Summer's End and New Beginings

Welcome to chapter 3! No special warnings this time. It is actually kinda sweet and funny, or at least I thought so. So enjoy and R&R.

============================================================



Tidus smiled to himself as he ran his fingers over the velvet like fur. He tranced his finger along the it from tip to base. When his finger pressed against base where it connected, Zidane let out a soft moan.



Tidus froze. Then he slowly let go of the tail and looked over at a deeply blushing Zidane. "S-Sorry." He stammared meekly.



"S'okay." Zidane answered softly. He had felt someone playing with his tail, but he figured it was just Rikku. But now that he thought about it, it was definetly different. It was gentler and curious, but most of all it was...nice.



Blank muzzled a snort. He had been observing everything quietly from the corner of his eye.



"Hey Tidus," Yuna said from the back. "Are you going to go out for the blitzball team?"



Tidus turned and looked to the backseat. "Yeah. Of course."



"Wakka, you remember Wakka, is the coach, so I don't think you will have to many problems getting on the team," Yuna informed.



"But Yunie, what about Shuyin?"



"Who's Shuyin?" Tidus asked cocking his head.



"An Asshole." Paine said with an obvious loathing.



"He's the captian of the Blitzball team. Really overbearing on the players and always likes for things to go his way." Garnet said oddly confident.



"And we can't forget the bitch." Paine added with a sneer.



"Who?"



"Lenne," Zidane offered. "She is the head cheerleader and shares the first chair in choir."



"Shares the first chair?" Tidus asked with a blink.



"That's right! Yunie and her both tried out for first chair, and they both got it!" Rikku said beaming.



"Garnet is in choir with us too. She is the second chair." Yuna said, trying to push some of the attention away from her.



"Wow." Tidus said with a grin. "That is impressive. Are you guys in any other groups?"



"I am in CETRA. I forget what it stands for, but Aerith can tell you." Rikku said. "We take care of animals and plant flowers. Oh! But Paine is in Journalism!"



"And Weapons Club." Paine added.



"I'm in Weapons Club too!" Zidane said with a grin.



"Weapons Club?" Tidus said, looking at the two with interest. "What do you do in there?"



"It is kinda like fencing or kendo." Paine said thinking. "Most of us use a sword or variation of one. I use a long sword."



"And I use daggers and butterfly swords." Zidane said taking over. "It is mainly sparring and training in a safe enviroment. Other people use other things too, like chakram and guns, so you are not limited to just swords."



"Cool. I want in. How do I join?"



"Do you have a weapon?" Blank said finally speaking up.



"Yeah."



"Then consider yourself in. Normally you would need recomendation from another member, but you just happen to be talking to one of the instructors this year," Blank said grinning.



"Thanks."



"No prob. Zidane can fill you in more on things later," Blank said as he parked the car in a rather nice parking place.



"Alright guys! Lunch first!" Rikku said jumping out of the car. "Brother's treat," She said taking out his wallet from her pocket.



"Rikku!" Yuna said trying to put on a stern face, but failing miserably.



"Good job." Paine said giving her a high five.



"Milkshakes?" Dagger said clinging to Zidane, her eyes lighting up as Zidane just groaned.



"Sure!" Let's go!" Rikku yelled as she sprinted to the door. Everyone followed in a more moderate pace. Zidane tried to free himself from Dagger's grip of doom. when an idea hit him.



"Look over there!" He said to Dagger and pointed off in some direction. The moment she turned her head he slipped out of her grip, and dashed to hide beside Blank.



"Clever. But that only works once." Blank whispered. He was rewarded with a big grin. Garnet stopped and fumed for a moment, but did not want to miss out on a milkshake, so she quickly hurried to catch up.



The food court was packed as usual, but they managed to find a couple of tables and push them together. There was hardly any talk as they scarffed down their food. Brother's wallet was consequently empty except for a single gil.



"So where is everyone going?" Blank asked as he finished the last of his drink.



"I definetly want to hit Dark Night." Paine said, as she got up to throw her trash away.



"Yunie and I wanna go to Beatrix's!" Rikku said. Dagger looked up at the mention of one of her favorite stores. "I'll go with you guys then." She said as Rikku nodded.



"I will be at 7th Heaven." Blank said standing. "Zidane, take Tidus with you and show him around. We will all meet back at the fountian in a few hours. Got it?"



"Yep"

"You bet"

"Gotcha"

"Ok"



And with that Yuna, Rikku, Paine, and Dagger walked off to the left, while Blank walked up the stairs. "So shall we?" Zidane asked.



"Yeah. Let's go."



They had only walked a short ways before Zidane spoke up. "It's ok you know."



"What is?"



Zidane tail swished slighty. "To wanna play with my tail." His cheeks flushed slightly. "Alot of people do, and it bothers me sometimes. But your are one of my friends now, so it's okay."



Tidus was dumbfounded for a second, but quickly regained his composure. "Okay. So which store are we going to?"



"Umm...This one!" Zidane said as he grabbed Tidus's arm and pulled him in.



Tidus looked around the store slowly. "The Honeybee Boutique." He said reading the sign over the checkout.



"Yeah. The owner is kind of weird, but the store has good prices." Zidane said as he rummaged through a sales rack. He held out a blue sleeveless shirt with a black, yellow, and silver dragon on it. "Like this."



Tidus grabbed the shirt and examined the price tag. "Wow! Only 20 gil!"



"Yeah. You should get it. I think it will look good on you." Zidane said hoping his blush was not to evident.



"You really think so?" Tidus said taking another look at the shirt.



"Yea. I do!"



"Kay then. I'll buy it." Tidus said barely holding back a smile.



After an hour or so of searching through racks and shelves, they had a sizeable pile of clothes and had reached the back of the store. Infront of them was a curtian of beads.



"What's back there?" Tidus said, reorganizing the pile he was holding.



"Umm, not sure."



"Let's find out." Tidus said moving through the beads. Zidane took a quick look around before he followed him. They were greeted with a an odd assortment of clothing. Nurses uniforms, kinky cops, whips and fancy undies from wall to wall.



"Hey look at this!" Tidus yelled out. Zidane ran over to him as Tidus pointed to a blue speedo witha monkey on the fanny.



"What about it?" Zidane said, eyeing it carefully.



"Do you like it?"



"Well, I do like the monkey on the back."



"Then it's settled I am going to buy it for you." Tidus said pick up the item.



Zidane turned deep red. "What?! But ...but.."



"No buts. I am getting it for you and that is that. Consider it a present for showing me around."



"But.."



"What are you kids doing back here?" a short fat man bellowed. His name tag read Don C." This is erotic wear for adults."



Tidus thought fast and threw his arm around Zidane and hugged him to his chest. "C'mon Don. I just wanted to buy something sexy for my sweetie here."



Zidane turned red, deep red. So red he would have sworn you could see him from outer space. His heart was beating so fast he was sure it was going to explode. But dispite that he actually enjoyed being that close to Tidus. He was warm and has a nice smell.



"Look kids, although you are a cute couple..."



"Leave'em alone Don." Blank said stepping through the curtian. "Unless you want the incident of the Honeybee Inn released to the public."



"You wouldn't" Don said sweating.



"Aerith has pictures, and Ms. C will be more then willing to testify." Blank said with a dangerous grin as he grabbed a french maid outfit and feather duster. He then went to the accessories and got a pair of pink kitty ears and a pink cat tail and started his way to the register. "C'mon. Let's check out already."



Zidane and Tidus rushed to the register. "What's that for?" Zidane said looking at the outfit.



Blank has a large smirk on his face. "Someone lost a bet."



Tidus and Zidane looked at each other then to Blank, and decided it was something they did not want to know about.



==============================================================

A/N:First, I want to thank Carrie, for being an awesome Beta. Without her reviewing it you all would have had a less then pleasent version of this story. So thank her for catching all the mistakes I made.

Second, just to let you know, Dark Night is basically Hot Topic, while Beatrix's is basically Claire's. They are just FF versions. And yes, 7th Heaven is still a bar, and still run by Tifa, but there are several branches of them, and the one in the mall is more like a smoothie bar.