his question quickly. "Um, how long have you known Tidus?"

"Tidus? Oh, I've known him since the accident."

"Accident?" I said, turning to look in the direction Tidus had disappeared. "Is that why he walks with a cane?"

"Such a sad story, isn't it?"

I opened my mouth to ask what the story was, but at that moment, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up and saw that Tidus had returned. He smiled broadly at me and then took his seat.

"What are you two talking about?" he asked.

Afraid that Rin would tell him that we were, well, talking about him, I quickly answered, "Nothing much. Rin offered me a business deal."

"Rin, this isn't the person I was telling you about!" Tidus said, sounding exasperated.

Rin just laughed and said, "I realized that. Well, I'll let you two kids be."

Tidus began to protest, but Rin immediately silenced him.

"You two can talk about what young people talk about. I will only bore you." He tilted his hat towards me then, and said, "I'll talk to you later, Tidus. Have a good day, both of you."

"It was nice to meet you," I half-muttered, half-said as he walked away.

I turned to Tidus, then, who was looking at me with a strange sort of smile.

"Who is he?" I asked.

Tidus straightened out and said, "He's the man who fixed the chocobo races a few years ago."

At first, I thought Tidus was joking. I thought back—it was about three years ago—when the least-picked chocobo won the race. I remembered it because both my father and brother had bet on the races and had lost—quite a bit.

"Wait, he fixed that race?"

"Mm-hm," Tidus said, nodding.

"But how?"

"What do you mean, how?"

"How did he do it?"

"No one knows," Tidus said, shaking his head.

"Why hasn't he been caught?"

Tidus looked surprised that I had asked that question.

"They can't catch him," Tidus said, surely. "He's too smart."

At that moment, our waiter came. Tidus ordered the most expensive thing on the menu and then ordered the same for me before I could utter a word.

"I hope you were okay with the special," Tidus said as the waiter walked away.

"Um, I am, but, I, um, I can't afford it."

Again, that same, childlike look of shock was on Tidus' face.

"I'll pay, of course!" he said. Then, his eyes suddenly noticeably darkened and I realized he was looking behind me. I turned to follow his gaze and saw that none other than Baralai had just walked in.

I turned back to face Tidus (mostly because I was hoping Baralai wouldn't notice me with my back to him) but Tidus was no longer looking at me or Baralai—he was instead looking at his phone, which he had pulled out.

"Rikku!" I suddenly heard a voice say and I wondered if Tidus saw my roll my eyes. But instead, Tidus was looking past me again, at Baralai. There was a strange, unexplainable expression on Tidus' face.

Tidus had always appeared completely amicable, as though he was friendly to everybody. But there was undoubtedly a look of hatred shining in his crystal eyes as Baralai came over to us.

"Hey Baralai," I said, forcing a smile and standing up to hug him. "This is Tidus."

I suppose I had expected from the look on Tidus' face that they knew each other. But Baralai barely glanced at him. Still, Baralai said a polite 'hello' and then turned his attention back to me.

"Yuna's upset that you haven't called," he said. "Where've you been hiding out at?"

I laughed lightly and said, "I just saw her last weekend! I've been working, you know."

"Still? Just quit and come babysit Yuna. I'll pay you."

"She doesn't need babysitting!" I said, my voice joking even though Baralai didn't seem to be joking. I glanced back over at Tidus and noticed that he was turned back to his phone, but he was gripping his phone so tightly that his knuckles were white.

"Well, give her a call, okay? I gotta go, but I hope to see you soon!" Baralai gave me another quick hug, and then walked away to another room.

I turned back to Tidus and slowly sat down.

"Um, do you know him at all?" I asked, slowly and cautiously.

"No, not at all," Tidus said, looking so much happier than he had when Baralai was in the room that I knew immediately his smile was fake.

The mood after that was different. We ate mostly in silence, with Tidus asking me now and then about myself—where I was from, where I went to school, what I was doing in Luca. I found myself not asking similar questions of Tidus. Somehow, I felt as though the subject was taboo.

When we were finished, Tidus paid, and we walked out. His car was still there, untouched, as though it was perfectly legal to park where he had.

"Do you have time to just take a quick drive with me?" Tidus asked. I didn't. I really didn't. But I could tell by the way he was looking at me that he really hoped I said yes. And, because I was curious, I agreed.

We climbed back into his car and he sped off again, darting down the main road.

"I want to tell you about myself," he said, facing not the road but me. "And you see, I'm a bit nervous about it, because I like to keep to myself and I hardly ever tell anyone anything about me. Driving calms me, you see."

"Why me?" I heard myself ask before I could ask whether or not it was a polite thing to ask.

"Why you?" There was that boyhood shock on his face again. "Well, because. Your opinion matters very much to me."

But why me? Why would my opinon matter? For all intensive purposes, Tidus and I were complete strangers!

"I was a blitzball player," Tidus said. "A very good one. Better than your friend Gippal, that's for sure." Tidus seemed to sneer Gippal's name. "I'm from Zanarkand, you see. I was born to incredibly wealthy folk, my money going back years and years and years. Sadly my entire family is dead now. I inherited all of their money, you see. Blitzball was, I suppose, really only a hobby. I played for the best junior team in Zanarkand—and then, eventually, I played for the Zanarkand Abes.

"I had everything, you see, and I was an up and coming blitzball player. But then the accident happened!"

The wind was whipping around us so much that Tidus had to yell when he spoke, which only seemed to add to the dramatics.

"It was the first game of my second season with the team. I was about to attempt what I was sure was going to become my signature shot—I was going to call it—well, it doesn't matter now. Everything went wrong. And my knee…" Tidus looked down and patted his right knee. "I tore every ligament in it."

I felt myself cringe despite myself.

"They said I'd never play again…" Tidus said. He suddenly looked sad. "And they were right.

"Without blitzball, I didn't know what to do. So I wandered here and there, looking for something… and then, you see," he turned to me when he said "you see", "something very tragic happened to me. Something more tragic than losing my ability to play blitzball. And so… well… I spent time trying to forget."

I nodded as though I was following, but it was hard to focus when I was still wondering why he was telling me this.

"So eventually I came here. But I couldn't forget."

He stopped then—literally stopped his car, being that we were at a red light—and said, "But I think my luck is finally about to change."

The light turned green and he took off again. Then, just as though we had never been gone, we were suddenly right back on the curb by my office, where I had first found him.

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked again.

"Because, I told you, I don't want you to think poorly of me. I'm sure you've heard the rumors."

I nodded slowly and then looked at him.

"So it's not true that you're the son of the man who assassinated Lord Braska?"

This caused Tidus to look very shocked and sad. His crystal eyes almost looked as though they had a layer of tears over them.

"Of course not," he said. "That was a tragedy of epic proportions."

"Did you know Lord Braska?" I asked.

Tidus suddenly gave me a look as though he was confused about something. There was a line shooting between his eyebrows and I had a sort of uneasy feeling that he wanted to tell me something but wasn't sure if he should.

Finally, he shook his head and said, "No. I never knew him. But I've known people who Lord Braska was very important to."

"He was my uncle," I admitted.

If this surprised Tidus, he said nothing or showed no signs of it. Instead, he pressed his lips together and bowed his head slightly.

But when he looked back up at me, there was a strange sparkle in his eyes that I had not noticed before, almost as though he considered me to be some sort of lost treasure that he had just discovered, or perhaps a final piece of a puzzle that he had been unable to locate.

Until now.

"We should have lunch together again," he said then, putting on one of his dazzling smiles—a type of smile that so few people seem to possess—one that seems so reassuring.

"Yes, we should," I said, crawling out of the car. "Thank you for lunch today. Perhaps next time I can pay."

"Don't worry about it," Tidus said, smiling even wider. "I've got more money than I know what to do with." Then, he sped off, honking at me and waving.