"And hey!" Lloyd pointed at Raine. "The Professor is here too! Genis said..." Lloyd's eyes widened as he saw Raine, and the expression on her face. He quickly glanced to the floor, his cheeks burning. "Oh. Erm... It's...good to see you?"

Raine shook her head, sighing sadly. Her lilac eyes never left the hero's face, her expression unreadable. "Lloyd, Lloyd, Lloyd," she said, almost in a disapproving manner. Sheena and Zelos exchanged confused glances, not sure what to make of the situation. "Did you really think I would have forgotten? It's only been a year." Striding across the room, Raine placed her hand gently on his cheek. Sheena felt her own cheeks get hot for a moment, her lower lip thrusting out in a pout she didn't realized she was wearing.

Zelos noticed it, though, and and raised a quizzical eyebrow at her. Then his mouth made a little "O" of shock and he mouthed to her: You and Raine? He looked confused, confused at whether he should be delighted or bursting out into hysteric laughter, that is.

Sheena grew even redder, shaking her head furiously. NO! she mouthed back. Zelos scratched his chin with a Hmmmm... expression on his face, and Sheena stuck out her tongue at him, livid. And what about you and Lloyd, eh? she shot back.

It was Zelos's turn to stick out his tongue. He ain't gay, Zelos sent back to her. Remember Colette?

Her neither, Sheena 'said', jerking a thumb at the Professor.

More chin rubbing. Hmmmm...

Then their attention was diverted back to the student and his teacher, who had moved her hand up to cup over his ear. "Remember, Lloyd, I'm a half-elf." Her voice lowered, dangerously. "I can wait forever."

Lloyd shook his head. "I'm sorry, Professor," he said, his face growing pale. "I really am, but I can't. I'm busy collecting the Ex-Spheres. With Colette. And look," he lifted his own hand to her face. Raine frowned slightly at the ring on his finger. "We're engaged."

"Aha..." Raine said, thoughtful.

"So you understand why I can't."

Raine nodded, slowly, and then the hand that had (from Zelos and Sheena's point of view, anyway) been lovingly caressing his cheek grabbed his ear and viciously brought the taller swordsman down to eye level with the Professor. "Getting married is no excuse!" she said, "You owe me homework from not one, not two, but three years ago. Math homework I believe."

"Owowowoowowow!" The Eternal Swordsman complained, bending down obediently so as to lessen the tearing of his ear. "I'm sorry! So sorry!"

Zelos and Sheena sweat dropped. They gave each other looks that clearly said: Homework? Then Zelos laughed and slipped off into a nearby room for a moment, coming back out and trying to hop along while cramming one foot down a pant leg. Not bothering to finish pulling up the zipper or buttoning the jeans, so one could plainly see the bright pink bikini he was still wearing, he came back into the room to see Raine ordering Lloyd about, just like the good old days. His eyes sparkled happily as he saw Lloyd free from Raine's grasp, rubbing his ear with a bitter expression. Sheena saw it and frowned. She knew nothing good could come of that sparkle.

"Lloooooooooyd!" He said, sounding like one of his fan girls. He ran up to the hero of the worlds and threw his arms around Lloyd's shoulders, rudely bumping Raine to the side. "Bud! Hunny! I've missed you so much in the few hours we have been separated! Now come and give Daddy a big kiss..." He puckered his lips, making smacking sounds and leaning forward to try and plant a big wet one right on Lloyd's lips. He didn't have to lean down, since the Eternal Swordsman had grown in the past two years and they were roughly the same height now.

Lloyd's eyes widened and he wriggled in the iron-like grip of the Ex-Chosen, trying to escape. "Sheesh Zelos, you can't take a hint, can you?"

"Nope."

An awkward wrestling match ensued, ending up with the two of them rolling on the floor with Lloyd complaining loudly. "C'mon, Zelos!" he complained, turning his head away, trying to keep his face away from the redhead's. "I told you that wasn't funny at least five times now! So drop it!"

"Not until I get a taste," Zelos said, straining to get past the barricade of Lloyd's arms with a grin plastered on his face. "This time I shall succeed!"

"Do you want to wake up on the floor with a crack in your skull again?" Lloyd demanded, managing to shove Zelos off of him. Quickly pouncing on the Ex-Chosen, he shoved Zelos's face into the floor and twisted his arms behind him.

"Ow," Zelos said, writhing in pain as his fan girls (almost completely forgotten by now from all the excitement) booed and hissed at Lloyd. "It huuuurts!"

"Holler Uncle," Lloyd said viciously, twisting the arm a little more, in a direction it obviously wasn't meant to go.

"All right," Sheena said, disgusted. "This is really too much." She moved to haul Lloyd off of Zelos while Raine herded the crowd of blubbering fan girls out the front door. Managing to get the swordsman off of the multi-millionaire, she helped Zelos up and then stood between the two. "I've really had enough! Now you take that -thing- off or at least pull up your fly so we don't have to see it," she snapped at Zelos, "And you," she said, pointing at Lloyd, but her tone of voice had softened considerably when she did so, "What do you mean, 'Genis said' ? Have you seen him recently, like in the past five days or so?"

"Uh... yeah," Lloyd said. "We found him riding Noishe somewhere around the Luin area and picked him up cause he said you were waiting for him here, Professor."

"And you believed him?" Raine asked, slamming the front door shut on the last of Zelos's hunnies. Leave them to explain what they were doing in the streets of Meltokio in bikinis. "I mean, you weren't suspicious of him in the least?"

"I was!" Zelos said loudly, but no one minded him.

"Well," Lloyd said after a moment, "I told Colette he was acting a little fishy, but he's never given me reason to just doubt him like that." Another pause. "Well actually, that's a lie, but I couldn't just leave him there alone without a Rheiard!"

"When we got here," said another voice from the doorway, spooking the Professor, "Lloyd and I went shopping, but Genis said he wanted to rest."

"Yup," Zelos said. "Next thing I knew there was one less Rheiard in the hanger. Say hello, Colette! Being an Ex-Chosen is no excuse to be rude."

"Oh, oops. Hi everybody!" Colette waved at the gang, kissing Raine on the cheek since she was closest.

"Colette!" Sheena exclaimed, delighted.

"Sheena!" Colette said, equally delighted. They ran to each other and hugged warmly. Then they clasped hands and began to chatter like school girls, trying in a rush to explain what they were doing here, what they had been doing since they last met, and how much they had missed each other, all at once. To Lloyd and Zelos, it sounded very much like two excited squirrels fighting over an acorn. At least Raine, having been a schoolgirl once herself, could follow the conversation. Zelos took the opportunity to drape an arm casually across Lloyd's shoulders.

"Goddess bless! I've missed you!"

"-Lloyd and I were really busy so we couldn't see you-"

"Yeah! And I've been busy too cause Mizuho started expanding- Oh! You have to come visit the village you won't even recognize it-"

"-Really? Ooh I've missed Mizuho! It was the nicest, most quiet village-

"-It's gotten huuuuuge!"

"Iselia's gotten bigger too. Lloyd and I helped out a bit when we came to visit my dad and his dad because..." Colette blushed. "Because..."

" 'Cause you're getting married, right?"

"Yes!" Colette gushed. "Isn't it wonderful? We're doing it in the Martel Temple now that it's been cleared of monsters and was purified against them ever returning." Colette held out her hand. "And look! Lloyd helped his dad make us matching rings. Isn't it beautiful?"

"Whoa! Look at the size of the rock on that thing!"

"It's not a rock, silly! It's a diamond!"

"Yeah, I know it's a diamond but-" Sheena stopped mid-sentence. "...Never mind. How's your family?"

"Super! Yours?"

"Grandpa died just the other day..."

"Oh, no! I'm so sorry, Sheena..."

"Some ass named Kloitz came and attacked the village. I wasn't the only one to suffer. Since you've been traveling so much, have you heard of this guy? Kloitz?"

"Kloitz?" Lloyd broke in, able to decipher that one name out of the conversation, since it was the very last thing any of them had said.

"Your gramps died?" Zelos said, doing marginally better than Lloyd at translating.

"When's the wedding?" Raine asked, since she understood the whole exchange.

The three looked at each other, since they had spoken at the same time.

"Kloitz?" Lloyd repeated. "Raine, isn't that-"

Raine gave him a glare that could wither cacti. "The name of the man who attacked Mizuho," she finished for him, her voice clipped.

Lloyd hung back. "Oh... OK..."

Zelos was the only one who had caught the suspicious behavior. "Hmm," he said out loud, one eyebrow arched. Of course, this was ignored. Louder, he said, "If your gramps is dead, Sheena, wouldn't that make you the chief of Mizuho?"

Sheena looked at the ground. "Yes," she said quietly. Colette gasped, realizing what Zelos said was true.

"You're a Chief now, Sheena?" she asked, nervously. "Do I have to treat you any different? Oh, I have to bow don't I?" She quickly gave a small bow from the waist.

"Stop it, Colette," Sheena sighed. "Do we treat Lloyd any differently now that he's the hero of both worlds?"

Everyone turned to face Lloyd with prying eyes. Lloyd turned red and took a step back. "Why's everybody looking at me that way?" he demanded, almost as red as his armor. Perhaps for the first time noticing how Zelos's arm was across his shoulders, he slapped the offending appendage away, frowning.

"Well, in any case," Zelos said, being the first to react. "Now that I know that I guess I have to do it all the proper way. Sigh." He cleared his throat and then fell before Sheena on one knee, saying in a very grand manner: "Sheena Fujibayashi! Will you make me the happiest man alive and give me your hand in marriage?"

Colette gasped again. "Sheena!" she said, her eyes brimming. "I had no idea you two were in love!"

"We're not," Sheena said, making a face. "He just wants to marry me for some reason."

"Yes yes," Zelos said impatiently, snapping his fingers. Sebastian came with a small box, which he offered to Zelos. Zelos took the box and flipped open the top, revealing a diamond ring that made Colette's look like a toy. "Now can we get on with this? I'd prefer it if we did it right away. Sebastian, do you think you could call a priest to come over here, or something?"

"Hold up!" Raine said angrily, coming to Sheena's defense. "This is no joke, Zelos. Stop being a brat and just tell us what's going on."

"Besides," Sheena added. "I didn't say yes yet."

"Yet?" Zelos asked hopefully.

"A softer way of saying I'm never going to say yes to a pig like you."

"Sheena," he whined, falling on the floor in despair. "You're so mean..."

"Just tell us what's going on," Lloyd said, walking around the prone Zelos to stand next to the three women. "Why do you want to marry Sheena?"

"Well Goddess," Zelos said, looking up from his place on the floor. "I don't want to marry her. I just have to."

"Yes, we know that already," Sheena said impatiently. "Why do you need to marry me?"

"I don't see any reason why he would need such a thing," said another voice from the now open doorway. Everyone turned (except Zelos, who merely sat up on his heels with a look of pure horror on his face) to see a new arrival. "Especially since he's engaged to me."

A young woman, a noblewoman by the extravagance of her clothing and the two servants who flanked her wearing golden collars embedded with all sorts of precious stones, stepped into Zelos's mansion. She looked about her with expressionless eyes, neither approving nor disapproving, nor confused at the cluster of travel-fatigued strangers in the Ex-Chosens's house. Raven hair curled to perfection spilled about her bare shoulders, and even Lloyd caught himself staring.

"Hey hunny..." Zelos muttered half-heartedly, as the four heroes of the two worlds slowly turned back to face him.

A/N: Because I am indecisive I want to know what the audience thinks, for future reference. Who should interrupt Sheena and Raine's first intimate kiss? No person is too outrageous- since I always have a loose idea of what's going on,I can rapidly change it to suit my reader's needs. I like letting readers have a bit of a control over what they're reading, and this is just one way I can think of. Send reviews with who you think it should be. I already have a version in my mind where Yuan walks in on them. So who'll it be? Just please, not Kratos If he even appears in this story it'll be once the situation is really dire, cause he just wouldn't come for any old thing. Some ideas (keep in mind the kiss will take place in Flanoir, very soon after they find Genis) :

Yuan

Zelos

Presea and/or Genis

Lloyd and/or Colette

Regal

Kloitz and/or Kuchinawa

Random Person (Katz, that old couple by the place you find Abyssion, etc.)

So yeah. Have fun! And if nobody votes, I'll decide for myself. Ciao!