Life of the Blitzed
a/n: not as long as the normal chapters, but longer than the last
one. Kilika! Yay! Awkwardness! Yayer!
Actually-updating-for-once-when-I-say-I-will! Yayest
Chapter 4: Bunnies and Closet Perverts
Yuna stared off into space as she absent-mindedly stirred her soggy cereal in its bowl. Her bags were packed and ready to go by the door… all she needed now was her father.
Braska had decided on a trip to Kilika for the three-day weekend. They were pretty much settled in after four weeks, he said, so it was doable. Braska said that he thought Yuna was ready for her next step as a Summoner, so Kilika Island with its Temple was clearly the choice.
Yuna was ready for a change of pace, too. She was excited to get her new aeon, but also nervous since she knew how difficult it was to do. School was challenge enough. Rikku had slowly been gathering people to sit at their table during lunch. Now they sat with Brother, Buddy, Shinra, a freshman named Cali, sophomores Wantz and Shelinda, juniors Elma and Clasko, and senior Lucil. Lucil often escaped off-campus as she was pursued by her more-stalker-than-best-friend Elma and the whiney chocobo-obsessed Clasko. Rikku said she just wanted to make new friends, but that was always followed by a glare through the back of Gippal's head. It was a war Rikku didn't consciously know existed, and one she could never win.
Other than Rikku's spasms at lunch and Kimahri lurking in the halls, school was… not as bad as facing a rabies-infested pack of malboros. Though Tidus never talked to her anymore, neither did Dona nor her posse, so Yuna couldn't complain… for the most part. She was also becoming pretty good friends with Lulu, Baralai, Lenne, Issaru, and Paine. Gippal too, at least as long as Rikku wasn't around. Classes weren't too bad either, though White Magic was becoming Yuna's least favorite class. Just something about the way Maestor Seymour looked almost exclusively at Yuna made her shiver. At least his gaze was constantly interrupted with Tidus freaking out during class since he wasn't exactly good at magic… or sitting still. Temple Studies was definitely Yuna's favorite. Auron was a little intimidating at times, he knew a lot about the subject and Yuna could tell that he cared about what he was teaching.
"DADDY!" Yuna called, smashing her poor cereal with her spoon. "DAD! We're gonna miss the boat to Kilika!"
"Just a moment!" Braska was trying to drag his suitcase down the stairs. The suitcase was awkward to handle and Braska had never been a physically strong man. Yuna ran up to help him with it, and soon they were out the door.
It was evening by the time Braska and Yuna arrived in Kilika Port. The town was bordering on small city as its wooden docks stretched almost completely around the island, adding at least a half-mile radius. The soft light twinkled on the ocean as dusk began to set in.
Spring was only just beginning, but in Kilika it was already hot at night. Yuna took advantage of the change, exploring the quiet wooden walks in a white sundress and sandals. The wind blew her hair around as she looked up into the vibrant sunset. She thought she was alone, so she started to sing softly to herself…
"Oh, a thousand words,
Have never been spoken
They'll fly to you,
They'll carry-"
A stirring halted the song as Yuna jumped, startled. All of a sudden she was remembering some old horror movie; the first-person camera sneaking up on an unsuspecting girl from behind before… Yuna whirled around, breathing hard.
"Who's there?" Then she added a "you surprised me," to sound less freaked out.
Yuna's eyes shifted to a sigh, coming from above. "You're not Lenne. I thought you were by your voice." Only the silhouette of a young man sitting on the roof of a nearby hut was visible by the deep red sky. Squinting her eyes, Yuna tried to adjust to it. She could see a nice build, Blitzer's clothes, and… feathery hair.
"Tidus! Is that you? It doesn't sound like you…"
The young man laughed, not the carefree, throw-your-head-back Tidus laugh, but a darker, more chuckle-y laugh. "No. You don't sound like your clone either. Only when you sing… I'm Shuyin. I imagine that would be your second guess."
Yuna mentally gasped. "No, I'm actually from Besaid… I just moved to Luca, so I go to school with Tidus now, and the song was one Lenne's writing, not me, and I just met her too, and I'm not very good with celebrities, so I never knew what you looked like, and-"
By a glint of dieing sunlight, Yuna could see Shuyin raise his eyebrows. His face looked kind of like Tidus', but kind of off; darker…
"Before giving me the memoir, would you like to tell me your name?"
"Oh, um, how silly of me… my name is Yuna. Pleased to meet you." She bowed a little, watching him as he leaped from the roof to the railing on the edge of the walkway, then landing gracefully beside her.
"Nice to meet you, too," he grabbed her hand, kissed it, and then lifted an invisible hat as he walked away into the new darkness, "and tell that accident of a child Tidus that I'll meet him in Luca."
Yuna stared after him for several minutes, trying to process what had happened. Before long she realized how dark it was and went to the rented hut, though she still couldn't understand the concept of Shuyin. There was something off about him- like an evil version of Tidus. There was almost something a little sad about him, too.
"And why the heck does he look so much like Tidus!" she half screamed in agony as she lay in her bed later on, causing her father to roll over on his side. Yuna covered her mouth quickly. 'Why does that bother me so much,' she wondered, 'that someone else in Spira looks just like Tidus?'
For once, Braska was way ahead of her as Yuna made her way up the last flight of steps to the Temple. "Whose idea were these?!" she whined, trying hard not to trip on the long, deep blue skirt of her traditional Summoner's clothes. The staff worked as a walking stick, but Yuna had wanted to leave the detached sleeves at the hut, pretty as they were. It was just too hot.
"And why does the aeon have to be so… not cold?" she added.
Braska smiled, also in his Summoner's robes. "Ifrit is a good aeon. You should be excited to receive his blessing. Now, conserve your breathe for breathing, and get up these steps before the Temple closes."
There were no other Summoners at the Temple, as Summoning was a job done mainly for the title and as family tradition. Summoners were very respected, but they were just… not as exciting as Blitzball players and musicians. "All Summoners are just old geezers," Yuna had heard Tidus say once to his more popular friends.
But as Yuna stood before the door to the prayer room, she could not help but feel the importance of Summoning. A Summoner was a leader- a hero in a way no Blitzer could ever be. Not the kind that goes against the gruesome fiends at the Monster Arena, either. Summoners were like the secret Godparents of every person in Spira; the kind that protected them and gave them hope when times got hard, or the kind that granted children's wishes. That's the kind of person Yuna had always wanted to be.
Yuna returned to the Port around late afternoon to applause. After more than eight hours of praying, the soul of Ifrit had bestowed his aeon unto the young Summoner. It was even hotter than before, and Yuna was beginning to feel it.
As the crowd cleared off, a girl and boy around nine and six came up to Yuna, a curled up rabbit in the girl's arms. "M-my mommy says Bunny isn't going to wake up. C- can you send Bunny, Miss Summoner?" The little boy was sobbing and the girl tried to keep it together.
"Of course I'll send Bunny. I'll send her to the Farplane, where she'll play in the beautiful flowers and see the other bunnies, okay?"
The girl sniffed, "h-how did you know she was a girl?"
Yuna smiled kindly, "I can feel it… Don't worry, she'll be very happy on the Farplane, though I'm sure she'll miss you terribly."
With that Yuna straightened her obi and took off her shoes. The girl clutched her fallen pet closely as the Summoner stepped onto the water. This was a more elaborate Sending than it had to be, but Yuna thought it would make the children feel better. She took a deep breath, looked up at the sky, and began her dance. The children watched in awe at her graceful form, barely crying as a single pyrefly left Bunny's body to float off to the spirit world.
When she was done, the children bowed, as they were told to do out of respect for Summoners, and ran off to bury the former Bunny in Kilika Forest. It was dusk once again, still hot, and there was no one else around, so Yuna decided to go for a swim in the ocean.
Looking around, Yuna awkwardly took off her Summoning clothes, swimming in her black underwear and the matching bra that she wore under the exposing white top of her uniform. She tried to cover herself with her arms, though no one was around, until she got into the water. Then she relaxed, splashing around and practicing her new Ifrit commands before just treading water and going over her current situation at school in her head… and by 'situation', she meant 'why do I keep thinking about Tidus? Great, why am I thinking about Tidus now?!'
That was about the moment when the dock beside her began to make weird sounds…
"BOOOOY!!" a strangely familiar voice sounded, "What're you doin' in there! Ya know Blitz season's about to start and ya really should be in the trainin' room, workin' those weights!!!!"
'That's Sir Jecht, which means-'
"TIDUS! CAN YA EVEN HEAR ME, OR ARE YOU HIDING THAT AL BHED GIRL IN YOUR CLOSET AGAIN? CUZ I'DE BE SURPRISED IF SHE CAME BACK AFTER-"
"JECHT! I'm kina busy, okay! I'm… kinda on the Commsphere?"
"KINDA?! HOW CAN YA…"
Oh Yevon. Yuna could see it now, an overturned Commsphere near the edge of the dock, near Yuna. She could see Tidus' confused face on it now, slightly red and turned towards something off to the left. By the way Jecht's voice sounded, there was a door between them. Yuna gasped and covered her torso with her arms, sinking under the water so only her eyes poked out. She could not have imagined a worse situation… what was she supposed to do?
And then there was Tidus, sphere waves moving across his flawless face as he scratched his neck, embarrassed.
'Yevon, Yevon, Yevon, Yevon, Yevon, Yevon!'
"Yuna! I didn't mean to scare-"
"Tidus! What in Spira are you doing?"
"Let me explain!" Tidus looked really embarrassed as he held up his hands as if to calm the half-naked girl down.
"I'm sorry things turned out looking weird, but I promise I'm not a pervert. I was trying to call Shuyin, but he kinda… didn't want to talk. I figured I'd stay on, since he has to come back for his Commsphere sooner or later and, well, I didn't know it was you."
Yuna looked uncertainly at the Commsphere, razing herself slightly out of the water. "How long were you watching?"
Tidus looked away, mumbling, "I wasn't paying attention… I was trying to memorize Blitz formations… just found out you were there."
"Oh, ok," Yuna relaxed slightly.
…but only slightly. 'FRIGGIN' TIDUS JUFHGIBDJGVHDNUCKJG!#!!!!!' (a/n: that is what I would be thinking, anyways…)
Yuna thought things could not get any more awkward. But they did.
"Uhhhhh…" started Tidus after what seemed like an hour of just trying not to look at each other.
"You… gonna be in school on Tuesday?"
Yuna opened her mouth to reply, but all that came out were bubbles. Embarrassed, Yuna raised her mouth above the surface. "Yea. We're coming back tomorrow." Forgetting momentarily her half-naked status, Yuna boosted herself onto the dock.
A set of perfect pearly teeth flashed at her. "Good! Lately I haven't seen much of you-"
Halfway through his sentence, Tidus realized what he was saying as his ears grew as red as Yuna's face.
"UUUUUUUMMMMMOOPSSORRYIDIDN'TMEANTOSAYTHAT!" "EEEKOHMYYEVONIDIDN'TREALIZEWHATIWASDOINGWHERE'STHATTOWELIKNEWIHAD?!"
Both teens half-mumbled, half-screamed in unison, all visible skin as red as Die's hair. Just assume it's pretty red.
Mass. Panic. Yuna ran like a headless chicken in search of something with which to conceal herself while Tidus tried to look away while attempting to retain any coolness/composure he had once mastered. Eventually, Yuna just hid behind a four-inch wide post and Tidus covered his eyes with his hands (well, one-and-a-half of his eyes).
"WELL, I'LL SEE YOU ON TUESDAY!" Yuna said a little too loudly.
"RIGHT! NICE TALKING WITH YOU!" came Tidus' even-more awkward reply (was that possible? Barely.)
The Commsphere blinked off. Yuna sighed with relief and collapsed in a heap. Whoever Yevon was, he was one bitter bastard.
(Meanwhile, Tidus: "AWW CRAP! I shut off the Commsphere! NOW how am I going to find Shuyin!!! Yevon is one fucked-up guy!")
Dejectedly, Yuna picked up her clothes and trudged back to her room, no longer caring she was wet and mostly naked.
School on Tuesday was going to rock.
a/n: aaaaaww. Gotta love the guy-stumbles-on-naked-girl-bathing cliché! She was basically in a bathing suit, but Yuna is a bit prudish, so whatever. And is anyone got the Die/Dir en grey reference, you are officially the coolest person ever. Though, with my stereotyping skills, I doubt that the FFX fluff-lovers listen to the intense blood-spitters that are Diru. But if you are, you my bestest friend. More cool people like you should exist! BACK ON TOPIC: part three in the please-forgive-me-update-marathon is coming tonight (hopefully), so stay tuned for more awkward cuteness, Rikku-Gippal warfare, and drunken Jecht. And remember, you are never alone in your crazy obsessive weirdness (umm, you mean COOLNESS!)
xoxoxoxoxxxxxxtimesinfinity
-bucky