Authors Notes: Hey all who read this, if any! This is a fic that I originally posted on Fanfiction.net and although it may not be as risqué as some of the fics posted at this sight I still wanted to give it a shot. Maybe spice it up a little bit more. So I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Disclaimer: My original character is mine but every other Final Fantasy 10 character and idea or whatever does not belong to me!

Forever Silent

Prologue

Two people sat on a beach bathed in moonlight, the white sand sparkling like tiny crystals around them. They were yards apart, yet both were completely unaware of each other; much too consumed with their own troubled thoughts to realize they were not alone. Or maybe they just didn't care.

Up on a hill, shrouded by the islands dense foliage, a young couple watched the man and woman on the beach with interest.

"Don't you think he'll be upset when he finds out what you've done?" asked the young woman, her face concealed in shadow.

"Yeah, but it's a risk I'm willing to take. You saw how good she was. I just can't believe they let her go." The young man shrugged and wrapped his arms around his companion. "Their loss. Besides…" he paused and watched the two people on the beach get to their feet and walk off in separate directions across the sand. "They might be good for each other."

Turning in his arms, the young woman stared up at him and saw her own feelings of hope mirrored in his clear blue eyes. Maybe this new comer would be exactly what their friend needed to pull himself out of his current slump.

"I hope you're right." She said with a sad smile, and then she turned and led the way back into the small town of Besaid.

Meeting The Team

Tidus turned over onto his side, still mostly asleep and wrapped his arm around Yuna's sleeping form, pulling her snuggly against him. He smiled. Even though it has been close to three months, he still couldn't believe he was alive. But they had promised him. Lord and Lady Braska, Lord Jyscal, Auron…even his own father. They had all promised him that this time he would not be just a dream. Thanks to his friends on the Farplane and Yuna's constant whistling, Tidus was back for good.

Yuna made a small sound and stretched like a cat. "Good morning." She murmured in that soothing musical voice that Tidus loved so much. He grunted a response and buried his head in the crook of her neck, drawing forth a tired giggle from Yuna. "I love you." He whispered.

Yuna flipped over to face him, running her hands up and through his shaggy blonde hair. "And I love you, Tidus." They shared a gentle kiss, both lingering over their last few minutes they had left to sit in bed. Tidus pulled away and smiled down at the beautiful woman he had come to love so deeply. "Got to get up hun. I bet Wakka's gonna come bustin' in here any minute now."

Tidus stood up and walked across the small hut to where his shorts lay in a rumpled heap on the floor. Pulling on a clean pair of boxers, Tidus put his dark gray shorts on over them and turned back to Yuna who was still lying in bed. He watched her sit up slowly with a seductive smile, watched the sheet slide from her bare shoulder and pool around her waist, and he heard her silent plea for him to join her. He'd be insane to turn down an offer like that!

He made a running leap and landed halfway on top of Yuna, smiling as her light laughter filled the room. Their moment of privacy was interrupted though, by the sound of feet approaching, possibly the soles of sandals slapping against stone. Tidus held his finger to his lips and listened.

"Hey man! You in there?" a voice shouted from outside.

There was barley enough time to yank on disregarded clothing and hide Yuna under the blankets before the cloth door to the hut flew open. Tidus groaned as harsh sunlight flooded the room and momentarily blinded him. A tall, muscular man with bright amber eyes, a lop sided smirk and short spiky red hair, several long strands of which stuck straight up from underneath a thick blue headband like an unruly cowlick loomed in the opening to the hut. He wore his usual Besaid Aurochs uniform which consisted of baggy yellow, chap-like pants that cuffed below the knee and were worn over dark blue shorts and a short yellow vest patterned with blue crosses that was cut down the middle, exposing a washboard stomach.

"Outta bed, man. We got a lot of stuff to do today, ya?' Wakka said, yanking him out of bed and into a not-so-playful headlock.

"Ack…hey, come on! Don't you…think you're…getting a little…to old for this?" Tidus choked out. He pulled himself free and stumbled backwards. "You could at least let me find my shirt first!"

Wakka laughed and slapped him hard on the back almost knocking him over. Tidus turned and glared at the older man. "Sorry 'bout that." Wakka said. "I'm just excited, you know?"

Tidus nodded and walked back to the bed where his shirt hung, draped over the headboard. He tried not to laugh at the startled wide eyes, one green, and one blue that peeked up at him over the edge of the blankets. He grabbed his shirt, gave Yuna a quick kiss on her forehead and turned back to Wakka, pulling his hooded yellow shirt over his head.

"Don't forget this." Wakka threw him his blitz bag. "Ready?"

After a quick scan of the room, Tidus nodded again. They walked outside into the late morning sunlight.

"You sure you're not forgettin' anything?" Wakka asked.

"Yeah…" Tidus said at length, looking up at his friend.

Wakka shrugged. "Alright then. See ya on da ship, Yuna!" he yelled over his shoulder. At Tidus' shocked expression, Wakka just said. "You two are about as sneaky as a hyper chocobo." And with that he laughed and took off across the beach to where the remaining team members of the Besaid Aurochs stood, waiting for practice to begin.

"Man, it's going to be one of those days." Tidus grumbled.

Several minutes later, Tidus and Wakka sat on a bench that had been pulled out onto the beach. Tidus was lacing up his shoes and Wakka was staring off into the wide blue ocean.

"This one last practice before the tournament…it's a good idea. Wish I would have thought of it when I was capn' ya?" Wakka said.

Tidus looked thoughtfully at his friend. "Well…how would you like to be the captain for the rest of the season?" he asked. The idea settled well with him, so he knew that handing over leadership to Wakka was the right thing to do.

Wakka stared at Tidus with his mouth agape. "You serious?"

"Yeah! I could be like…a back up captain. Come on Wakka, you deserve this."

Wakka scratched his head. "Nah. You the cap'n now. I don't this it'd be right, ya?" The red haired man looked back out over the water.

Tidus shook his head. "Wakka, quit being so stubborn. You know you want this. Besides, I think it's a good idea."

Wakka threw a skeptical look in Tidus' direction, but as he rubbed his chin he appeared to be considering his offer. "Alright…" he said after a moment of silence. "I'll do it."

Tidus smiled. "Great." Tidus clapped Wakka on the shoulder and turned to leave when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. His smile slowly turned into an uncomfortable grimace. Wakka was going to kill him.

"We do this on one condition though." He said cautiously.

"Yeah? And what's that?" Wakka asked, his eyes narrowing.

"That every decision I made as captain stays."

"Deal." Wakka said, then added, "why?" Noticing that Tidus was staring at something behind him, Wakka turned around and his eyes landed on a pair of the longest legs he had ever seen. He let his gaze travel appreciatively up the strong, deeply tanned limbs, gently flared hips, trim waist, and ample chest. Quickly scanning her flawless features he smiled at the careless way the woman's strawberry blonde hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail, designed so that wisps of hair fanned out every direction and the longer wavy strands hung to the base of her slender neck. Tiny braids criss-crossed over her scalp and disappeared into the ponytail. The effect was adorable.

Tidus watched his friend and had to bite down on his lip to keep from laughing. The older man was too busy noticing everything about the woman, everything except who she actually was. Maybe Tidus had lucked out. "Then again…maybe not." He muttered quietly to himself. Wakka's expression had gone from interested, to confused, to slightly hostile. He knew.

Kenzi, one of the top Blitzball players in Spira, had appeared out of nowhere at the beginning of the league season. The leggy blonde had proven herself well, scoring a majority of the goals for the Al Bhed Psyches. When they had let her go, Tidus had been the first to find out. He'd hired her on the spot and she had happily agreed. Now he wasn't sure he had made the right decision.

Fixing the smile back on his face, Tidus waved to Kenzi and she trotted over pushing her sunglasses back onto her head. "Nice island you got here!" she said when she had reached them.

"Glad you like it. The rest of the team is down on the beach. Why don't you go say hi? We'll be right behind you." Tidus motioned down the hill to where shouts could be heard from the team.

"Sure." She started to walk away. "Oh…Tidus?" she called, spinning back around.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for recruiting me."

"No problem." Tidus said. He watched Kenzi disappear down the hill, feeling reluctant to face his friend again.

"Mind tellin' me what the hell that was all about?" Wakka asked.

Tidus laughed uncomfortably. "That? Oh, that was Kenzi. She's kind of…um…well, you see…I recruited her." He managed to stutter out.

"You recruited her?! An Al Bhed?!" Wakka shouted.

Tidus backed away from his irate friend, holding his hands out in front of him defensively. "Com on Wakka, calm down. I had to recruit her. Letty just had a kid. He's out for the rest of the season. I needed another forward. The Al Bhed's dropped her Wakka. She won most of their games for them and they dropped her. I couldn't pass up an opportunity to have someone that good." Wakka's gaze remained hard, his blue eyes glittering with anger. "Besides, she's tough and she's as devoted to the game as you are. Give her a chance."

"She's an Al Bhed."

Tidus shook hi head. How could someone be so damn stubborn? "So is Rikku," he pointed out.

"That's different," the red headed man grumbled.

"The hell it is Wakka," Tidus said, turning and walking down the beach to where the other team members were waiting to start practice. Except they needed a captain and he was no longer the captain. "By the way, you might want to hurry up Wakka. The team's kind of waiting on you," he threw over his shoulder as he walked.

He was tired of Wakka's prejudice towards the Al Bhed's. Sure, the man had his reasons to dislike them but after Rikku, finding out Yuna was part Al Bhed, and fighting beside them when they had battled Sin, Tidus really thought he would have put the past aside. Obviously he hadn't. 'Oh well,' he thought. It wasn't his problem it was Wakka's. He just hoped the guy would figure things out and let go of his anger for good.

Up on the hill, Wakka watched Tidus' retreating back with a frown. "It is different," he muttered softly, hoping the words would sound convincing. But they didn't and that was a bad thing. Tidus thought he was mad that he had to play on the same team as an Al Bhed. It was good that he thought that but it wasn't the reason. Wakka had actually come to terms with his hatred for the Al Bhed. As long as they didn't directly interfere with his life, he was fine. Yuna and Rikku were the only exceptions to that. Yuna because she was like a little sister to him and Rikku because she was related to Yuna and had, for the most part, left him alone. But this new Al Bhed, she was a problem.

The reason? Because despite the fact that she was an Al Bhed….he was still strongly attracted to her and that made him mad. Mad at her, mad at himself, even mad at his way-too-optimistic friend Tidus. And not only did the unexpected attraction anger him, it also made him feel guilty. He was with Lulu now…kind of. At least he thought he was. It was complicated.

Muttering a string of curses, each one worse then the one before it, Wakka trudged down the beach to join his team. The only thing he could really do was try and avoid her. Had he been paying attention he would have been able to do just that but he wasn't and the cause for his troubles slammed right into him before he even noticed her.

He opened his mouth to yell at her just as she turned to face him, a blitzball clutched in her hands, her high cheekbones flushed and cool gray eyes that held of hint of distain staring up at him. Suddenly he forgot what he was going to say.

"Hi. I'm Kenzi," she said in a smoky voice that made his head swim.

'It's not her fault she's an Al Bhed,' he thought. Not her fault that he felt like this. Not her fault, not her fault, not her fault. "I'm-."

"Wakka. I know," she interrupted, giving him a delectable smirk. "You're the Al Bhed hating captain of the Besaid Aurochs with the unique stroke, weird hair and wicked stubbornness."

At least it wasn't her fault until she opened her damn mouth. Wakka glared down at the infuriating woman. "You're lucky Tidus made me promise not to change any of his decisions or I'd be throwin' ya out on that scrawny ass of yours."

Kenzi placed her fists on her hips, her silvery gray eyes flashing dangerously. Even at her full height she still only came to his chin. "Well, you're lucky I even decided to join this sorry excuse for a team, especially when it's run by an asshole captain like you. But from what I've seen you guys are in need of some serious help and I've always thought of myself as a charitable person."

Wakka's hands itched to strangle the little hellcat and he would have too if Tidus hadn't come jogging up and intervened.

"Hey guys. I see you've met," the platinum blonde said, glancing nervously between the two. "Uhh….Wakka, I think the guys want a word with you. We'll be right back Kenzi." He said, pulling Wakka away.

Once they were at a safe distance Kenzi drew an unsteady breath and let her trembling arms drop to her side. God, what had possessed her to say things like that to him? She almost felt sick. Here she was, meeting the man she had admired from afar for years and the first thing she did was insult him!

"Way to make a first impression Kenzi," she murmured as she bent over to pick up the blitzball she had dropped during her stand off with the large Auroch captain. She could still remember the first time she has laid eyes on him. It had been her first time in the Blitzball arena. She had been there with her father and mother to support her brother and his team as they went up against the Besaid Aurochs. Immediately she forgot her intentions when the muscular red head swam into the sphere. All day she had silently cheered for his team as her father had loudly booed them. When the game was over and her father and mother had gone off to celebrate with her friends, she had gone in search of him.

She had found him sitting on a dock, in the middle of a heated conversation with a younger man who slightly resembled him. They had been talking about Sin and machina. The younger man had stood, muttered something under his breath and stormed off.

Kenzi watched wide-eyed as Wakka sighed, pulled off the thick blue headband he always wore and buried his head in his hands. She wanted to go to him, comfort him, but her legs would not cooperate. So she just stood there, hidden behind a stack of wooden crates, watching him. That had been years ago when she was sixteen. Then Sin had come and everything had changed.

Now she was twenty-two, hardened from years of solitude, yet she still held feelings for him.

He can never know, whispered the rough voice of the evil that had been haunting her mind since all of the death had begun. Knowledge leads to heartbreak and you know what happens then. Your will is then mine to command and by your hands all of Spira will die.

"No," Kenzi whispered, shaking her head. The voice laughed at her, mocking her and telling her that she was not strong enough to stop it.

"I am strong," she said in an anguished voice. "I am."

"Kenzi?"

She jerked her head up. Tidus stared at her with worried blue eyes and an unsure smile. "Are you okay? You look kind of pale."

Kenzi brushed her bangs out of her face, forcing a smile to her face. "Yeah. I'm fine. Just zoned out for a second. Are we starting practice?"

"Yup," Tidus said. He wasn't at all convinced by her overly cheerful mood but he wasn't about to pry into the life of someone he hardly knew. "For and hour. Then we board the ship for the tournament. You ready to show these guys what you've got?"

Kenzi laughed, following Tidus across the beach. "I don't think these guys are ready for what I've got."