If you think this is going a little too slow, then please tell me right away. The reason why I made another chapter like this, were they're just being together all the time, like in the first chapter, is because I want to give the story something to go by. Still, don't hesitate to tell me right away if it's not a good idea. Enjoy!

Chapter Two

A date in Zanarkand

I woke up late the next day. Lenne was sleeping beside me with her arms around my waist. I heard cute snores come from her as she breathed out in her deep and peaceful slumber. I stroked her face lovingly. This made her stir a little bit in her sleep, and I withdrew my hand away quickly so I wouldn't wake her. "My Lenne, my dear, dear Lenne. I'll never leave you. I'll always be by your side." I whispered,

I got out of bed and got dressed, carefully without waking her.

"Say, Shuyin, they're gonna have a Blitzball tournament at the Stadium in a week. What'd you say I got us some tickets?" Lenne asked later that day at the breakfast table. We were eating egg and bacon with chips. "Yeah! That'd be great!" I replied enthusiastically.

"I checked out the Blitzball magazine with the coming tournaments. Wanna get some seats in the middle of the first row?" Lenne asked, scanning a Blitzball magazine with dates for the upcoming tournaments and seats that were still unsold. "Cool!" I replied, beaming. Lenne smiled back at me. "Hey, um…..I was thinking that….maybe we could go out after the blitzball match? I was wondering……..if you wanted to go to that new restaurant in the business district? They've got this awesome pizza there." I said a little shyly. For some reason, I've always found it a little hard to ask Lenne out like this. Perhaps because I'm afraid of her asking me if I wanna go out eating 'cause I don't like her food. I don't really understand it, but I've always had that feeling. But of course, this feeling has never been right even once before: "That'd be wonderful! And I could publish that song while we were in that district!" She looked so happy again. Once again, as I watched her smiling happily like that, I got this feeling that I could never have found a nicer woman in my life.

"You've gotta sing it for me, once!" I said. "I love your songs, you know….." Lenne nodded, taking in another mouthful of chips, eggs and bacon. "I will." She said, smiling back at me.

A week later, the day was here. The day I had been looking forward to ever since Lenne mentioned getting tickets.

We got outside, and Lenne called forth Valefor so we could ride on him to the Stadium. We didn't bother to keep a car or anything like that, since Lenne could summon Aeons. The dragon flew down from the sky, it's long, red "hair" on the head blowing behind him due to the speed he held. He landed beside his mistress. And Lenne stretched out her hand and stroked the red feathers on his throat. "Kawaii!" She said happily. I went over to the dragon and patted him on the beak.

"Yeah, he is." I said. "Let's go then." Lenne said, climbing unto Valefor's back. I climbed on in front of her, so she could lean against my back. This had always been the way we'd ridden Valefor together and we wanted it always to be that way.

Valefor soared over the sparkling buildings of Zanarkand. I felt the wind playing with my hair, and felt Lenne's body against mine, her arms around my waist. It felt as if she really didn't want to let go before she really had to. "Shuyin. I've wanted to do go out like this for ages." She whispered gently in my ear. When I hear her say that, I got so happy inside. "Lenne is really happy with me." I thought, letting go of Valefor's back for support, and held Lenne's hand close to me. I didn't want to lose her for anything in this world. I loved her so much.

Valefor landed beside the Blitzball Stadium and we got off his back. We had arrived a few minutes too late, so they'd already prepared the Blitzball Stadium for the match.

We looked up at a gigantic round building which lay open to the sky with no roof. The walls on the inside were completely covered in tribunes. In the middle was a huge water ball. I always got so impressed when I saw it. "Too bad we didn't get to see them prepare the water ball." Lenne said dreamily. "Yeah, but let's just enjoy the match." I said quietly.

"This will really be cool!" I said excited. Lenne smiled at my enthusiasm. "It will, definitely." She said silently. We went inside the Stadium to watch a match between the Zanarkand Abes and some other team I hadn't bother memorizing, since the Zanarkand Abes were my favorite. I handed our tickets over to the guy in the ticket booth, and when he'd cleared them, we went to the tribunes and found our reserved seats. The lights in the Blitzball Stadium went on, lighting it up with an intense light. Blitzball tournament started at last.

"That was really awesome!" I said excitedly countless hours later.

"5-4 in the last match! The Zanarkand Abes beat the others by 1 goal."

Lenne smiled at my excitement. "It was good. I've never seen such a good Blitzball match." Lenne said happily. "Shall we go to that place I talked about?" I asked after awhile. "Yeah, that'd be great! Watching that tournament made me hungry." Lenne replied.

She summoned Valefor, and we flew over to the restaurant I'd talked about a week ago.

We flew over to the business district, and Valefor flew lower so I could point out the location of the restaurant. I let my eyes sweep the city below, searching for it. While I was searching for it, I saw all the other citizens of Zanarkand walking among the houses. Sometimes, I could catch some of the things of what people talked about.

A bunch of drunken youths was walking around with a bottle of Sake in their hands, talking loudly about the Blitzball tournament a few hours ago. Then I saw it, a small triangle-shaped building. About two meters tall among all the other skyscraper-sized giants that was the "houses" of Zanarkand. Around on the walls, were circle-shaped windows with colored glass. Over the entrance door was a lighting sign with Japanese letters.

"That's the place!" I called out, pointing down at the small restaurant.

"Oh, how perfectly kawaii!" Lenne squealed delightedly.

I smiled at how she felt. She was really happy all the time, when she was with me. That alone, was enough to make me happy around her.

Valefor flew down and landed in front of the restaurant.

We got off his back and went inside the small eating place.

We stood in a small room with small polished chairs made of tree painted with patterns in gold. Opposite of where we were standing, I saw a small counter. On the wall beside the counter, was a menu, listing foods and drinks. I went over to the counter. "Two, please." I said. "Yes, sir. Sit wherever you want." "Arigato." I replied, looking around the restaurant. Me and Lenne were the only customers. Lenne pointed

"Wanna sit beside a window, Shuyin?" "That'd be great!"

We went over to the table by the window and sat down. Lenne was looking around, always with that happy smile on her face. She was always so cheerful. The waitress came over to our table with a couple of menus in her hand. She laid them on our table. "Excuse me?" I asked her before she could go away. "We've already decided. We were thinking of that pizza you've got here, the one with beef and tomato sauce.

"Alright. What would you like to drink?" I looked at Lenne. "I'll have a coke, please, without sugar." "I'll have the same." I said.

"Understood." The waitress went inside the kitchen.

We sat in silence for a few moments, just enjoying each other's company. "By the way, Lenne?" I said after awhile.

She looked at me, wondering what I was gonna say. "You know…..I've always wondered a little bit…..Where are the other Summoners? Well, I know there are lots of you, and all, but it really looks like the others are hiding somewhere in Zanarkand until they're supposed to be needed." Lenne thought for a moment before replying.

"I suppose they're just living normal lives, like me. Just like all other Zanarkandians, they live normally, without really calling they're aeons any more than they have to. I think I'm the only one who uses them for transportation, really." "But then, isn't there a great chance people have seen us on Valefor all the time?" I asked, wondering and worrying if our "private time" together when we'd taken a flight on Valefor yesterday night hadn't really been private at all. "Yeah, probably." Lenne said causally. "You're not…..well…..worried?" I asked a little confused Lenne smiled. "It's just us. The rest are just people we don't know. All they barely see from down there are two people on a flying dragon. It's not like they can see the things that's between us, Shuyin. They cannot see what we think and feel about each other. And as long as we can keep our feelings for each other between the two of us, then isn't it alright?" I looked into her eyes. I could tell she was taking me seriously and was being completely sincere with me. I knew that just by looking into her eyes. "Yeah, Lenne. It's alright." I said calmly.

About an hour later, we were standing outside the tiny restaurant. Lenne summoned Valefor so we could have a nice little nighttime flight before we went home. We mounted the dragon, and he took off, flying across the starlit sky. The wind in my hair, Lenne's arms around me and Valefor's soft, feather-covered head. I loved these flights. I knew Lenne felt the same way. Every time we took night-flights like this on Valefor, we both felt like we were alone together in our own world. It didn't matter to me that other people could see us, as long as we were happy together. I wanted it to always be like this.

I wanted us always to be happy. But sometimes, I just couldn't stop myself from wondering: "What if it would one day end? What if Lenne died, and I was forced to live on alone? Or what if both of us were killed, and we both lost everything in life?" Sometimes, I just couldn't stop myself from thinking such tormenting thought. And yet, even though I knew I could talk to Lenne about it, I never did.

I was too scared of the thought to give it words. Perhaps I was afraid it would come true if I told someone. I couldn't explain it. I just knew that to lose my Lenne, was the one thing I really feared in life.

That was all I knew for sure, when it came to that feeling. I turned around on Valefor so I could see her.

"Lenne, please, don't leave me." I said, hearing how pleading my voice sounded. She looked at me surprised. "Why would I ever leave you?" She asked, she had an anxious look upon on her face. "I cannot live without you…..just…..stay with me……please." I looked into her eyes as Valefor soared across the sky. They looked so sad. Perhaps it was because she saw me like this. "Shuyin…..I love you more than anyone, how could I ever even dream of leaving you?" "That's not what I meant. It's not like I'm afraid of you abandoning me to find someone else. It's just……I don't want you to…" I couldn't say the words. I was too scared. I was really terrified of that feeling.

Lenne put her lips gently against mine, holding it long and closing her eyes as she held it. At last she broke the kiss, looking at me with a soothing expression in her eyes. "Shuyin…..Please….don't be afraid of such things. I'll never leave you." She whispered. She held me tightly, knowing I was in great pain and that only she could help me.

"Want me to sing "1000 No Kobota for you?" She asked. I nodded.

Lenne waited a few moments, closing her eyes, before she began to sing.

kimi no kotoba wa

yume no yasashisa kana

uso zenbu oikakushiteru

zurui yo ne

tabi datsu kimi ni

sameta senaka misete

kitte ita yo

hitori tatakau no

zurui yo ne

kaete kuru kara

oikoshite yuku kimi no koe

ijihatte tsuyoi furi toki wo modoshite

sakebeba yokatta

ikanaide to namida ko wo shitara

ima wa dekiru donna koto mo

ienakatta sen(1000) no kotoba wo?

harukana kimi no senaka ni wo kuru yo

tsubasa ni kaete

ienakatta sen no kotoba wo?

kizutsuita kimi no senaka ni yorisoi

dakishimeru

yume no tsuzuki wa

kimi wo omoi nagara

ano hi no koto

wasureta furishite

zurui yo ne

tegami wo kaku kara

shisen sora shita kimi no koe

ijihatte tsuyoi furi toki wo modoshite

okoreba yo katta

matenai yo to kata wo otoshitara

ima wa dekiru donna koto mo

kikoeteru sen no kotoba wo?

mienai kimi no senaka ni wo kuru yo

tsubasa ni kaete

kikoeteru sen no kotoba wo?

tsutareta kimi no senaka ni yorisoi

dakishimeru

ienakatta sen no kotoba wo?

la la la la

kimi no senaka ni wo kuru yo

tsubasa ni kaete

kikoeteru sen no kotoba wo?

la la la la

kimi no senaka ni yorisoi

la la la la la

I lay my head on her chest as she sang, and she put her arms around me. I listened to her voice with such love for her I could hardly bear it. My Lenne, she was everything to me. I felt the feeling of fear fade away….. I fell asleep then, as Valefor flew back to our home.