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

The O-dai themes belong to the Zeroshii-Wa, but it has closed down now. Ain't that so sad?

Setting: In-game.

Warnings: Don't you laugh at the tomatoes, I'm warning you!


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Normal Version,

#17 – Sea

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Through the window there came the sound of the gently rolling waves. It was relaxing, as most natural sounds were supposed to be. The sky was so dark it almost merged with the waters underneath and if it wasn't for the moon; a thin bow floating at the middle of the firmament that shone done upon the waters, breaking in thousands little fragments.

"Like leaping sardines shining under its rays," staring out of the window she muttered to herself, remembering an old poem from Mizuho she had learnt as a child. She had never thought it'd sound so weird when translated to the common everyday tongue, but surely of all possible fishes sardines weren't the most poetic ones.

Her poetic reverie was interrupted by a heavy sigh – a groan – coming from the bed in front of her and she, too, groaned.

"Why am I stuck with you, anyway?" the ninja said.

"Well, so sorry," laying on the bed the redhead snapped back. He was covered up to the waist with Altamira's delicate bed-sheets and his chest covered only by his thin black shirt.

Zelos, Chosen of Tethe'alla was currently suffering from heavy sunstroke.

Sheena, ninja and assasing from Mizuho was currently suffering from having to take care of the aforementioned Chosen.

"Unbelievable," she continued, "How did you, of all people, end up like this?"

Zelos didn't answer.

They had decided to take a day off at Altamira. Sheena, along with Raine, had stayed under a nice big umbrella for most of the day, enjoying the benefits of being friends with the hotel's owner. The rest of the group, however, had spent the entire day in various activities, from swimming around to collecting seashells and 'hunny-hunting'. They had stayed at the beach for most of the day and dedicated almost two hours to building a huge sand-castle, what with Lloyd's manual abilities and Presea's lightning-quick calculations.

The results had been predicted by Raine and ignored by everyone else: most of the group started feeling tired at dinner and by eight o'clock Lloyd, Genis, Presea and Zelos had taken to bed, with fever and headaches.

It was almost strange that Colette, who was amongst the palest of them all, hadn't been affected. Perhaps it had something to do with the Angel transformation, had said Raine before adding that

"The less, the best. I'll watch over the two kids – Colette, you stay with Lloyd. Sheena...?"

Even before the silver-haired medic had finished the ninja had known what she was about to say. And she didn't like it much but didn't have much of a choice either.

So there she was, stuck in the same room as Zelos and forced to watch over him 'till the fever went down. And while she certainly wasn't happy the Chosen didn't seem too giddy either – in fact he seemed to be downright moody and had been silent for most of the time. It seemed he didn't like headaches.

His silence hadn't been the blessing she would've thought it'd be – the silence that floated around the room wasn't exactly comforting, even with the waves running against the beach just outside of the window.

"This is what you get for chasing after girls all day long."

Zelos glared at her. "At least I didn't bore myself to death like you."

"I wasn't bored."

"Well you bored me at least."

"Idiot," Sheena rolled her eyes.

"And why do I have to put with this, anyway?" Zelos whined some more, taking a hand towards his forehead where a tomato slice had been placed. "What's the point of this?"

"Ask Raine," Sheena answered, "She was the one who told me to do it. I would've used ice."

Zelos puckered his lips. "Then use ice."

The ninja ignored him (she was feeling a little too lazy to go search for ice) and took the slice he was still holding, set it aside and took a new one which she placed onto his forehead. He sighed, content.

"The other one was getting too warm."

Sheena had to contain a smile. So tomatoes did work, or perhaps they just offered relief. It was still the weirdest method she had heard of, but she wasn't the doctor, after all.

Zelos had closed his eyes and was starting to look less moody now. Sheena smiled at this – the sooner he fell asleep the sooner she would be able to rest, too. Also, he looked funny, with his hair all tussled and a tomato slice resting on his head. Still smiling, Sheena took two of the remaining slices and placed one on each of his cheeks.

Zelos didn't open his eyes. "You enjoy laughing at my misfortune."

"Well, I have to do something to make this more enjoyable."

The redhead sighed. "Women can be so cruel!"

"Only with idiots like you," she sniggered.

Zelos opened his eyes and the tomatoes fell onto his lap as he sat up and tried to wipe the remains with his hand. "Great, now I smell funny."

"Men always do," commented Sheena tiredly.

"So you've noticed? Why, I'm grateful."

"That wasn't a compliment, you stupid Chosen," the ninja rolled her eyes and gathered the tomato slices together. "I'll assume you're feeling fine now."

"Nah, I just wanted to get a look at the sea," was the man's answer, though he was obviously completely past the fever.

"Ah, really," answered her but didn't leave. Instead she, too, stared out at the window. "You like the sea?"

"...don't have anything against it. Wouldn't like to be in the middle of a storm though."

"No one would."

Zelos slipped back into the bed, pulled the sheets up to his shoulders and sighed. "Makes a nice lullaby."

She raised an eyebrow, even though he couldn't really see it. "You're not the kind one would associate with lullabies."

"Why not?" Zelos half-glared at her now, "Even the Great Chosen was a kid once."

"I bet you were as obnoxious as you are now, too," she replied, laughing.

A little for her surprise he didn't retort with any witticism nor did he boasted about how he had been called a prodigy. In fact, there wasn't much reaction at all – he just moved his eyes back to the window before saying "...I wonder."

Sheena chose not to say much more. She had first met him when they were working at the Meltokio Imperial Research Laboratory – he was in his late teens and she was a country girl that didn't trust neither the city nor the flamboyant man who called himself the Chosen – was he supposed to be Spiritua's successor?

And yet... things had happened in between them. They could've gone better but they could've also gone much worse and there she was now, sitting next to his bed and placing tomato slices on his forehead. Fate was sure funny.

She thought that in all the years she had known him he had never once spoken of his childhood nor had he mentioned his family – his father, his mother, his sister, not a word. Sheena guessed that wasn't an easy topic for him: his mother had been murdered in front of his eyes, after all.

According to the whole of Meltokio, she had died protecting him. According to the Mizuho intelligence net, she had simply been caught in the crossfire. The truth, however, was only known to Zelos... and how could she ask him to talk about such thing?

"...do you remember any lullabies?" she finally said. It was not that she was curious, but (perhaps thanks to his headache) he seemed to be I an unusually serious mood and thus it'd be easier to coax something out of him.

When he turned to answer, however, it was clear that she wouldn't get anything clear that night. "I've got better things to use my memory on!"

"Really?" she sighed, knowing she would regret asking "What sort of things?"

"My beautiful hunnies names and sizes."

"Idiot," the girl said.

"You?" the redhead asked, once more sinking into the sheets, "Remember any?"

Sheena nodded. "I remember one my grandpa used to sing to me."

"Really?" the man grinned, "Will you sing it for me?"

"As if!" she exclaimed immediately enough. "You've got the sea, anyway."

"So cruel! And just when my headache was leaving!"

"It's leaving because I'm getting one because of you."

He laughed but didn't answer much more and she went back to looking out of the window. The silence had finally turned mellow and she was surprised at how she wasn't actually feeling like leaving anymore. Perhaps it was because of the sound of the waves and their constant washing outside on because of how pretty the moon looked reflected on top of the waters.

The reason didn't matter, she guessed.

"Say, Zelos..." she started, knowing she wanted to say something or maybe to ask something although she wasn't completely sure what – but maybe she'd find out what it was once he answered.

But no answer came. When she looked at the man laying on the bed she found him asleep, his chest rising up and down slowly, almost to the rhythm of the ocean waves. The ninja smiled, got up and, careful not to make any noise, left the room. He needed to sleep as much as she did and the journey was by far not over... surely, as the sea she left behind in his room, she would get a chance to ask.

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Notes: I told you not to laugh at the tomatoes… well, they do work with sunstrokes, I swear. Either that or my family had the weirdest healing methods – tomatoes, ashes and sleep.

This could've been so angsty and/or so fluffy. But this is normal version, so no angst and no fluff for you! ...yet. I wonder how many more I'll write though? Well, only three more to go 'till the end of the Normal series, so you'd better get ready for, uh, whatever follows.

Important Notice! Heed the italized bold letters, for they call you! I've started uploading some of the ToS Comic Anthologies, specially those who contain Zelos/Sheena themes or those who make me laugh. You can find the images at the Sheelos LiveJournal Community linked at in my profile... drop a line while you're there, will you? Scanning takes not only a lot of time but also leaves me with a back-ache, but your comments would make it all worthwhile! (or maybe not, but c'mon people... please?)

Anyway, thanks to all who reviewed the last one, thanks a lot! I think I did manage to answer most of the reviews this time, I'll try to keep it up as we near the end of the "Normal" series with –

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#18 – Hot-spring

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