Chapter 9: Songstress
Before the third game of the season, Shuyin returned to the end of the hall to see if the two girls he previously met were there. They weren't, but there were others. And this time, he did set a place and time to meet with some of them afterward. The boy that he knew only as "Lenne's brother" was also back. "Did she come this time?"
The boy shook his head.
"Did you bring paper?"
The boy returned a shy smile and handed him a piece.
Shuyin laughed. "That's the spirit! And if she doesn't come next time, I'll take you to a game myself."
"But, you'll be in the sphere pool. I can't sit in the sphere pool. I can't even swim."
"You could sit somewhere close to it. Hey, I got an idea." He started writing. "Lenne, shame on you for snogging some lecher when you could be here at my game. I'm offering a special ring-side seat for the kid next time, and you're not invited." Capping the pen, he lowered his voice to a whisper. "Ask your mom if you can come to the game as my guest. I can get you a seat in a place where you won't have to worry about rowdy drunks. Don't tell anyone else, though, because I'm not supposed to be doing this, okay?"
"My sister's not going to like this, you know. And my mother won't believe me."
"What do you mean she won't believe you? I've written it down."
"Anyone could have written that."
"Then come anyway, and we just won't tell anyone."
"Noooo. You'll get me in trouble," the boy complained.
"Trouble's the only thing I'm good at other than blitzball." Shuyin gave the boy a playful wink.
))((
By the fourth game of the season, Shuyin was in the habit of showing up outside the locker room to hang out with fans a few minutes before the game. The crowd that came to meet him had grown large enough that he couldn't speak with everyone, but Lenne's little brother was present again. As soon as he got the chance, he pulled the boy aside. "Well? What's the verdict? Want to see the game from a special seat?"
"My mom doesn't believe you." The boy offered up another piece of paper. "Neither does my sister."
This time the paper already had writing on it. Shuyin opened the unexpected response to read aloud. "'Stop using my brother to send me stupid notes, you idiot pervert. If you're that desperate for a date, go doggy-hump a street sign'?" He giggled at the scathing challenge, then addressed the boy again. "Got a pen?"
The boy sighed and passed one to him. "I was afraid you'd say that."
Shuyin flipped the note over and wrote on the back. "If you don't like my notes, then keep your promise and bring the kid to a game!" He sketched a quick doodle of a monkey spanking its own bottom in the corner.
The boy looked doubtful when the note and pen were returned. "You can't be serious. I can't give this to her."
"If she's going to call me rude names, I get to draw rude pictures."
The boy shook his head and walked away to deliver the message, unable to believe that his simple request for an autograph had deteriorated into this.
))((
The season was off to a winning start so far with only one loss, and Shuyin had surprised the temple's representatives on their recent check-in visit with his modest success at managing both his job and his home. "As long as nothing else breaks on my boat for a while, I can start buying fun stuff again," he told his teammate, Luperis, as they did stretches on the side of the training pool. "My old man kept it running pretty good, but my mom really let it run down after he left. I didn't realize how bad it was, and I'm not much good at fixing things. I'm afraid the engine's going to die before I'm even old enough to get my license to drive it."
Luperis went to the music sphere player to make a song selection. "You should get a hoverbike, man. They're small, cheap, and fast."
"I've thought about it, but don't have enough gil to get anything that expensive yet." Shuyin switched legs and repeated the previous stretch, but became distracted from his count and started moving to the music. "Cool song. Who is this?"
Luperis tossed him the label from the bottom of the sphere to let him see for himself. "She's new to the scene but pretty good. I intend to go to one of her concerts as soon as our schedules don't conflict. Want to come with?"
"Yeah, but …" Shuyin gazed quietly at the young beauty on the cover photo. She had long brown hair, big brown eyes, and a coy smile that conveyed a hint of mischief. "It's been a long time since I've been to something like a concert. I don't have anything to wear but shorts and T-shirts these days."
Luperis chuckled. "Wear your uniform. That'll make you stand out in the crowd. Not that you'd ever play the celebrity card to get a girl's attention." He grabbed his sphere label back and put it away before walking around him to sit down and finish his stretches.
"Pffft!" Kiryl laughed behind them. "Have you seen how he signs autographs before the games?"
"I don't need a celebrity card or uniform to get dates, thank you very much." Shuyin cast wry glances at them and crawled toward the music sphere for another look at the young woman who was singing. "Although, she might be more willing to let a member of the Abes backstage than some schmoe screaming obscenities at her from the fifth row."
Luperis laughed and shook his head. "Give it up, man. She's taken."
"Figures." Lamenting his luck, Shuyrin stood and returned to the side of the pool. "She's probably having an affair with her guitarist or something, right? It's always the skinny guitarist. No idea what girls see in them."
"You're not one to talk about skinny, kid."
"Excuse me? I am not skinny."
"You're so lightweight, I could bench press you with one hand behind my back. Naya could bench press you with one hand behind her back. Why do you think Coach told you to hit the weight room more often? You need to survive those tackles without getting crunched, or you're going to be guzzling our whole cabinet of healing potions."
Shuyin compared his sinewy arms and chest to Luperis's muscle-bunched biceps and pecs. Okay, so he was half the size of that ape, but he proudly patted his hard-earned abs. "I may not be as massive as Mount Gagazet, but everyone knows the best gifts come in small packages."
His teammates groaned and blew off his boast with laughter, but that only encouraged him.
"It's not the size of the ship, but the motion of the ocean, baby! Hah!" He did his little victory dance to accompany his claim.
Kiryl smirked and thrust a hand into his shoulder as she walked past.
Their rookie member was thrown off-balance and fell into the pool with an ungraceful splash. Shuyin surfaced, spitting water and frowning at her for pushing him.
"I gotta hand it to you, kid. That was a pretty big motion." Laughing out loud, Luperis stood and pitched a blitzball at him. "But you better work on the size of that ship before someone from the other team mistakes you for the ball."
Shuyin squinted as it landed on the water's surface and splashed into his face. "Great. I'm going to end up dating a weight bench all season."
))((
The next time that Shuyin opened the doors to greet his growing number of fans, the first person in the crowd that caught his eye was the quiet boy he had been trading notes with. Talking to him was becoming a game in itself. So, Shuyin approached and leaned forward, hands on his knees to speak eye-level as usual. "What's the verdict this time, kid?"
"Is this him?"
Hearing a feminine voice, Shuyin looked up. Behind the boy stood a chic young woman dressed in white-heeled sandals, a white skirt with slits up the side of each thigh, and a chartreuse cami. She also wore large, hoop earrings, dark sunglasses, and a puffed cap, all of which made her look like a model from a fashion magazine. Mind turning to mush, he wasn't aware that his mouth had dropped open.
"Yeah, that's him." The boy answered her.
The petite woman lunged toward Shuyin shoving several scraps of paper under his nose. "What is the meaning of this? Get your butt in this stadium? Your date can't be that good looking? Shame on you for snogging some lecher? You know I've met a lot of egotistical men in my day, but you absolutely take the cake!"
Shuyin realized this could be only one person. "You forgot about the monkey."
"You have no right to use my brother to send me stupid messages chastising me for not keeping my promise to him. I haven't broken any promises; I've been busy. Busy! I will bring him to the game when I find the time. Until then, I will thank you to mind your own business!" She thrust the notes against his chest and turned to storm away.
"Wait!" He caught her by the arm. "Lenne … I'm just trying to help the kid see one of the games. He's been here every weekend since the season opener, even though he knew he couldn't get into any of them. If you let him come to a game as my guest, I can give him a safe place to sit."
"No."
"Why not?"
"He won't be supervised, and I am not leaving him with someone like you."
"Someone like—? Look …" Shuyin opened the hall door and pulled Lenne and her little brother inside to speak privately. "Down this hall is our locker room, and inside the back door is a stairwell that leads directly to the sphere pool. He can sit at the top of the stairs and have one of the best seats in the house for the game without getting hit by rowdy drunks."
"Or stray players that get busted up and thrown out of the pool?" She quirked a brow and folded her arms at her chest. "I know how violent this game can get since there are no rules about those tackles. Kicking people in the stomach, kicking people in the head—"
Shuyin winced and shrugged off that minor detail. "Okay, so a few players get hurled into the stands now and then. What are the chances of them scoring a hit on a kid sitting inside the locker room door? You don't even have to stay for the whole game. Just let him sit through the first quarter or something."
The boy turned with a pleading look and tugged his sister's arm. "Please, please, please, please, please?" He rubbed his hands together prayerfully.
Lenne sighed heavily. "Five minutes. Then you agree to back off and mind your own business."
"Five minutes? It'll take us that long to get in the water."
"Five minutes."
"Sheesh! Okay! You know, you really should consider cutting back the caffeine or something." Shuyin frowned, but then gestured for them to follow. "Just don't tell anyone about this, okay? If word gets out that I'm inviting people to watch the game from the locker room entrance to the pool, more people will want to do it, and I can't offer something like this as a regular thing."
"Then why are you offering it now? Is it because of me?"
He snorted at her question. "And you said I was egotistical? What makes you think I'd be interested in you? You called me an idiot pervert and told me to doggy-hump a signpost, remember?"
"Because you told me to ditch my date to watch you play."
"No, I told you to stop snogging the ugly bastard and keep your promise to your little brother. I'm doing this for him." Shuyin opened the locker room door and walked his guests past the other Abes players.
"Um … " Suzam blinked in surprise at the young woman and the boy being escorted through their locker room to their sphere entrance. "What are you doing? You're not supposed to bring fans back here."
"Yeah, well ... whatever." Shuyin led Lenne and her little brother up the stairs and pushed open the door to let them see the stadium. "You can sit right here," he told the boy. "The players will come past you to throw in the ball and enter the pool, so stay out of their way. But other than that, no one should bother you here.
The boy's eyes lit up at being so close to the action. Turning to his sister, he rubbed his hands together again. "Please, please, please, please, please?"
Lenne grabbed Shuyin's arm to pull him back a few steps and lowered her voice. "Okay, what's the catch?"
"No catch." He watched his teammates jog up the stairs toward the door to await the start of the game. "Hey, don't step on the kid! Stay clear of the small, squishy thing on the left!" He ignored their doubtful expressions but was relieved when they spoke to the boy and welcomed him to the game.
Lenne looked back up the stairs and saw the smile on the boy's face as the team members acknowledged him on their way into the game. Only then did her expression soften a little. "Bahamut has always been a very quiet boy. He's really smart and super talented with magic. But he doesn't have many friends. He's going to make a great summoner someday, so why he likes to watch this barbaric game is beyond me. It's not like he's ever going to actually play it. He's never even been interested in sports until you started sending him home with those idiot notes. He's a fragile child better suited to reading and studying instead of punching someone out just to grab a ball."
Shuyin looked over his shoulder at the boy. "Maybe that's why he enjoys watching it. Maybe the little guy sometimes wishes he could be something completely different from everyone else's expectations. Maybe he wishes he was strong enough to break out of that mold." He faced Lenne again.
"Did he tell you that?"
Shuyin shrugged. "Just a guess."
Lenne sighed and gave up trying to fight this. "Look, Tidus—"
"Shuyin is my real name. Not Tidus, not Jecht Jr., not Sport … I wish I could tell more people to use it because those other names carry expectations."
"Shuyin, then. Thank you for being kind to him."
"No problem." He smiled, folded his arms over his chest, and glanced up at the boy. But then his gaze shifted to Lenne. He couldn't see much of her face because they stood in the shadows, and she wore that big hat and sunglasses, but he was still curiously attracted. If she hadn't been so defensive about this whole incident, he might have been tempted to show more interest in her. But he promised there would be no catch, so he held his tongue.
"Are you coming? The Warriors just threw in the ball!" Cetan, another teammate, called down the stairs.
"That's my cue." Shuyin stuffed the notes back into her hand. "I'll come back at half-time to check on him—sooner if I'm out of play for some reason. He can stay for as much of the game as he likes. Just be sure to close the outside doors behind you when you leave." As he passed Bahamut on the stairs, he smirked and tugged the boy's hood down over his face. Then, he jogged out onto the center ring to wave at the fans and run toward the sphere pool.
))((
With a sigh, Lenne leaned against the wall and watched her little brother delight in his prize seating arrangement for the game. She didn't have the heart to pull him away. Looking at the crumpled messages in her hand, she shook her head in reluctant amusement and opened one to reread it. This time, instead of making her angry, it made her smile.
))((
When Shuyin stepped out to meet the fans at the next game, he was surprised to see Lenne and her brother among them. Signing autographs, he made his way to them and paused to chat. "Did you come to shove more paper up my nose, or did you miss my poetry?"
Lenne tried not to seem too amused. "Poetry? That's an interesting name for it. I came to return the favor. After what you did for my brother, I'd like to invite you to one of my concerts. Here's the schedule. I think most of the shows conflict with your games, but maybe there's one you could sneak into."
He accepted the schedule. "A concert? Cool. Do you sing?"
Lenne laughed. "Oh my gosh. You really don't know who I am, do you? Can we step inside those doors again for a minute?"
Waving once more to his other fans, Shuyin pushed open the door and allowed them to enter before following. When he closed the door and turned back around, Lenne pulled off her puffy hat and shook out her long, brown hair, which cascaded down her back. Then, she removed her sunglasses, revealing her big brown eyes, and presented herself with an intentionally cute smile.
"Aaah!" Shuyin pointed to her with wide-eyed surprise. "She's you? You're her! You're that singer Luperis was listening to!" He promptly smacked the back of Bahamut's head. "You didn't tell me your sister was a famous singer when I was writing those stupid notes!"
Bahamut smiled at the blitzball player's embarrassment.
"My songs have become a little more successful than I ever thought they would be. If I go out without some kind of cover, I get noticed. And I guess I'm just not comfortable with all of that attention yet." Lenne gestured with the hat and glasses in her explanation for needing them. "I tend to get a lot of questionable notes from perverts, too, so ..."
Shuyin scratched the back of his head and tried not to look guilty. "Heh. Understood."
"Seems we both had a misunderstanding." Lenne smiled. "Anyway, you're invited to watch a concert in exchange for your favor to my brother."
"I'll be there." Shuyin was still somewhat stupefied by the unexpected meeting, but he couldn't resist the temptation this time. "And maybe after, we could get something to eat or look for something else to do?"
Lenne smiled politely, but her tone became apologetic. "I'm seeing someone else."
"Oh, right—too busy snogging," he remembered. "Can't blame me for asking." He shrugged in friendly defeat.
After scooping her long hair back under her hat, she slipped the sunglasses back on. "I'll look forward to seeing you again, though … at a concert." Taking her little brother's hand, she bowed and excused herself from the interior hall, disappearing back into the crowd.
))((
Several weeks later, Shuyin showed up outside the Zanarkand Concert Hall, and Bahamut led him inside to the backstage area. The boy then escorted him to a front-row section of reserved seats at center stage. But as Shuyin approached his seat, his attention shifted to the young man sitting in one of the chairs near him. It had been five months since he'd seen Koji, and he almost didn't recognize him. His shoulder-length hair had been trimmed to his chin. His jawline was now defined with a bit of scruff, and his hazel-green eyes had a much more brooding look about them.
Koji was equally surprised to see Shuyin. But both of them stiffened upon seeing each other.
"That's new." Shuyin scratched lightly along his own jawline. "Makes you look older."
"I feel like I've aged five years in the past five months, so I figured I might as well look the part. You're still baby-faced as ever," Koji noted. "I heard life as a ward of the temple has been good to you—letting you live on your own, allowing you to get a job, and all. But you are still technically an underage dependent, right?"
Shuyin frowned at the cool undertone in that statement. "How's Kaila?"
"Moving on."
"You … know each other?" Bahamut asked.
"Yeah," Shuyin reluctantly answered.
"What are you doing here?" Koji asked, acting uninterested, though he was obviously curious.
"Lenne invited me."
Koji's eyes narrowed speculatively, but he chuckled as if reluctantly amused at something. "Why?"
"I let her brother watch a free game, so she's letting me watch a free concert."
"That's it?"
"That's it. How do you know her?"
Koji gave his childhood friend a wry smile. "She's my girlfriend."
Shuyin smirked, thinking it was a joke. "No way. How'd you manage to hook up with someone like her?"
Koji was not amused. "Is it that hard to believe that she would be interested in me? Do you see me as that much of a loser without your shining personality to help me attract women?"
Shuyin's smirk faded. "I'm just asking how you met her. Stop reading stuff into it that's not there."
"Well, for one thing, you weren't around." Koji absently tapped a finger on the arm of his seat. "For another, a friend of a friend introduced us, and she liked the fact that I was a genuine personality compared to the show-offs that usually try to impress her."
Shuyin's mood soured at the subtle jab. "Well, if she doesn't like show-offs, then you have nothing to worry about with me being invited."
Wary of the double-edged conversation, Bahamut took the seat between them—to keep the two young men separated if nothing else.
Shuyin felt uncomfortable being there now. The conditions under which their friendship ended were still too fresh in his memory. But he didn't want to offend Lenne by walking out on her concert, so he made himself sit down and turn his attention to the empty stage. With nothing more to say to his former friend, he became uncharacteristically quiet.
"So, how is it? Playing for the Abes." Koji pulled an ankle over one knee and clasped a hand over it. "Not surprising to see how quickly that part-time junior slot got canceled as soon as you signed on. If Jecht Jr. steps up to the try-outs, the rest of us poor bastards don't stand a chance, do we?"
Shuyin shook his head, knowing Koji would eventually bring that up. "I needed the job so I could keep my home," he answered, not wanting to discuss it.
"The thing that puzzled me the most was that they canceled the try-outs. They didn't even make you wait until summer. All you had to do was waltz in there and tell them who your father was. Am I right?"
Shuyin turned in his seat to speak across Bahamut. "They didn't make me wait until summer, but they did make me try out. I had to prove I could handle it, just like anyone else. I earned my position. It wasn't just handed to me."
"You dropped Jecht's name, or you would have had to wait until summer with everyone else."
"I couldn't wait until summer because my mother died in the spring. Surely you remember that day because you're the smart-ass that saw it coming."
Bahamut cleared his throat to remind them he was there.
Shuyin sat back in his chair and faced the empty stage as the lights began to dim. He tried to ignore Koji's presence so he could enjoy Lenne's show. But the more that he thought about Lenne, the harder it was to swallow the fact that she was with Koji. Ironically, he realized the resentment he felt was probably similar to how Koji felt about him all along. It was stupid to fight over a girl again. Stupid!
))((
The music started, and the spotlights flashed toward the stage. Lenne stood at the center of attention and grinned down at the guest box where her boyfriend, her brother, and her special guest sat together. None of them looked happy, so she began to wonder if something happened. But she kept smiling for the sake of the show.
As she started to sing, Shuyin stood and headed toward the exit. Pausing at the door, he turned around to watch her for a moment longer, but then he reluctantly left the concert hall.
Lenne's smile faded, but she continued singing. Inquiring about it would have to wait. For now, the show must go on.
