Disclaimer: All appearing characters and places belong to Namco unless otherwise specified.

The O-dai themes belong to the Zeroshii-Wa, at http/deburu98249.jog. but written correctly. If you visit, don't steal!

Setting: In-game, before meeting Kratos at Torent. Spoilers!

Warnings: Well, mentions of sexual tension.


----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----

Normal Version,

#9 – Fight

----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----

"You... you stupid, stupid Chosen!"

She wasn't yelling because she knew she mustn't. Because she knew that Lloyd needed to rest, and that if she started to yell the swordsman could get stressed and right now too many things depended on him.

Lloyd needed to fight Kratos.

He needed to fight Origin. He needed to get the Eternal Sword.

Lloyd couldn't be distracted right now.

But she couldn't really stand it any more. Sheena Fujibayashi's temper was short and explosive, which suited her fine, but it was hard to deal with it when she had to keep calm.

Zelos Wilder had just shown them all that he was the opposite: he kept everything inside and let it grow. From her point of view, however, that wasn't patience; that was stupidity.

Right now she was angry. Very, very angry. She had many things to think about and, more importantly, many things to yell. So now that night had fallen on Heimdall and the rest of the group were at the Inn, each of them busy with their own business, she had taken Tethe'alla's Chosen with her, off to the fence that marked the limit between the village and the Ymir Forest.

There she had turned around and without much warning slapped him, yelling (very quietly) afterwards 'You... you stupid, stupid Chosen!'.

Zelos Wilder's answer consisted of three steps: first he (naturally) looked surprised at the slap, second he had glared furiously at her, and third he had answered, in his what-a-joke voice,

"I - I knew there was something wrong when you didn't slap me back at the Tower, hunny!" it had sounded strained, though.

She huffed and tried not to hit him again. "We didn't have time at that moment. Now, however, there's plenty."

"Wrong," he said, taking a hand up to his bruised cheek and cleaning a bit of blood out of his mouth. "You've got a few minutes 'cause I'm too tired for this tonight. Man, you just had to hit me with everything you had, didn't you? This'll look terrible in the morning."

Those words, jokingly thrown around as he did on a daily basis, suddenly sounded strange combined with the bluntness of his previous statement.

She felt her face heating up and clenched her fist. Angry.

"A few minutes... you expect me to be content with just –"

"I don't expect anything of you," he smirked, "Except perhaps a kiss or two, mh?"

"...don't you change the topic! I'm not allowing you to... I won't," she knew what he was doing. Every time he wanted to escape her he would do it. He would say stupid things, he would talk about his 'hunnies' in Meltokio, he would hit on her or even try to grope her. That way she would get angry and leave.

It worked every time.

Not tonight, thought Sheena.

"...why did you pull that stunt?" she re-started, trying to keep her voice down. It wasn't easy.

He shrugged. "I needed to do it. No other way to get the Aionis, remember? I kinda explained it before when I re-appeared."

"You could've warned us!" she countered, "You could've told us about that thing, we could've stormed Cruxis again and get it!"

He didn't answer. Instead, he just stood there staring at her as if her speech was the most boring thing ever.

"Answer me!" again, she made an effort not to yell.

Zelos kept staring at her for a few instants before laughing softly. To her ears it sounded more like a well-hid sigh.

"C'mon hunny. What's done is done, right? What's the use of worrying about it now?" he flicked his hair back, "So if you need to blow some steam that bad, why don'cha shadow-spar or something? I'm not... I'm too tired for that kind of games tonight."

Games.

It was true. The relationship they shared was based in games. Child-like games. He would pull her hair, she would pull his. He would call him names, he would call her back. He would slap her butt, she would punch him. He would ogle her chest, she would yell at him for three days.

Yes, child-like games – perhaps a little more sexual, and a little more violent, but games nonetheless.

"I'm being serious," she seethed.

He opened his mouth as if to answer then shook his head and frowned.

"Too bad," Zelos almost spat before turning around to head for the Inn.

Sheena had seen very few of the Chosen's moods. In fact, she had only seen him either happy, with that stupid happy-go-lucky grin of his, or a little bit sad, after they had met his sister at the abbey.

It wasn't until that very day, a few hours ago, that she even realized he had lied for most of the trip. So perhaps all the times he looked happy he was actually sad, or lonely, or irritated.

Right now she could see that he, just like her, was angry. Why, she wondered. She now knew, though, that he had his share of things to get angry about.

She caught his jacket. "I'm not done!"

"Well I am! Need my beauty sleep," he grinned, mockingly.

"Just tell me why you didn't say anything!"

"If I told you it was because I didn't feel like it would you leave me alone?"

"No!"

"Fine then, I didn't say anything because I didn't feel like it! No other explanation."

"I don't believe that."

"Well, believe whatever you want and let me sleep then."

"Zelos..."

"Yes, hunny?" again he smiled. He knew calling her like that would irritate her, he knew that smile would make her angry.

"Please," she said. Two could play the weakness game, so she dulcified her voice. "Please... just a few minutes..."

He grunted, crossed his arms and rolled his eyes but didn't leave.

"...why would you do it? You... scared us."

"Aaaagh, you're pushing it!"

"You were pushing it first!"

"At least I wasn't so damned obvious!"

"Yeah right, even your smile was calculated!"

The two suddenly looked around. No one had seemed disturbed by their yelling.

He sighed and broke the sudden silence. "Look, I already told you. I didn't feel like telling any of you, and that's that."

"But why's that? That's what I want to hear.," she huffed once more, "You – you could've told me at the very least! That way I could've calmed Lloyd and the others and..." she stopped because suddenly he was looking at her, his eyes dead serious and almost sad.

"Look," he closed his eyes for an instant, looking tired, and then continued. "I didn't tell you – or anyone, for that matter – because I didn't know whether I would be coming back."

"...what? You – when did you decide to come back then?"

He smiled bitterly. "Remember Pronyma told me to hurry up so we could leave?"

"...yes."

"Just then."

"Then you had your mind pretty much made up! Don't go making –"

"No, I didn't. I... how to put it?" the man interrupted, looking aside at the river that flowed close by before returning to face her. "I made a bet with myself. If Pronyma ordered me to follow, I would return to you all. If she ordered me to fight, I would fight."

"...you would've... killed us?" she suddenly felt very, very cold.

"Four against one? I don't think so," he answered, laughing.

In a matter of seconds Sheena understood what he meant. "You – you!" she struggled to find words for what she wanted to say, "Idiot! Pervert! Stupid! We wouldn't have done that! Moron! Jerk!"

"But you would have! That's why I didn't tell any of you!" Zelos defended himself, obviously still angry.

"I don't care! Idiot!"

"If you're just going to keep insulting me... look, I told you what you wanted to hear, right? How about you leave me alone now!"

"You just told me you made a bet about your own life and you expect me to leave you alone?"

"Aw, c'mon, really! It's not as if its worth that much anyw... er..." he said and then stopped short; as if he had said something he had no intention of making public.

Sheena stared at him. What he had just said was something she had never expected to hear from him. He, who spent his days boasting about his own greatness... she, too had felt like that once, a long time ago. But she had met Corrine, and she had met Lloyd and the others. And she had met Zelos, too.

And he had met them all, and he had traveled along, and they were friends. So why, then?

"...do you really mean that?"

She wasn't yelling because she knew she mustn't. Because she knew that right now it wouldn't take her anywhere. So even though her gut was on fire and her hands clenched into fists, she didn't yell.

It did come out as a very angry little murmur though.

However, he shook his head and smiled lightly. "No. Not anymore, or at least not often. I was kinda convinced by Lloyd, I guess."

"Then why did you say it!"

"It was something my mother told me once. In her deathbed, you could say," he sighed, "That kinda thing gets stuck into one's head."

"...she was wrong, though."

"I know. I know, but there are times when..." he waved his hands around. "Well, now you see why I chase girls around, though."

"Oh yes. You suffer from the biggest Oedipus Complex I've ever seen."

"Yep yep, that's just it," he grinned. "And because I like boobs, too."

"...pervert."

He laughed. "You still angry?"

"When am I not angry at you?"

"How about now?"

"...just a little."

"There's my sweet hunny!" he patted her head and she pushed his hand aside. "So all you needed was to blow some steam, see?"

"That applies to you, too."

The Chosen smiled. "I'll admit it helped. But, you still needn't hit me like that...""

"Oh, stop whining..." she punched his shoulder playfully before walking past him and towards the inn.

"So I listen to your yelling and I don't get anything?"

She didn't stop and he started to follow. With her arms behind he back Sheena looked at the sky.

"You got me to understand you a little better. Isn't that good enough?"

"That's not what I... how am I supposed to answer that?"

"If you're going to sound like an idiot, you don't need to."

"Yeah, yeah..." he whined. "I can only hope you'll be too tired to yell tomorrow then."

"Only if you're too tired to be a pervert."

"With you around? Wouldn't count on that."

"Wh – hey! You – you shouldn't count on me not yelling then!"

Zelos laughed and headed into the room he shared with the rest of the males. "Night, hunny. Oh, and Sheena?" he stopped before closing the door.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks," and before she could answer he had disappeared.

Some times she thought that the only relationship that could ever exist between the two was just the constant fights that they had; with him pretending to be an idiot and she pretending to get angry over every tiny detail.

"...you're welcome."

She was glad he had proved her wrong though.


----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----

Notes: Difficult O-dai because while Sheena gets angry easily enough it takes a lot more for Zelos. If you think of it, is he ever angry during the game? The only time I can think of when he was angry was during the Rode Ride Tour (which you can find at my proile, thankyouforreadingthisad) and that was because of jealousy.

This, therefore, was going to be so angsty, but then I decided to make it more light-hearted and be done with it... I kinda like how it turned out. I know it doesn't really respect what happens in the game but oh well... I think that after all that had gone by in that day Zelos must've felt really tired and at least I tend to get angry when I'm tired ;

Anyway, thanks for reading this ninth entry. Next we have the glorious tenth!

----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----

#10 – As always

----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----û----