AN: YAY! More reviewers! I'm so happy!

Chapter 3

The heir to the ninja village of Mizuho, Sheena Fujibayashi, stormed through the Meltokio gates, nearly knocking over the guards. Anyone who got in her way nearly got trampled as she charged through the streets with the power of a stampede. The reason for her urgency? A particularly nasty rumor about her friend Lloyd. She left the moment she had caught whiff of it. Pounding up the stairs to the palace, she pushed through all the guards and all but forced her way in to where His Majesty was sitting on his throne talking to a man with short gray hair and squinted eyes. Sheena felt as if she recognized him from somewhere, but let the thought slip and she stood next to the king.

She tapped her foot impatiently, arms crossed, until the King finally noticed her. "Oh, forgive me, Lady Sheena, I didn't see you." The man with squinted eyes looked at her as if measuring her worth. He bid farewell to the King, and walked out the palace door. The king, startled by his sudden departure, regained his composure and focused his attention on Sheena. "Is there something I may help you with?"

"Of course there is! Is it true that Zelos's new servant is Lloyd Irving?" she demanded, her arms unconsciously spreading themselves outward.

"Yes, I believe so. Is that a problem, Lady Sheena?" he replied wearily.

She was about to explode at the king, when she stopped herself. Getting angry wouldn't help her any, so instead she opted for a sweet tone. "No your majesty, I just fear that Zelos will forget all about me."

The king sighed, "Is that all? You'll have to take that matter up with him, Lady Sheena. Good day to you." He then turned to his daughter and struck up a conversation. If he had been more aware, he would have realized Sheena's act was merely a ruse to get what she wanted. Yet, the ruse had failed, so she began her trek to the place she hated most.

Her fiance's house. The house of the infamous Zelos Wilder.

Now, make no mistake, Sheena wasn't the most patient person in the world and her already limited patience wore thin when in the presence of Zelos. Yet, despite this, she was not above acting to get what she wanted. Unfortunately for her, she wasn't the best actor. Not bothering to knock, she stormed into the house and noticed a sleeping figure laying on the floor near a couch. Upon further examination, she realized it to be the very person she had come out to see.

"Lloyd, Lloyd, wake up! Lloyd!" She said frantically, shaking him as she did.

Slowly his eyes opened. They had the glazed quality of someone who wasn't aware of their surroundings. His cloudy eyes gazed past Sheena, as if not realizing she was there. Sheena shook him one more time and he seemed to come to his senses. Looking at her this time, he asked cautiously, "Sheena? Is that you?"

She nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, Lloyd, now, how did you end up here? Are you okay?"

Lloyd groaned, his head hadn't felt this bad since he and Genis got drunk at last year's New Years party. "I'm fine Sheena, really." His back was stiff and he tried his best to get his arm, which had fallen asleep, behind him to massage it. "It's... a long story."

"Don't give me that Lloyd! I want to know exactly what that sleazy womanizer did to you!" Suddenly Lloyd's expression changed to a mixture of fear and anger which left Sheena puzzled. "Lloyd, what's wrong?"

"Now, now Sheena, I'm not really that bad am I?" Zelos grinned from the staircase. He was leaning on the rail when he continued, "You're not terrorizing my newest hunny now are you?"

Sheena glared at him with intensity. "You!"

"Yes, me! It's been awhile since your last visit Sheena. I thought you had forgotten about me," he pouted.

Sheena ignored his comment, "What have you done now, you pervert?"

Zelos feigned hurt, "Oh, Sheena, that hurt. I haven't done anything!"

"Really? Then Lloyd sleeping on your floor is perfectly natural," she snapped sarcastically.

He smiled, "But of course." He began to descend from the stairs and made his way over to Lloyd. Noticing this, Sheena stood in front of Lloyd, who was still sitting on the floor confused, in a very protective manner. Zelos chuckled at her response, "You can't protect him Sheena. Legally, I can do whatever I want with him."

She glared, but didn't relinquish her position. "I won't let you, Zelos," she growled warningly.

He smiled, before roughly pushing her out of the way. "I'm afraid you have no choice." He pulled Lloyd up, as gently as possible, and held him close. Zelos felt Lloyd struggle, but a kiss to his neck silenced him in an instant.

Zelos slowly kissed Lloyd, first by his ear and on his forehead, then progressing to the rest of his face and a quick kiss to Lloyd's lips.

Of course this display made Sheena even angrier, which was presumably Zelos's plan, until she stormed out of the mansion in rage, screaming, "You'll pay Zelos! I won't let you get away with this!" She slammed the door shut on her way out. Recovering from the stupor imposed by Zelos's kisses, Lloyd managed to struggle out of Zelos's embrace and leapt over the back of the couch.

Zelos simply laughed and jumped over the couch, only to miss and hit his head on the table. "Ouch! That hurt!" Lloyd couldn't help himself from bursting out with laughter. Zelos looked up at him with a pouty face, "That's not very nice, Lloyd."

"Well you haven't been very nice to me either," he choked out between fits of laughter.

All of a sudden Zelos's eyes took on a mischievous gleam, and rubbing his hands together, he tackled Lloyd and began to tickle him.

"Geez—Zelos... stop it!" He said breaking into even more laughter than before.

Zelos shook his head, "Nuh-uh. You got yourself into this, Lloyd." He stuck out his tongue and continued to tickle Lloyd mercilessly.

So happy they were that all thoughts of anything else fled their minds. They were blissfully unaware of any plans against them.

In that same run down building, the blue haired man sat in a chair. He had come back to headquarters after hearing that his subordinate had returned from his investigating. Moments later, the aforementioned subordinate stepped into the light to face his commander. He had spiky brown hair and brown eyes.

"Botta, what did you find out?" the blue haired man asked him.

"Nothing much sir. However we did discover of a secret project that was set up about 18 years or so. It was called the Angelus Project. We're not sure exactly what it's purpose was, but we know that it is of considerable importance even now."

The blue haired man nodded approvingly. "Very good, Botta. Continue gathering information on this 'Angelus Project.'"

"Yes sir," he replied before leaving.

The blue haired man walked outside the building and glanced upon the noble's district. "Lloyd Irving. What is your role in all of this?" He sighed, before muttering to himself, "I guess we'll soon find out."

AN: Yay! Chapter 3 is finished!

Moon Cannon: Glad you liked it. I noticed too that most fics of this nature really had not plot, and I thank you for your input and for reviewing all three chapters! Also, Lloyd will see Kratos again. I'm not really sure when yet, but he will.

Metal Goat: Thank you so much for reading AND reviewing!

Luciado: Will you? I'd be oh so happy to be in someone's favorites! Glad you liked it, and thanks for reviewing for all three chaps.

Solidorliquid: Yes, Kratos is a peasant, at least for now anyway. As for him becoming a noble, you'll find out very soon. No, they're not going to have a fight in a field, I don't think so anyway. Also, as for the kiss, Lloyd has no real feelings for Zelos as of yet, so it's extremely one-sided. Plus, I think he just did it to shut him up. Will Kratos be mean forever? Well, you'll just have to wait and read for yourself. And thank you too for reviewing for all chapters. You guys are so good to me.

Thanks for everybody's reviews. I appreciate you all!