How It All Began

Written by phoenix pheatherz

A/N: Sorry for updating so late! I hope you guys are still reading this story! Thanks for your reviews!

Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy X-2 or any related materials. I only own the original characters Rosari and Samuto.

Chapitre 3 :: Confusion

"I really don't know if I can ask you this..." Shuyin says to me.

"Go ahead," I reply.

"Okay..." he starts.

Omigosh! I think. He's going to ask me out!

"Lenne, will you..."

Yes! I will, Shuyin!

"...sing the Zanarkand Anthem and be our entertainer at our championship victory celebration tomorrow?" he finishes.

"Of course I will!" I say in delight and hug him.

"W-Wow, thanks so much!" he smiles and hugs me back. Then his question finally registered in my brain.

"No problem," I reply, trying to hide my disappointment. Samuto, I'm gonna kill you!

The doorbell rings. I open the door and see Rosari and Samuto there.

"We're back!" Rosari says, running back to the sofa to watch more television.

"Oh! What happened, Lenne?" Samuto whispers to me. "I saw happy then I saw upset!"

"You set me up and failed!" I whispered back.

"No, I set you up and you failed," she points out. I can't argue with that. It's true.

"Just go inside," I tell her in a defeated manner.

"Ha, you know I'm right," Samuto brags. I close the door as she comes in.

"Shut up," I push her lightly.

"Hey Samuto!" Shuyin says. "So where's the thing you had to get?"

"Right here!" Samuto says, and like magic, pulls out a bag from nowhere.

"I didn't see that before," I say.

"We Al Bhed are clever," she whispers to me. "We hide things everywhere!" That gives me a bad feeling for some reason.

"So what's in the bag?" Shuyin asks.

"Ice cream!" Samuto replies. "And I was lucky, I picked up the last carton of that new flavor from Ken & Terry's: Cactuar Thorn!"

"Oh, I tried a real Cactuar thorn once," Rosari said. "It wasn't that bad..."

"Here, take one," I say, handing out spoons to each of them.

"Huh?" Shuyin looks at us, confused.

"Oh, that's right!" Samuto says. "You're new to this. It's our friendship ritual!"

"Friendship ritual?" Shuyin asks.

"Yeah!" I reply. "We all share a carton of ice cream while watching TV!"

"I see," Shuyin says, still confused.

"C'mon! Let's eat!" Rosari says. We head to the sofa with the ice cream and spoons and we all dig in.

As we were eating the ice cream, I started to think about things between me and Shuyin. Is this what I'll always be to him? Only a friend who does him favors? Maybe I should just go for someone else...

"Lenne?" Rosari interrupts my thoughts.

"Huh?" I zone back into the real world.

"You okay?" he asks. "You look upset."

"I'm fine," I reply. "I'm just thinking of something..."

"Oh, okay," he says. "Sorry to interrupt then."

"It's alright," I reply.

Rosari seems upset now. I hope I didn't worry him...

"Hey Shuyin, I can't believe you did this!" Samuto says, showing him the poster from the magazine.

"Oh yeah," Shuyin replies, turning pink. "I kinda felt...violated...at that photo shoot."

"Wow," Samuto says. "I never knew you were self-conscious!"

"Yeah, well..." Shuyin turns red. Samuto giggles.

I started to think again. I can't tell anymore. Was Samuto lying to me? Is Shuyin even slightly attracted to me? He seems more interested in Samuto and vice versa. Waitaminute! Is Samuto...and Shuyin...? No, it can't be...

"Lenne!" Samuto taps my shoulder.

"Wha-?" I turn around.

"Me and Shuyin are gonna go home now," she tells me.

"Yeah, it's really late now," Shuyin says.

"Shuyin's gonna give me a ride home!" Samuto cheers.

"Wait!" Rosari says. "Can I get a ride home too?"

"Sure!" Shuyin says.

"Let me clean this up first," Rosari says, heading for the empty ice cream carton.

"No, it's alright," I say. "I'll clean it up."

"You sure?" Rosari asks.

"Go ahead," I reply. "It's getting late. I'll see you guys tomorrow!"

"Okay," Rosari says. "See you tomorrow!"

As they left, I started to clean up the mess. While I was cleaning up, I started to think about Shuyin and Samuto again. Do they have something for each other? I don't think that can be... Samuto would never do that to me. Or... would she? I couldn't stop thinking about the two of them being together. Before I knew it, Shuyin, Samuto, and Rosari were at my door again, ready to pick me up for the celebration!

"Hey Lenne!" Samuto greets me as I get into the passenger seat of the car.

"H-Hey," I reply while yawning.

"Wow, looks like you didn't get much sleep last night," Rosari says.

"Yeah, well there was this interesting movie on TV," I lied. I couldn't let them know about my worries.

"Wanna get some coffee before we go to the celebration?" Shuyin asks as he starts driving.

"Nah, I'm fine," I reply. "I just need...some..." I yawn and fall asleep.

"Hey Lenne," Shuyin says quietly. "We're here..."

"Hmmm...?" I open my eyes, then I look up and see Shuyin's face. "Omigosh! I'm so sorry!" I get up off of Shuyin's shoulder.

"It's alright," Shuyin smiles. "Let's go!" We all get out of his car and head into the Zanarkand Dome.

Although I was still tired, I tried my best to look alive while encountering fans inside the dome. Everyone around me was cheering, from left to right, above and below. I never realized that the dome is this big. We went to our table near the stage, where coffee and tea awaited us, along with a machina waiter.

"Lenne?" Samuto looks at me oddly as I stirred sugar into my coffee.

"Yeah?" I replied.

"You just poured about half a cup's amount of sugar into your coffee," she tells me.

"Huh?" I stir my coffee and drink it, only to end up spitting it back out. "Ick...is anyone gonna use that cup?"

"I don't think so," Shuyin said. "This table is for me and my friends, and I haven't invited anyone else."

"Okay," I say, as I dump my coffee into the empty cup.

"Um...Lenne?" Rosari gives me a weird look.

"Yeah?" I reply.

"You could've just used the empty cup..." he points out.

"...Oh..." I look at the cup stupidly. "Well, as long as one cup is empty..." I take the now empty cup and pour some more somewhat-fresh coffee into it.

"Hey, let's order our food now!" Shuyin says.

"Sure!" Samuto replies.

"What do you guys want?" Shuyin asks.

While Shuyin punched in the orders into the machina waiter, I started to think about it again. Well, I tried, but I ended up sleeping on the table.

"Lenne!" the three of them wake me up.

"Wha-?" I jump up.

"What do you want to have for breakfast?" Shuyin asks me.

"Uh... eggs and bacon?" I reply, not really caring what I get.

"Okay," he says, punching the order.

"Wow, Lenne, are you okay?" Samuto asks.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine," I yawn.

"You look really tired. What was that movie about?" Rosari asks.

"It was something about a girl trying to find out if her boyfriend was cheating on her with her best friend," I blurted thoughtlessly.

"Oh... so did she find out?" Samuto asks.

"No... I didn't," I reply.

"You didn't what?" she raises an eyebrow.

"I didn't find out yet," I tell her.

"So you didn't finish the movie?" Rosari says, which makes me realize what I had said before.

"Um... no... I got too tired," I say, hoping none of them realized that I was talking about me.

"Aww, that sucks," Samuto says. "It sounds like a good movie!"

"It was," I reply. "Well, at least what I've seen of it."

"What channel was it on?" Shuyin asks me.

"I forgot," I reply quickly. "I was just channel surfing."

"Hmm... I should look for that movie in the movie rental store," Shuyin says. "Then we can all watch it together!"

"Uh... yeah..." I say.

"Hey look! There's our waiter!" Samuto says, pointing to an area with a bunch of waiters waiting for the chefs to finish cooking.

"How can you tell? They all look alike!" Rosari asks.

"Easy! Our waiter is an older machina waiter model than the others!" she replies.

"Wow, how did you know that?" I ask.

"I'm Al Bhed," she says. "It's an Al Bhed thing!"

"Hey Lenne, you have to get ready!" Shuyin tells me.

"Oh, right!" I say. I quickly get out of my seat and rush towards the stage.

"Now, it's time for our special guest! Zanarkand's one and only, Lenne!" says the announcer. Everyone applauds as I walk to the center of the stage.

"Hello everyone!" I say to everyone in the audience. "Give a hand to our Zanarkand Abes!" Everyone cheers wildly. "Now, please rise for the Zanarkand Anthem." The audience follows and everyone is standing. I start the anthem and everyone follows. We finish and the audience sits down. "Today, we are here to honor our beloved blitzball team. We have the number one blitzball team!" Everyone cheers. "Here to present the award is my friend, Lady Yunalesca!" I walk off the stage, passing Lady Yunalesca.

As I walk back to my seat, I hear mixed response from the audience when Lady Yunalesca comes on stage. I think it's rude, since she never did anything wrong. Her father is the somewhat demented one, anyway. Yunalesca, or Yuna, as I called her ever since elementary school days, is the daughter of Lord Yevon. Lord Yevon is a man of great wealth and power in Zanarkand. He is also a summoner, and so is Yuna. But he has some weird, crazy thoughts at times, which most people don't really approve of. I don't see anything wrong with his ideas, although I needed Yunalesca to help me fully understand his ideas. Yunalesca is very intelligent, and she has never done anything to the people who are here today. I don't think it's right at all for her to be disapproved of by others.

"Good morning, everyone," Yunalesca starts, ignoring the rude audience members. "I am glad to be up here today, giving the Zanarkand Abes their award for winning the Royal Champions Blitz Tournament. Their victory has reserved them a spot in the Grand Final Showdown XXI for sure. Congratulations, Zanarkand Abes!" Everyone cheered as the members of the Zanarkand Abes walked up on stage and they all held the trophy up. Shuyin was then given the trophy by the other members and he stepped up to the microphone.

"Thank you, everyone!" Shuyin says. "Now, let's par-tay!" Everyone cheers loudly and wildly. The Zanarkand Abes all go back to their seats and everyone starts to get served.

"Thank you!" I said to the waiter as he placed my order in front of me.

"How come you talk to it? Can it hear you?" Rosari asks.

"Well, no," Samuto replies, "but it's still like a person, so you've got to treat it nicely!"

"Exactly," I say.

As I ate my breakfast, I had one thing on my mind: Shuyin and Samuto. Now that I think about it, they make a great couple together. She's closer to him than I am. And... Rosari seems to show more interest in me than Shuyin. Maybe I should give him a chance...?

"Hey, Samuto, are you going to eat that?" Shuyin asks her.

"No, go ahead and have it," Samuto says.

"Thanks!" Shuyin smiles and takes it off her plate.

Gee, great way to rub it in my face without even knowing! I thought to myself.

"I'm... going out for a walk," I stand up and leave the table. "I'll be back later to perform."

"Okay," Shuyin says.

I walk out of the dome smiling, but once I stepped outside, I started running to the side of the dome, crying. I hid in a small area, hiding myself from everyone else. I sat there and kept crying. I stayed here for awhile until I heard something.

"Lenne? Is that you?" Rosari says, running to the small area I'm in.

"R-Rosari?" I look at him.

"What are you doing there?" Rosari asks me.

"Just taking a break," I reply and wipe my tears. I come out and stand up in front of him.

"Are you okay?" he asks me.

"I'm so sorry," I say. "I must've worried everyone!"

"Not everyone, just me," he replies. I look up at him. "Lenne, I've been noticing that something has you distressed. If you ever need to talk, I'm right here."

"Thanks," I say with a sad smile, and I hug him. "There has been something bothering me."

"What is it?" he asks me.

"Well, I like someone, but I also think I have feelings for another person. The first one is not so close to me, while the second one is always there for me. Who should I go after?" I ask him.

"Well, that's up to you," he replies, "but in my opinion, it's kind of a lose-lose situation. Person A doesn't give you much attention, but you could lose a great friendship with Person B if things don't work well."

"Well, I've got to take that risk for love," I say to him.

"Lenne, I have a question for you," he tells me.

"Go ahead," I reply.

"Do you... like me?" he asks.

"Of course I do!" I say.

"And I like you," he says. "I like you alot." I blush. "And I've wanted to ask you for the past month..."

Is he...?

"Will you go out with me?" he asks.

All of a sudden, my heart explodes with various feelings. Mostly confusion. What do I respond? If I say yes, I may ruin a great friendship in the end. If I say no, I may ruin a great friendship now! Why does everything have to happen now?

Who... who do I love?

Wah... this longer than usual! I hope that makes up for it being so late! Please review!