Life of the Blitzed
a/n: Yay, fic numbero dos (yo hablo espanolooo), first multi-chaptered, first FFX. Woot. Fun times ahead. I've had this written out for a while, and I'm a couple chapters ahead, so we'll see. I AM SO SORRY YOU MUST SIT THROUGH MORE HIGH SCHOOL FICS, but this one won't be centered around high school, I promise (cuz high school sucks). This fic is focused on fame; what it does to a person, how relationships are affected, etc. This will be relationship based, mostly focused on Tidus and Yuna with a side of RikkuxGippal and WakkaxLuluxChappu. There will be some parallels with the actual story, so I hope that doesn't spoil too much. May be considered AU, as it is set as if Yunaleska defeated Yu Yevon for good the first time around… and Tidus, Jecht, Shuyin and Lenne are there, deal with it. The 'fame' and Blitzball parts will kick in after a few chapters, so bear with me! And review. It's the only way you are gonna be able to read good fics. THANKS FOR READING! Now, onward! draws sword
Chapter 1: Clichés and Mongooses
Yuna inhaled deeply as she stood on the front steps of Luca's Academy of the High Summoner, or LAHS-- High School is what everyone called it though. LAHS was one of four official high schools founded by the Temple. There were three more: in Bevelle, Zanarkand, and Guadosalam. There was also a small school in Kilika Port and one on Bikanal Island.
Yuna, from the small island of Besaid, had never been to a public school like this before. In her home, she had home-schooled, but now that her mother had died and her father Lord Braska was busy with his political campaigns, she needed to move with him to a more central area. 'You'll make lots of new friends,' he had said, 'and besides, I can't teach you everything you want to know anymore. Someday you'll be a better Summoner than I, and you too will have to lead Spira into a new age.'
She had of course smiled and shrugged her father's words off. He always said things like that. Yet, at this point, she would have given anything to have her predictable father with her. She sighed "Why does this whole 'school' thing have to be so complicated!" She shook her head and entered the wide double-doors.
She was early, of course, but wide awake. Yuna had woken up at five in the morning, though school started at ten to eight, to shower and pick out her clothes for her first day. She had changed four times, but had ended up wearing the same clothes she had originally planned: lace-up boots, faded jeans, and a pink t-shirt. Her shoulder length brown hair sported its signature blue-threaded hair wrap, and she wore a delicate silver necklace. A longer, salmon-colored hair wrap nearly brushed the floor behind her, and a thick strip of black leather was tied around her left wrist.
Scanning the rows for her locker, Yuna walked the empty halls. She was so preoccupied that she nearly barreled into a giant blue kitty-man, though small for a Ronso. "Kimahri!" she greeted happily, hugging the disgruntled… thing.
"Kimahri glad to see Yuna. Want to wish good luck on first day of school."
"What are you doing here?" Yuna asked her childhood guardian, just then noticing the mop in his giant claws.
"Kimahri get job. Too expensive go to back to Mt. Gagazet. Kimahri clean for easy cash."
"That's… good, Kimahri, that's great!" said Yuna, not knowing what to make of this news. "Well, that means I'll be able to see you during the year! But… I should probably go to class now… I don't want to be late." She knew it was a long time before school would start, but the intimidating cat was too preoccupied with getting a giant pink-colored stain out of the tile, so Yuna hurried off.
Having successfully liberated her locker and finding her homeroom class, Yuna tried to open the door. There was still half and hour before class was to start, so it was locked. Yuna groaned and slid, her back to the wall, down to sit on the ground just outside it.
Just then she heard a gigantic crash and a high-pitched "OWIE!" from just around the corner, and strained her neck to see a blonde, hyper Al Bhed girl struggling up from the ground. The girl rubbed her butt and whimpered some more. "Owieeee" she repeated again. The girl turned to look at Yuna, who was now watching with interest, and bounded over.
"Haha… I bet you saw me just now. Great! The first person I see in Luca and I already have made a fool out of myself!" she giggled. 'She complains,' Yuna thought, 'but she doesn't seem bothered by it… I would be so embarrassed!'
Yuna smiled, ready to make friends with this seemingly harmless girl. "I'm Yuna!" she said, holding out her hand while standing up. "Rikku!" replied the girl, taking Yuna's hand and practically ripping her arm out of its socket. Yuna winced but continued smiling. "Nice to meet you!"
"So, I'm guessing this is your home room class, right?"
"Yea" Yuna replied, rubbing her arm nonchalantly.
"Oh," Rikku looked on her schedule, "I have it next door. You must be in a different grade."
"I'm a junior." Yuna offered. "Really? I'm just a sophomore, but I do have some junior classes." She winked "I'm smart like that!" "You're a sophomore? I thought you were a junior too!" "Nope! But my brother's a senior… he's new here too."
Yuna smiled politely. "What's his name?" "Brother." Rikku shrugged. Yuna gave a confused look. "No, his name isBrother… Daddy is the most unimaginative person on the planet!"
"Oh… but Rikku is a pretty name. It's not Spiran, though, is it?"
"Nope! I'm Al Bhed… if ya hadn't noticed. I'm a foreign exchange student here. This is the first time I've been to a city like this!"
"Well congratulations!" smiled Yuna. "I'm also half Al Bhed. My mother's name was Lana, if you ever heard of her."
Rikku's eyes widened. "Lana? That was my aunt's name. Well, before she passed away, anyways." "Yea, that must be my mother, then" said Yuna, lowering her eyes.
"Um, ah…!" Rikku was flustered by Yuna's change of mood. "That's… that means were cousins! That's so COOL! My first friend: a long lost relative. This year can't be that bad now."
By now the students were filling the hallway. Yuna's teacher still hadn't appeared, but Rikku's had.
"Well, I'll see you later, Yunie!" Rikku shrieked, causing the surrounding students to cover their ears and stare at the disturbance. Rikku waved over her shoulder.
Yuna smiled to herself and sat back down, waiting for her teacher once again. The bell rang. 'How irresponsible… for a teacher to be so late- and on the first day of school!'
As Yuna mentally sent bad waves to her unknown homeroom teacher, she was almost trampled by a dark skinned teenager with black hair and nothing but a blue mini skirt and a really tight lacey shirt. "Watch it, new girl!" the student growled, forcing her way to the front of the now- substantial mob in front of the ever-locked classroom.
Yuna heard the other equally plastic girls greet the girl as 'Dona', and thought to herself, 'maybe high school wasn't such a great idea'.
"Yevon, what the hell is this guy's problem?" Dona complained for the eleventh time. The first period of the day had been going for ten minutes already, and still no homeroom teacher.
"Hey, I bet we can leave! Don't the rules say that we don't have to hang out unless the teacher's 'round by ten minutes?"
Yuna looked up towards the voice, and saw the last person she had ever expected. The star player of the Zanarkand Abes was leaning against the wall about two yards away from her, wearing plain jeans and a tight white see-through shirt over his tan skin, his blonde hair glistening even out of the sphere pool. Yuna had seen him playing over the commsphere in Besaid when the Besaid Aurochs got the honor of playing them once. The Zanarkand Abes were the best in the league, making Tidus the 'most valuable player' of Blitzball.
Yuna remembered how she had once told her father that she was a fan; that was before, of course, the Besaid Aurochs had returned to cry on her shoulder. Yuna was friends with most everyone in Besaid, so she knew the Aurochs well. After that, she felt horrible for ever supporting Zanarkand, the one team who needed it least. From then on she religiously followed Besaid, if only to make the players feel better.
Blitzball had become like a sickness for her in Besaid, since there was nothing else to do. Yuna would watch the commspheres obsessively, hoping to catch a game of Blitzball. Then she turned fifteen. Her father, Braska, finally got a chance to leave Bevelle and come back to Besaid to see his daughter in person after his reelection was assured. That's when he started to teach her to summon, giving her the first aeon: Valfore. Training became so intense that Yuna lost track of the world of pro-Blitzball. However, her father, always a fan, tried to teach her how to play Blitzball in the ocean, though neither of them were that great. But soon enough, Braska was needed back in Bevelle to-
Yuna's flashback was interrupted by pressure on her forehead. She focused her eyes to see a face very close to hers: Tidus'. His index finger was poking her in the forehead, and he had crouched down to look her in the eye. Yuna was stunned speechless as she looked, frozen, into Tidus' sparkling cerulean eyes.
"Heya," he said quietly. She could feel his warm breath on her face. "You look kinda familiar… do I know you?"
"I-I, umm… I mean," Yuna was stuttering and her cheeks were turning pink. Dona rolled her eyes in the background.
"Tidus, she was just staring at you cuz you're famous, like all the other small-town girls. Let's go."
"Yea, she's just looking cause you're hot! Come on, Tidus!"
All the girls around Dona were begging the Blitzer to ditch with them, but he just stared at Yuna, unblinking. 'Is this guy for real?' Yuna thought.
"You go on. I'm gonna wait for the teacher."
Dona and co. grumbled, but made no move to go. Tidus repeated "Are you sure I haven't met you before?"
"I-I've only seen you on the commsphere… I doubt you've ever met me!" Yuna's voice rose to a squeak as she talked, her face reddening even more.
"Huh, that's weird. I thought I recognized you." Tidus blinked and drew himself up. "Sorry, you must've just reminded me of someone." He winked at Yuna and left her to pull herself together.
'This is gonna be a long day' thought Yuna… before she threw a mongoose at the author for being cliché.
"Sorry kids, I got held up at the dock, would you all come with me into the classroom?" a short, bald man with a friendly face bustled through the students towards the door to unlock it, papers and files falling from under his arm. Yuna could hear Tidus complaining about how he had almost been free, causing her to turn pink again. What was it about him? Yuna had seen him many times in the commsphere, but in person he was completely different. 'I just don't understand…'
Yuna sat in the second row, leaning on her elbows over her desk. Tidus sat a few seats over from Yuna, putting his hands behind his head and tipping his whole desk backward. Yuna watched him out of the corner of her eye, trying to put her finger down on him. The girl next to her followed Yuna's gaze and rolled her eyes. Yuna turned her attention to this girl, all but forgetting about the star player of the Zanarkand Abes.
"Hello, I'm Yuna. I'm new here… what's your name?"
"Paine. Hi." Said the black-clad, silver-haired teenager.
Yuna was once again left with making the conversation. She mentally sighed. "Uh, so, I guess you're from Luca. I'm from Besaid Island."
"Wow, that kinda sucks. I'm originally from Bevelle, but I've lived in Kilika, Djose, Guadosalam, and now here... I've been going here since freshman year and my sister since sophomore year."
"Cool, so your sister's a senior now?"
"Yea, her name is Lulu, if you ever meet her. She can be a real bitch, though."
"Oh, um…" this was getting really awkward. In Besaid, everyone was really friendly. In Luca… well, Yuna couldn't figure anyone in Luca out, but they didn't seem so friendly so far.
The teacher finished organizing himself and walked to the front of the class, writing his name on the sphere board: MAESTER KINOC.
'A Maester- my homeroom teacher!'
"I am Maester Kinoc, and I will be your homeroom teacher. Now, we only have a few minutes left, so I want to go over the usual speech, you know, school rules and all that."
There was a collective sigh and Maester Kinoc began. After all, Yuna was the only one who hadn't heard the rules a billion times. She was concentrating so hard that she didn't even notice Tidus watch her, then get smacked by Dona.
Homeroom was finally over, and Yuna and Paine walked to their first classes.
"So what do you have Paine?"
"Next is Spiran History… my naptime- class. What 'bout you?"
Yuna showed the girl her paper.
"Al Bhed one? Yeesh, where do you come from? I've spoken Al Bhed fluently since I was six."
Yuna laughed nervously. "I guess there's a first time for everything…"
"Well, this is my stop. See ya around!" Paine put a hand up in farewell and Yuna smiled and waved.
'Wow, two friends and classes haven't officially started yet… I'm doing pretty well!' Yuna smiled to herself as she walked into the Al Bhed 1 classroom.
The first thing she noticed was Rikku waving so violently at her that Yuna worried she might fall out of her desk. The brunette hurried over to sit with her cousin.
As she scanned the room, her eyes landed on a thickly built man with gravity-defying orange hair. His normally friendly and tan face was screwed into a scowl—this was his fourth year of Al Bhed 1. He really hated Al Bhed.
Rikku, who was chattering on and on about her first 'class' at LAHS, stopped for breath. Yuna took this opportunity.
"So, aren't you Al Bhed? Why are you taking Al Bhed one?"
The small blonde sighed. "They automatically put new students in basic Al Bhed. 'Course they don't seem to understand that (Rikku's voice was getting higher and higher) I am vnaygeh'(freakin') Al Bhed myself, born and raised in Home on Bikanal!"
A middle-aged bald man rapped his knuckled on the podium in response to Rikku's distress. "Rao, Bnehlacc, e ghuf ed yeh'd vih, pid oui ryja du crid oan dnyb, gyo? Lmycc ec ypuid du cdynd." (Hey, Princess, I know it ain't fun, but you have to shut yer trap, kay? Class is about to start.) He spoke in a rough voice.
"Pid Tyttoooooo..." (But Daddyyyyyy) Rikku whined.
Yuna looked from teacher to student, confused. "Huh?"
"Oh, Cid's my daddy, the big meanie" Rikku responded.
That meant Cid was Yuna's… huh?
Just then the girl from earlier (Dona, Yuna remembered) sauntered through the door and took her sweet time getting to her seat, a hulking teenage boy in tow. The teacher waited with mock patience, rolling his eyes.
"My name's Cid and I will be your lucky A.B. 1 teacher this whooooole year… please, students, contain all the excitement."
Dona sighed audibly. Yuna was getting tired of this cocky teenager VERY quickly.
"I'm gonna teach you the basics of the Al Bhed language, though it's very simple once you get the hang of it. This class is EXTREMEly easy, just do your homework, make sure you listen in class, and you'll do fine."
Yuna stared off into space, picturing herself a famous Blitzball player, autographing little kid's slips of paper while hanging by the sphere pool with the other famous Blizers… famous blonde Blitzers… that happened to be on the Zanarkand Abes…
'WOW!' thought Yuna, 'What in Spira am I thinking? I've never even met this boy before… he probably thought I look like some fan girl he took advantage of or something… what do I expect?'
While Yuna was freaking out in her corner, Rikku poked her. The girl spun around to face the offender. Rikku giggled and wrote something on Yuna's paper: "Your face is all red… what in Spira are you thinking about? wink"
This, of course, only caused Yuna to turn even more red as she furiously scribbled "What are you talking about! What kind of person do you think I am!"
Rikku giggled and put her hands up to say she was just joking. The bell rang.
Yuna was the first person in class. She rushed to a seat in the back and sat silently (and awkwardly) until the other students filed in. She was all by herself now that Rikku had gone off to Customization of Weapons… leaving Yuna in, as Paine so poetically put it, naptime.
Yuna thought Spiran History was interesting and all… just not this early in the morning.
She was staring with 'interest' at her clasped hands when someone dropped into the seat in front of her. She looked up, and to her dismay… found a face-full of silky blonde hair.
Tidus, sitting in front of her with no knowledge of the person behind him, had leaned backwards, thrusting his trademark hair into Yuna's face.
Yuna stifled a cough and leaned back quickly to avoid him, begging Yevon that he would not lean back further. He was practically laying on her desk as it was and she wondered how she would ever take notes with his head in the way.
As physics would have it, Tidus finally noticed who was sitting behind him and whipped around. "Hiya" he said, quoting himself from their first mind-numbing encounter. "Nostalgia girl, right?"
"Hi" Yuna said nervously. 'Oh why, of all people, did TIDUS end up in front on me? How am I supposed to focus on anything with his blinding hair in the way?'
Tidus laughed. "No, really, what's your real name?"
"Umm…"
"Hey! How are you doing! I'm so glad to see that we have History together again this year!"
A black-haired girl Yuna had never seen sat gracefully beside her. Her long hair was pulled back in a ponytail of several braids and her eyes were coated in heavy purple makeup.
"Uhh…" Yuna said stupidly.
The pale-skinned girl leaned close to Yuna, whispering, "Just go along with it. My name's Lulu."
"Right," Yuna said hesitantly, "hey Lulu. How was your summer?"
Lulu smiled coolly at Tidus. "Thanks for entertaining my best friend while I was gone. You can turn around now."
"Heeeeey," Tidus was pouting, "you don't even know her! And what's so bad about wanting to get to know someone, Lu!"
Lulu flicked some dust from her black leather pants. "One: I've know her since forever and Two: even if I didn't, I would pretend just to save her from the likes of you."
Tidus' laugh was lighthearted. "That was harsh, Lu. Are you just jealous that I'm not saving my charm for you?"
Lulu's eyes narrowed to slits. "Oh you're so witty. Please, oh please, Tidus, charm me 'till you can't anymore" she spoke in a monotone.
Yuna watched this exchange nervously. Lulu… that name, it was…
"Oh!" Yuna said aloud, stirring Tidus and Lulu from their death-stare of doom. "You're Lulu… Paine's sister?"
"Yes as a matter of fact," Lulu said without emotion. "I'm guessing you've met, then?"
"Yes! Paine was one of the first people I spoke to."
"After me!" a forgotten Tidus whined.
"Actually, you were third." Yuna said apologetically. Tidus seemed put-off by this fact and slumped into his chair.
"Maaaaaaaan, and after I felt so special…"
Yuna giggled, causing Lulu to glance up warily.
"On, Yevon, you're not a fan girl are you?" Lulu snorted.
Yuna was taken aback. "No, of course not!"
"Good. You can't go over to the dark side" pointed glare at Tidus "or I may have to kill you."
Yuna laughed, sending Tidus into a pout again. "Hey, why am I automatically the dark side? And you, what did you say your name was?"
"Oh-"
"Shh! Don't tell him! You'll regret it for the rest of your life."
"You! Stop interfering! How do you know she wants to be 'saved' from my amazing self?"
"Because no sane person would enjoy time spent with you."
"Hey-" (Yuna)
"That's mean! Lulu, you know deep down you really love me…"
"Oh, ha ha, that's really funny."
"Umm-" (Yuna again)
"Seriously! I don't see anything wrong with me…"
"You mean apart from the fact that you're you?"
"Excuse me, lovebirds, but I must be on with this class. We have so much to cover… so little time…" the old man drawled on and the students listened a little more quietly.
"I'm Maechen, and you may think you can get away with a lot in this class, but you're wrong. Please don't mess around or doze off." He looked pointedly at Tidus, who grinned sheepishly and rubbed his neck.
"Now, Sin was defeated in-" Yuna sighed with relief. That encounter was a little scary. She didn't know who was worse: Tidus or Lulu. Probably Lulu… actually most definitely Lulu.
Yuna sighed in dismay as Tidus tried to discreetly get her attention. He passed her a note, which she unfolded, asking "Seriously, what is your name!"
She smiled slightly at the paper, writing 'Yuna'.
a/n: end chapter 1. Woot woot. How did it turn out? The first day in high school fics is always a beast, so I'm taking two chapters to do it, and then we have a break from school as Yuna goes to Kilika. Yay for weekends. Weekendsmy sanity. Fma. Ymc(squared). I know you're all jealous of my crazy-equation skillz. Now review before I sing the quadratic formula song!