A/N: Chapter 4 is now upon us. I really appreciate the reviews! The more I get, the more motivated I feel to update even more! Keep on R&Ring!
As a side-note, I'd like to get everyone's opinion on something. I'm thinking about writing a relatively short side-story about what happens to Colette and Zelos in Iselia. Yes, I was hinting at ZelosXColette. Never seen anyone do that before (correct me if I'm wrong), so I thought it might be fun to do it as a side-story and nothing more. Unconditional Love will remain as the focus of my attention. Anyway, on with the show, err… w/e.
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Chapter 4: Setting Out
Sheena awakened as brilliant rays of sunshine poured through the door that lead to his balcony. She found that she still holding Lloyd and smiled. She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek again after she had made sure that he was still asleep.
"Good morning Lloyd," she whispered. "Thank you for the best night of sleep I've ever had." Smiling, she rose out of bed as quietly as possible, not wanting to wake Lloyd up immediately. It was to no avail however, for when Sheena let go of Lloyd, he was already beginning to wake up.
"Hmm? Sheena?" he asked, sleepily. "Is it time to get up?"
Sheena spun around, surprised. "Ah! Lloyd, I didn't know you were awake." She grew a bit nervous. She had wondered if he was awake when she said what she said. She grew red in the face.
"Sheena?" he began, "Why are you turning so red?"
Sheena had an idea. "Oh I… I was just getting ready to get dressed. Can you please face the wall while I do so?"
Lloyd nodded with a yawn. "Oh sure. Didn't mean to peek, sorry." He turned back around.
Sheena released a sigh of relief. It worked. Relieved, she began to get dressed. "Once I get dressed, I'll make us some breakfast. How do omelettes sound?"
Lloyd yawned again. "Yummy."
Sheena smiled as she slipped off her kimono. "I'll take that as a yes."
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Lloyd came downstairs in his red traveling suit. Walking to the kitchen, he saw the beautiful summoner dressed in her normal attire as she scraping some omelettes off of a pan and onto three plates, the third being for Dirk.
"Boys! Breakfast!" Sheena hollered happily.
Hearing the call for breakfast, Lloyd dashed to the kitchen and grabbed a plate. "Thanks Sheena! Looks good, as usual!" Without waiting for a response from Sheena, he sat down at the table and began eating.
Sheena giggled, happy that Lloyd enjoyed her cooking so much. Looking around, she had noticed that Dirk hadn't shown up yet.
"I'll be back in a moment Lloyd," she said as she left the kitchen in search of Dirk.
She found Dirk at his forge. He had just finished crafting something small, as he stuffed whatever it was into his pocket as he heard Sheena walk in.
"Dirk? Breakfast is made. We're having omelettes." She said.
Dirk nodded. "Ah, alright lassie. Sounds good. Sorry fer makin' ye wait." He walked into the kitchen and they both sat down and ate their breakfast with the ravenous Lloyd.
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Their breakfasts finished, the three made their way outside to where Kratos was waiting. He nodded to them as they walked out.
"Good morning everyone," he started. "I trust that you slept well?"
Lloyd gave a closed-eyes smile. "Yup! Sure did! Sheena sure is comfortable!" he said obliviously.
Dirk and Kratos tilted their heads. "Pardon me?" Kratos asked.
Sheena's face turned a fierce red and turned away from them.
Lloyd explained, "Well, we only had one bed, so I slept on the wall-side of the bed and let Sheena have the outside half of it."
Dirk wore a blank expression on his face. Kratos chuckled.
"Heh. That was… nice of you Lloyd," Kratos said with a bit of sarcasm.
Lloyd laughed. "Ah, hehe, it was nothing. I was just gonna sleep on the floor but Sheena said she didn't mind sharing."
Kratos smirked at Sheena. "Is that so? Heh…"
Sheena thought she was going to die at that point. She felt lucky that Lloyd was so oblivious. She wanted to smack Kratos but didn't. He was making it look like a bigger deal that it was… or was he?
She turned back around, not nearly as red as before. "A-anyway, are we ready to go?"
Dirk broke in. "Ah, one moment lass. I need to talk to Kratos before ye head out." With that, Kratos and Dirk walked around a corner of the house and disappeared from Sheena and Lloyd's field of view.
Lloyd looked at Sheena. "Hey Sheena, did you see the looks on their faces? What was wrong with them?"
Sheena didn't know how to answer without embarrassing her. So she told a white lie.
"I have no clue," she started. "Maybe they're just weird like that."
Lloyd bought it. "Ah, ok. That makes sense."
They stood looking at each other for a moment and didn't say a word. Sheena still felt a little awkward from the earlier incident.
Lloyd broke the silence. "Hey Sheena?"
Sheena perked up. "Yes Lloyd?"
Lloyd moved over to Sheena. "I just wanted to thank you for coming on this journey with us. It means so much to me."
Sheena blushed as she smiled. "No, no Lloyd. It's my pleasure."
Lloyd wrapped his arms around her and hugged her once he was close enough. "It just wouldn't be the same without my best friend in the entire world."
Sheena was hoping he would say something different, but wasn't surprised when he didn't. She just closed her eyes and nodded in response to him, not losing a bit of her smile as she did so.
"I'm serious, Sheena," he continued. "Every time I'm close to you, I feel so much stronger. When I'm around you, I feel like nothing is impossible. You give me this strange, yet, wonderful feeling every time you talk to me. I don't know what it is… but I like it."
Sheena thought for a moment. In the back of her mind, she was thinking that perhaps what he was feeling was love but he didn't know how to recognize it. The only other possibility is that all he really wants is a very good friend. She accepted the former thought more so than the latter.
Sheena hugged back, nuzzling his neck with her nose as she did so. "Thank you Lloyd. To tell the truth, I feel the exact same way about you. Remember back when I fought Kuchinawa? I think that the only reason I won was because you were there. You truly do make me feel like the luckiest girl in the world.
She then heard Lloyd snicker. "Wh-what's so funny?" she said, quite irritated.
Lloyd pulled a bit back. "Haha, sorry. Your nose was tickling me."
Sheena blushed again and her smile came back to her. "Heh… sorry 'bout that."
Lloyd closed his eyes and grinned. "Sorry? Heck, I was liking it! For whatever reason, it felt good. It certainly felt better than all those times Colette and Genis gang-tickled me." He nodded twice.
Sheena put her left hand on her hip. "Gang-tickled, eh? That must've been a blast."
Lloyd scratched his head. "Hehe… not really for me. Couldn't even defend myself."
They both shared a good hearty laugh as Dirk and Kratos came back from around the house.
Kratos spoke first. "Heh. Are you two ready to go?"
They both nodded with a smile. Sheena put her hand on Lloyd's shoulder and he glanced back at her. He gave a thumbs-up with his free hand and they both turned back to Kratos and Dirk.
"Well then, I guess this is goodbye for now," said Dirk. He didn't want to see them go, but he wasn't about to stop them either. Besides, he was hoping that this would be a good time for Lloyd and Sheena to bond. He thought they made a cute couple and was hoping they would officially get together.
Lloyd walked over to Dirk and shook hands with him. "Bye dad. Hopefully, we won't be gone for terribly long."
Sheena walked over and leaned down a bit to give Dirk a firm hug. "Thanks for everything Dirk. We'll try to bring some souvenirs back!"
Dirk chuckled. "Ah lassies, I look forward to that. Now run along you two. Kratos, take care of these two, will you?"
Kratos gave a slight bow. "Naturally. Thank you again for everything Dirk." Kratos reached inside his pocket, fumbled with something inside, and pulled his hand back out.
The 3 adventurers waved to Dirk as they walked down the path leading away from his house.
Dirk waved back as he slowly shook his head. "Ah. Lloyd, my boy, don't stay oblivious for too long, eh?" He walked back inside his house.
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Sheena looked over at Lloyd. "So where are we going first?"
Lloyd paused and thought for a moment. "Well, we could go ahead and check out the Iselia-region human ranch. It's close to hear anyway and we practically have to cross through it to leave the forest so…"
Kratos interrupted him. "I concur. The Renegades shut down the ranch, true, but my guess is that they didn't search for exspheres or other such things."
Lloyd nodded in his direction. "Right. Wouldn't hurt to check, so we'll go there first. Then we'll destroy the ranch just in case. Sound good, Sheena?"
Sheena twirled a red card in her hand. "Leave it to me and Efreet! Place'll be nothing but ashes by the time we're through with it."
Lloyd clenched his right fist confidently. "Alright, then it's decided. To the Iselia Ranch!"
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And chapter 4 is done. Short chapter but I'm gonna put Iselia ranch and something else into the next chapter. Lloyd's still oblivious, but at least he's acknowledging that only Sheena gives him this new feeling he has. If nothing else, at least he enjoys a good tickle from Sheena Anyway, please R&R and let me know what you think about the side-story I mentioned in the A/N above.
