- Fighting for Acceptance -

Disclaimer: If I owned ToS, then you'd be able to use Noishe in battle, nope, I own nothing. Got the chapter title from one of my favorite songs by Yui Makino and I highly recommend it.

AN: Get ready for the longest chapter in this story! So grab a soda, some popcorn, and enjoy! Seriously, this thing is like... 6000 words and it's the second to last chapter, so there's a lot to wrap up. But don't worry, I have a sequel planned, so be happy!

- Chapter Eleven - Synchronicity

A week with their friends and the time had finally come where their paths split. The siblings had a bit of a longer trail ahead of them before reaching any structure, our trio on the other hand, consisting of wolf, ninja, and swordsman, were mere hours from a house of salvation.

Waving their farewells to the snow haired healer-warlock duo, Sheena and Zelos headed onward to their own destination. Genis and Raine motioned their own versions of the gesture but not before Verus had said his goodbyes, in the form of running headlong and tackling Genis, licking him in a desperation that implied they would be parted for life. When Genis assured him otherwise, the wolf backed down but whimpered sadly nonetheless as he returned to his master, leaving the half-elves to their way.

After arriving at the scarce source of civilization, both Sheena and Zelos noted all the changes that had taken place in the area, what had especially caught their attention was an unfamiliar building. It was larger than the once lone house and had been built right beside it. Now with an Inn with multiple rooms and accommodations, the house of salvation was now more like an average traveler's haven rather than a pilgrim's checkpoint. But such changes were taking place all over the world, thus it came with little surprise to the human pair as they stepped through the double doors of the Inn.

Travelers and mercenaries alike lingered around the entrance, talking amongst themselves, making traveling arrangements, and trading goods with the few merchants present.

Zelos had found a sudden interest in one group, casually joined the conversation, and began haggling with the salesman, leaving Sheena to make the rooming arrangements.

Shortly after sharing a greeting with the ninja, the Inn keeper stared down at the white creature at her side and frowned. "Sorry miss, no pets allowed inside." Whether Verus actually looked like a pet or not was irrelevant.

Sheena regarded her canine companion and shooed him off indifferently. He in turn licked her hand and obeyed, darting out of the building, and swerved around a passerby, who seemed dumbstruck by nearly walking into the oddly colored wolf.

After getting checked into the only remaining vacant room, Sheena mounted the stairs and entered their small quarters. She crossed to the window, passing and noting wryly the only bed in the room, of which she had been previously informed of by the Inn clerk. Oh well, Zelos would just have to sleep on the floor, of course, offering it up graciously being the gentleman that he was.

She chuckled at the thought and opened the window, leaning out and looking down to see Verus, already plotting his steps of infiltration. "Did you meet Pookie already?" Sheena asked him curiously, thinking up the first name that came to her mind from the times when Collete named the many dogs throughout the journey.

Verus whined incredulously in reply, almost glaring at the distance he would soon dismantle which separated him from his mistress.

"Oh... Spot, I should have known, wrong house of salvation right?"

Sheena received a bark of confirmation this time and her eyes followed the wolf's movements in a bored sort of interest as he leaped from some crates, to an overhang, and then to the window ledge, all with a rather reserved amount of effort as his nails clattered on the wood floor.

When Zelos entered the room a few moments later, after his little set back with a merchant, a sly scheme met his thoughts when he noticed the only bed in the room. His mind soon revolved on itself when his sight shifted to the wolf and then the smile was lost to a crumbling of spirits. "Aw come on! It's bad enough I have to sleep on the floor, but to be shown up by the mutt is just insulting!" he complained, all the while jabbing a finger at the animal in question. Verus, obviously ignoring the comments, was already making himself comfortable on the mattress.

"I think you're just mad because you thought you'd have a chance to get me alone for once," Sheena said, her tone level with accusation and her brown orbs slit with a knowledge far too wise towards his devices. "And at least he has the sense to behave himself."

"Hey, who says I wouldn't behave?" Zelos replied defensively, neatly evading her first comment and advancing on her casually.

Sheena tipped her head and smirked complacently, one word would stop him in his tracks. "Verus." The wolf looked up at attention in an instant, his tail wagging in expectation.

Zelos' movements froze mid step, his eyes darting between the beast and its master. "N-now Sheena, let's be civil about this-"

"Play time!" At Sheena's command, Verus was off the bed and on the man in a matter of seconds.

Zelos let out a horrid scream and a confounding thud as he hit the floor. Downstairs the Inn keeper glanced upward but promptly turned back to his bookkeeping with a shake of his head and a sigh. He'd learned not to ask questions when it came to his customers, if he happened to check the rooms the next day and found a dead body, then so be it, but he wasn't going to worry himself over the matter until the time came. Everyone else muttered amongst themselves shortly before returning to their former conversations.

Sheena's laughter indicated that, although it really was a cruel trick, it was fun, and the man's pathetic wails were an amusement that nearly brought her eyes to tear.

As Zelos composed himself in a grumbling, dispatching the dust of his clothes, he shook his fist at the wolf. After making some sort of an empty threat he sighed in defeat a moment later, and found himself patting their furry companion on the head as though forgiven.

Whether it was nighttime yet or not, the weary threesome made for bed shortly after a quick meal. They were both eager to get some uninterrupted sleep. After Kuchinawa's threat they had installed a strict rotating night shift, and although having Raine and Genis to help out in this, it was still an annoyance to be woken up and forced to be alert for two hours every night.

"We finally find a place to stay and I have to sleep on the floor, while the dog gets the royal treatment!" Zelos whined, laying out his bedding on the cold, hard surface.

"He's not a dog," came Sheena's correction from the bed, the humor in her voice ever present.

"Oh, my mistake, I meant demon," he grumbled again as he loosely fought with his blankets and absently tried to decide if the earth was softer than this infernal wood flooring.

No matter which way one chose to look at it, there just had to be something entirely wrong with this picture.


That animal was in his way, he needed to get rid of him, if nothing more than a few minutes. Zelos sat on the grass, his head leaning on his fist in contemplation as he watched Sheena, munching on a sandwich as she worked on yet another report to the king, every now and again she would throw a tidbit to Verus, who lay lazily beside her.

The problem wasn't just the fact that Verus tortured him with affection, affection that a person like Zelos was simply not quite keen on, but rather, he couldn't seem to think clearly when Verus was nearby. It almost seemed like he had an audience, not that one would normally consider a wolf's thoughts on a matter important, but this wasn't your average wolf, and Zelos was thoroughly suspicious that the domesticated monster could understand the human language, and not just a few words, but as a whole, really did comprehend it.

Once again on the open field and far away from any civilization, Zelos glanced upward and noted that a few white clouds accompanied the clear blue above with hints of a sunset on the horizon. Numerous birds in the trees nearby twittered their monotonous background music; a constant reminder that there was no danger in the woodland. Even now Zelos knew he had to be alert to an attack, and once night fell he would need to be especially alert, but that was later, and hardly something he was concerned with at present.

A good distance was stretched out between the traveling companions, but only so much that one or the other would need to speak in a slightly higher voice than normal to be understood. It was a bit of an odd development for the pair, but Zelos needed time to think, and Sheena needed her peace and quiet to write her report.

Zelos weighed his options and gave some serious thought on what he had to work with. He wasn't entirely sure how he was even meant to proceed at this point. The situation at hand was a strange one, and right after the worlds had been reunited, he never would have pictured the way events had played out up until now. But then, for the former Chosen of what was once Tethe'alla, when were things ever...not complicated?

Zelos looked back to the beast who was still reclined on his side, leisurely watching the grass bend with the breeze. A familiar bug hopped within inches of the wolf's nose and he immediately pawed at it, though now, the insect was able to pass between his large claw digits. Unrelenting though, Verus cupped the grasshopper with his other paw, and so on and so forth until pretty soon, Verus seemed to be crawling as though he had reinvented the old game.

As Zelos watched the wolf's new movements, he wondered if there was a way to make this work in his favor, and thinking back on one his very own sayings, he smirked with a plot already in the works. "If he's useful, make use of him."

"Oy, runt, c'mere," he called, and Verus sat up, forgetting his prey at the sound of attention, with Sheena barely sparing either of them a glance as she concentrated on her work.

After Verus had bounded over curiously, Zelos bent low and pinned a look of suspicion on the wolf. "Ok bud, one whine for yes, two for no. Got it?"

Verus quirked his head oddly for a moment and whined once in recognition.

Zelos scrutinized the beast, deciding to test the new form of communication. "Are you the one stealing food out of my pack lately?"

An automatic chain of two defensive yelps was his answer, and Zelos ended his scrutiny, nodding with approval. "Fine, then listen up, this is what I want you to do..."

Sheena was unaware of the pair's conspiring,(or even the fact that they were capable of such a thing) and that was putting it lightly; when it came to any sort of penmanship, she may as well have been in another world.

"...And if it works out, then you get a big steak tonight. Deal?" Zelos held out his hand which was promptly clapped by a bluish forepaw as Verus added an affirmative bark. The man nodded and stood. "Go on then." He waved him away and Verus obeyed, padding off and went to lay down in his spot indicated with what was key in the plan ahead.

After prepping himself with a deep breath and a silent pep talk, Zelos made his way to the dark haired summoner.

"Hey Sheena, got a minute?"

Turning away from her work in a bit of frustration, Sheena blinked her dark eyes, eyes that were still focused on the sheet of paper even though they were aimed up at the man. "Yeah... I guess," she said finally, after taking into account his request and his hopeful expression. "But only if you help me with this introduction later, I have everything else, I just can't get the formality right."

"Of course!" Zelos agreed and lowered himself to sit next to her, while Sheena gratefully set her work aside. "But is this my favorite banshee? And is she actually asking for my help?"

"You better get started, I'm losing interest fast," she replied, giving him a dirty look and crossing her arms impatiently.

"Tsk, always so quick to anger hunny?" The redhead smirked and Sheena growled in annoyance without a reply as Zelos began. "So I've been wondering for awhile now. Have you picked out any candidates for Igaguri's request?" He tried to sound like a third party to the situation, as though he would be completely unaffected by the outcome, but whether it worked out that way or not, remained to be seen.

Sheena's lips curved wryly. She wondered why he hadn't brought this subject up yet. It was strange to her, but Zelos hadn't mentioned it once ever since she told him about her predicament. And now, he finally wanted to talk about it when things were so obvious between them that Sheena didn't know why they were even bothering with mincing their words. "Maybe," she answered with a clever tip of her head, deciding to play along for now.

"Mm-hm... And is there any chance of me being one of them?" he asked, almost distantly as he leaned back to get a better look at the sunset, now a red-orange blaze over the mountains.

Well that was kind of forward, she hadn't expecting him to take this silly game of wit to a personal level that quickly. And then suddenly it occurred to her that he must have just been joking around from the beginning. Lately he had been using that odd habit of trying to distract her whenever she was concentrating on something too much, because heaven forbid she should ever take anything more seriously than he did.

After her moment of bewilderment, Sheena had managed to recover and threw him a devious smirk. "I suppose, anything is possible..."

Zelos returned her expression and replaced his eyes to the sky as though admiring a particular cloud that oddly resembled Verus, making his features twitch as he spoke. "Even for a stupid Chosen like me?"

Why did he even have to ask? After all they had been through lately, she merely assumed her decision was an unspoken knowledge. "Yes, even for a stupid Chosen like you," she confirmed, shoving him lightly in something of mock indignation.

"That's my banshee, hostile even when amused."

Sheena ignored anymore remarks that followed, instead she now had to sort out a proper reply. When exactly did this banter of theirs turn into an awry deliberation? She had to keep reminding herself that this was the man that had long since mastered the art of hiding a serious conversation behind a jest.

Was he trying to address the complicated circumstances that she was bound to? Trying to comply with them even? Upon closer inspection of his relaxed though steady gaze, Sheena's suspicions crystallized, and it was a long moment before she decided to speak again. "So, is this... your odd way of proposing to me or something?"

"Or something," Zelos repeated in answer, as a new smile seemed to come to life on his face. "Igaguri seemed to think so." The sudden tangent in their conversation immediately causing Sheena to question it. "Your grandfather," he said once more. "He had this crazy idea that I was one of your choices."

"Crazy?" Sheena nearly growled. "What exactly makes it so crazy, aside from the fact that you're involved?" It was an honest question, but while she was still putting the pieces together, Zelos signaled with a wave of his hand to Verus and the wolf immediately came running.

"Ouch... Yep, that did it. Verus she finally killed me," Zelos announced and, though the act was delayed, he dropped to lay on his back in a dead state as he had done numerous times in the past.

The wolf regarded him oddly but thought it better to concentrate on his mission, nearly head butting Sheena's middle in order to get her attention..

Sheena too, seemed entertained by the man's folly but quickly averted her attention to her large pet. "Verus, what do you have?" She tried to get a look at what he had in his mouth but with the way he was thrusting it out for her to take, she couldn't get a good view of it.

"Maybe you should take it from him and find out," Zelos chirped cheerfully with a grin, though cleverly keeping his eyes closed.

"Quiet you. You're dead, remember?" She sent him a warning of a side glance only to notice he wasn't even watching.

"Touché," was his only retort and he never lost the amusement on his face as he lay there. Even the grass, weaving itself in and through his hair did little to annoy him as it normally would have.

After verifying that the swordsman wasn't about to try anything, she once again reversed her full attention back to Verus. This time the wolf simply dropped the parcel into the ninja's lap, and sat down in front of her, his tail wagging pleasantly. Sheena stared at the small velvet pouch for a time, first thinking that it was some sort of round, fuzzy bug that Verus thought she should examine for whatever reason, and upon picking it up she could feel at least one of Zelos' eyes on her.

Obviously at a loss for what to say or expect, Sheena attentively untied the string of the pouch as Zelos sat up to watch her pull the contents out by a chain, revealing a silver necklace of a simple design. The pendant, shaped like a rose, was accompanied by a leaf on either side and held together by a black satin sting.

"Now I'm proposing," Zelos said with a soft expression that did well in shading his anxiety. Inside he was a chaotic mess of nerves, doing everything possible to make the situation seem less climactic in order to keep himself from fainting. To think, the great Zelos, fainting, because of a woman. As the world knew it, that outcome was only meant to happen in reverse, but that just went to show how much authority Sheena had, over both man and spirit, and beast in the case of Verus.

Perhaps the root of his uneasiness was that they had yet to speak on the matter and what it ultimately meant, so he had little insight as to what she was thinking. Thus he knew it wasn't the necklace itself that brought on her silence, because although she spent a long time staring at the object, he was confident in the fact that he knew she wouldn't have wanted something expensive; Sheena just wasn't that kind of woman. And although he would have liked to spend a fortune on this occasion, he also knew she cared little about his wealth, and more on his consideration. Besides, she had all the pact rings, what was a fancy, high class jewel compared to all of those?

Sheena was still a bit stunned by the event, though she wished she could just say she was only mulling it over, but she would have to admit that she had been caught with her guard down by the way he had maneuvered everything. Using Verus like that, what a dirty trick, he didn't even do it right, what ever happened to the kneeling and all of the chivalry?

"And now it's your turn..," Zelos drawled, leaning forward and essentially forcing eye contact.

Sheena smiled, holding back her laughter. He looked like he was about to collapse if her inevitable answer was delayed any longer. Well, since he didn't bother with the usual proceedings of a proposal then she didn't feel obligated to answer him right away. "It's nice, but... why a necklace?"

Zelos gave a half whimper in a ruined expectancy, but promptly caught on to her scheme and came back with an equal gibe. "Well, I figured you were sick of rings, besides, I need something to distract me from-"

"That just sounds like an excuse to stare!" Sheena growled, indignant by the insinuation.

"Caught," Zelos admitted with his trademark sheepish grin in an attempt to appeal a truce and keep her on track. "So, will the princess have me, or not?"

"Zelos, I'm not a princess," Sheena denounced with a sigh, still in a daze of sorts as she stared down at the symbol in her hands. There wasn't anything especially distinct about it, the surprise of the matter is what held her mind captive, albeit keeping him waiting was turning out to be quite the entertaining distraction.

"Sure you are. You're the princess of the world of Zelos Wilder!" he exclaimed, hardly believing that she could have forgotten such an important thing.

Sheena gave him that curious, are you joking? tilt of her head but chose not to reply, and instead took a seriousness to mind as she couldn't help but wonder: "What would this change? This still isn't going to solve our problem with Kuchinawa."

And with yet another lapse of silence from her, Zelos could tell she wasn't listening again, and that she was dwelling on more dire factors with the way her eyebrows edged downward. "Take your time," he said gently, though the sarcastic twist in his tone overlapped his intent as he was desperately trying to show his patience. He knew it wasn't working out too well when Sheena leaned against his shoulder. "Seriously Sheena? You're killin' me here."

Sheena chuckled and moved so she could clearly scrutinize him pointedly. "Ok fine, I accept. But just so we're clear, this marriage is going to be more about our duty to Mizuho rather than how much time we spend in bed."

It was hardly a second later that Sheena actually realized what she had just agreed to. Spending the rest of her life with Zelos Wilder? It was a question that had been in the back of her mind for awhile, but she had refused to examine the thought until now, as she continued to stare at the jewel in her hands. If someone would have asked her opinion about this situation during the world regeneration, she would have laughed outright, smacked the person after realizing they were serious, and made some sort of angry denial before huffing away.

An insidious grin was all she needed to see from him to know that the requirement would be agreed upon, but most likely not upheld. "Whatever you say hun."


As twilight fell upon the land the splash of colors disappeared from the edge of the mountains, the birds among the forest steadily declined their sounds, and an ominous wind unsettled the new leaves throughout the arms of the woodland.

Among the darkness provided by the shroud of trees, a pair of eyes set and narrowed with contempt in the direction of the two human figures on the forest's border. The red clad outcast scoffed and unclipped the weapon compartment at his side, soon after withdrawing a select few projectiles. His target's location didn't matter, nor did it matter how they maneuvered their night watch, he had already been presented with multiple opportunities to strike, just like right now.

As he waited patiently for his moment to attack, he watched, concentrating on their relaxed, though oddly erratic movements and tried to read them. He never could tell when one would move closer, jump away, start shouting, duck out of the way, or most the time in the man's case, get shoved a foot or two. It puzzled him, and he honestly couldn't understand why they continued putting up with each other when they constantly seemed at odds with one another.

It didn't matter anymore anyway, he'd soon put an end to their bickering, their disreputable flirting, and whatever else it was they thought they were doing. With three metal blades stationed between his fingers, Kuchinawa focused a fire seal on them and zeroed in on his red haired target. This time, it was going to leave more than a simple outer wound.

His offensive arm retracted, poised for the assault, his stance shifted and he was about to release the throwing stars to their deadly purpose. The attempt at the former Chosen's life was halted only by a matter of a second's leeway as the assassin staggered with a jolt of awareness, striking him in that instant. He leaped away as his own antagonist landed on the same branch with a dangerous proximity, brought with a speed only matched by his stealth as he swiped out with an empty fist, which served more as an interruption than an actual challenge.

Kuchinawa scowled at his fellow ninja, which was soon replaced with a frown upon realization of who it really was that stood before him. "Why have you come here?" Now he sneered at his counterpart. "Aren't you suppose to be baby sitting the village?"

Orochi stood from his offensive crouch, but his arms remained at the ready. "I'm looking into something," he said, his eyes lingered on the shuriken in his brother's grasp, then glanced over Zelos and Sheena's whereabouts; they were completely unaware of the disruption. "Tsk, I'll need to speak with her about that," he thought offhandedly and quickly swept his focus to Kuchinawa. "And it seems I was just in time to stop you from doing something you might regret."

The blood clothed ninja nearly laughed, following his sibling's gaze and back again. "No, I assure you, regret has nothing to do with this."

"Then is this some sort of attempt to make an exchange Brother? Her loss for your own?" Now he let his arms slide comfortably over his chest, his head at a curious though placid tilt.

"It was your loss too! Or have you forgotten?" Due to the need for stealth, Kuchinawa did not raise his voice, albeit the anger in his tone made up for it.

"I think you just answered my question."

"Maybe it is, but my main objective is altogether different. That man isn't worthy to be the chief's consort, surely you would be more worthy of that title."

"You've deemed him thus on your own then?" Orochi question warily, choosing to ignore his brother's other comment for the time being.

"My opinions are irrelevant. This is a direct violation of our customs!" Kuchinawa growled, throwing his fist to the side and pitching the shuriken to crash harmlessly into the soft forest floor, outwardly displaying the anger with which a ninja should not be unevenly yoked.

"I think you are the only one concerned over this, and as a criminal, you are hardly in a position to be speaking of customs," Orochi replied, his voice composed but doing little to dilute the severity of his words.

Kuchinawa was at a loss for a reply this time, leaving the blue garbed ninja to continue. "The former Chosen already comes and goes as he pleases in the village, and ever since Tiga stepped down from his position as vice-chief there have been no debates on the matter, Igaguri too, has not yet shown any hostility towards him."

"...And, how is the late chief doing?" Kuchinawa wanted to know, his concern genuine as a deep reserve of loyalty became apparent in his eyes, and his body eased of most the tension created by the situation. "When I heard Sheena had been officially named chief I wondered if Igaguri stepped down because of his age or-"

"Few are aware of it," Orochi cut in with a curt pause. "But the elder is ill, what's more he's requested Sheena to take a husband a year earlier then what's expected of her."

After a pause of reflection, Kuchinawa shifted his gaze from the couple, now outlined by the light of a campfire, and back to the man in front of him, the man he had grown up with. "Brother, this is a classified arrangement, only those involved are meant to-"

"-Know of it? You're right. I was chosen by Igaguri not long ago." Orochi sighed gravely and backed up to lean against the tree trunk, leaving his sibling to stand on the slim part of the limb. "However, I have no interest in involving myself in this. If the time comes, I will decline the former chief's request and accept my punishment, because I do not fear his distress on the matter as Sheena does. What matters is the future of Mizuho, not the past."

"But he will not take any of his responsibilities seriously, he is not qualified, not like you, when you already take on the burden in Sheena's absence."

"That's not so, I believe he will help Sheena lead the village through a prosperous age. Besides, what good would that serve if I took the position? You said it yourself that I take command when she needs me to, and yet that does not ease her despair." Sighing in a troublesome manner, Orochi withdrew his katana and readied his shuriken pouch. "But if you can't see how much good Zelos has done already, then there is little more for us to discuss like this."

"Sheath your weapons Brother, I will not fight you." Kuchinawa stepped back, scowling at the very thought. "Regardless of my exile, I am still loyal to Mizuho, and I will continue to watch over it from time to time."

Orochi gave a slight bow of his head as his eyes blinked in a calm agreement. "My hope is that your loyalty will someday bring you back to us."

"I might think about it once I start to get lonely, but for now I kind of enjoy this solo life," Kuchinawa said through a smirk as he turned to leave. "Give my regards to Sheena then, and you can tell her that I'll no longer stalk her precious idiot." He scrutinized the ground, nearly gaging on his words as he prepared for his departing leap. "I was blind to her pain, I'll admit to that. And after all she's been through, including all the trouble I've caused, I suppose she deserves some sort of obedience, even from an exile like me."

"There just might be hope for you yet."

And without a reply, Kuchinawa was gone, leaving Orochi to turn his full attention to his chief and her companions as they moved about their camp on the outskirts of the forest. The remaining male ninja sighed and shook his head in defeat. "I guess my other mission will just have to wait until morning." He sighed once more. "What a pain."


Zelos had indeed noticed the unnerving silence that quaked the woods after nightfall, and the possibility of an attack never left his mind. With the chirping sounds of safety absent came the dread of darkness, but whether that was because a real threat had spooked the birds away or simply because it was time for the noisy creatures to sleep, there was no way to know. Regardless, he had been alert to the whistle capable of rending through flesh, and muscle, and... heart. He absently touched his chest, running his fingers over the area of said organ, only to feel Sheena's hair brush against his fingers.

He almost forgot Sheena had fallen asleep in the circle of his arm. "Stupid Zelos, get a hold of yourself man! Multitasking four or five things used to be easy! Keeping track of two different things like this should be cake!" But her body was so warm on his shoulder, and her soft rhythmical breathing dared to lull him to sleep with the morning prospect of blaming their sleeping arrangements on the summon spirit of sleep. Of course, he'd need to think up a spiffy name to go with it but- "No." He shook his head in hopes for some clarity. "No, I gotta stay awake, It just wouldn't do to die in my sleep-" after severing his thoughts, Sheena's voice almost startled him enough to flinch.

"We'll need to somehow get in touch with the others," Sheena said and yawned, shifting her head and unsure of what had woken her. "I'm sure none of them will want to miss seeing this wedding for themselves."

"Aw, darn, she woke up!" he mentally whined and frowned when he forgot he was supposed to be listening and paying attention to her words. "Er, yeah, of course." He hoped that would suffice as a proper response... Speaking of proper sentence structures...They never did get to that report to the king. He glanced at the unfinished sheet of paper and cringed. "Oh well, that should give her something to yell at me about in the morning."

Sheena went on as though she hadn't noticed his lack of attention. "Regal and Presea will both most likely want to come to make sure it wasn't just another rumor floating around..." She pinned him with a glare; there had been many rumors and she didn't think she needed to elaborate when she seen his innocent smile. "Collete is probably still her klutzy self, and I bet Lloyd will enjoy all the food."

"About that," Zelos put in, unperceptive to the act of twisting a lock of coal around his finger. "Jealousy is an ugly beast, and I'd like to say I never let it win, but I have to admit, back during your Lloyd phase-"

"Zelos," she grumbled, annoyed with the memory brought by his insinuation as she righted herself to sit parallel with him. "If you remember right, Lloyd wasn't the one I decided to kiss in the middle of the most important battle of our time."

"Good point," he agreed with a smile, and that was really the only confirmation he needed on the matter. "I like that reasoning. By the way, when can I put in another order for that?"

"For what?" Sheena blinked in her confusion, it was dark, she was tired, and she was no longer able to keep up with his constant rotation of remarks.

"Come closer and I'll show you." His suggestive tone was matched only by the mischievous glint in his eyes.

With narrowed eyes, Sheena opened her mouth, about to roll out a long chain of retorts when Zelos was suddenly yanked by a jerky force in short tugs on his outfit, Verus' jaws firmly clamped onto it.

"Aw come on, can't you wait five more minutes? Go chase your tail or something?" Zelos got his answer when Verus stopped tugging and started howling, coupled with a bit of growling as he pawed at the swordsman's arm. Whether it was playful or downright serious for the wolf's part of the bargain, Zelos didn't rightly care for his clothing to be ripped in order to find out. "Alright, alright!" he yelled, moving to his feet as Verus pulled on his sleeve. "Sheesh, you ask for a favor these days and this is what you have to deal with!"

Sheena laughed, running a finger over the cold digits of the necklace in her hands and halfheartedly thinking on the obstacles and trials that would soon unfold, though she knew that any further thoughts on the matter would bring about a single handed symposium of worry and cheering up from Zelos. Well, that was hardly an option, since he was already accomplishing that as he went on grumbling while Verus helped him with the procedure of cooking the prized steak.

The sounds of laughter and bickering remained for a long time, and after feeling the effects of the atmosphere set by the former Chosen of mana, the ninja from Mizuho dwelt on neither the future nor the past that night.

o-o-o

AN: Hope it didn't bore you! I know, it was uber long, but I couldn't find a spot to separate it. Anyway, review if you made it through the whole thing! (laugh)