I'm glad to see that so many people are getting into this story. I myself am rather proud of how it's coming along. (smile) Well, I won't keep you waiting any longer; here's the next chapter!

Disclaimer: I still don't own anything from Tales of Symphonia. Got it? Good.

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/Just Tell Me/

Chapter III: The Truth Behind Rumours

By the time that Zelos and I had absorbed all of the festival air that we could, the sky had darkened and the streets were illuminated by a kaleidoscope of coloured lights. Many people were still outside celebrating; they flaunted their decorative wings in the artificial light, partook in careless conversations and enjoyed the live music that was playing. As mystical as the atmosphere was, I had seen enough of it—exhaustion had set in. Like a true gentleman, Zelos walked me back to my home—the hotel. I couldn't have been more thankful that he had succeeded in getting me a room. If he hadn't, my hard-headedness would have made me reject an offer of staying in his mansion again and I would have wound up sleeping on the streets—something that I had discovered was even more horrible than one could imagine.

We stood outside of the front of the inn for a little while. The front door had been left open and the stuffy air from inside flowed out, warming anything that it touched. The weather had cooled down the moment that the sun vanished from the sky and the moon took its place. Our parting was rather awkward; neither of us really knew what was an appropriate goodbye. A 'see you later', an 'I had a good time', or something else along those lines... or not? I had no clue.

"Did you enjoy yourself?" Zelos asked at last. I gave a small nod while keeping my eyes focussed on him. The coloured lights shining down from either side of us lit up Zelos' face; the left side glowing a pale blue, while the right side was a deep, almost red, pink. Oddly enough, the strange colour combination added to his charm. "Listen..." Zelos scratched the back of his head sheepishly, his half-closed eyes easily giving away his hesitation, "...Could us seeing each other again happen?" His voice was so distant that he seemed to be musing to himself rather than speaking to me.

I answered anyway. "I don't see why not. It's..." I gave a reserved smile, "...something that I'd like a lot."

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"Did you two kiss?"

Sheena started in shock. Colette had remained silent for so long that the summoner had begun to think that she was reminiscing within her own mind with no one listening. She exhaled, the slightest vexation present in her sigh.

"Sheena?" Colette spoke again, directing Sheena back towards her question.

She shook her head. "No. No we didn't. Not... then." Sheena shifted to get into a more comfortable sitting position. "I have to remember that Colette's listening," she reminded herself, "There are some things even she shouldn't know... I have to censor myself." She glanced back towards Colette; Sylvarant's Chosen was letting her eyes wander around to anything but Sheena, unsuccessfully masking how ill at ease she was about Sheena's entrancement. The ninja gave a comforting smile, "Hey. Colette, you still listening?" she asked good-naturedly, waving a hand in front of her friend.

Colette focussed her gaze back onto Sheena, "Y-Yes!" she stammered, "Keep going. I won't ask any more questions like that. Sorry."

"Don't be," Sheena laughed lightly, "If you want to know something, just ask. I won't mind answering." Colette gave an understanding nod and remained silent, waiting for Sheena to continue the story. The summoner quickly glimpsed in the direction of the campfire. It seemed that almost everyone had fallen asleep; only the redheaded man was awake, staring at the fire in such deep contemplation that Sheena could only assume that he did not even realize that she and Colette were also up. Still, she lowered her voice as she spoke, "We parted ways after that... but only for that night. As vowed, we saw each other again. And again and again... and a lot. I was finally getting to know who the Chosen really was... or at least who I thought that he was back then. He was fun-loving, outspoken, outgoing, and rather enticing. It didn't take long for rumours to spread about Zelos and I, even though nothing had really happened between us. We were friends, companions—that was all..."

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I had been completely oblivious to the fact that these rumours were going around. I figured that Zelos' groupies were probably coming up with some ridiculous assumptions, but to have had the words flowing through the city the way that they were was just... ridiculous. All of the people in the city had their own lives, problems, interests, and yet for some reason they all chose to talk about what they imagined was going on with other people. Someone else's life, someone else's problems, someone else's interests. Guess they just can't get enough of a kick out of their own.

One day as I was walking out of the Elemental Research Lab, the receptionist stopped me again. Every time that that woman called my name as I stepped outside, my heart tightened. She always seemed to leave me feeling dubious, never optimistic. "Sheena," she spoke; on the plus side, she seemed to be gaining more confidence as she became my bringer of bad news.

I turned around. "What is it, Flora?" After several conversations that took place under good terms, both of us had begun constantly referring to each other by name instead of 'you'.

"I was just wondering..." Flora rested against her desk, her back facing me just so that she could avoid eye contact, "You and the Chosen. Is it serious?"

"Is what serious?" I retorted, narrowing my eyes into a glare.

Flora's body visibly tensed up, "Ah, erm... Your... relationship...?" The way that her voice seemed to squeak as she spoke told me that she was internally wondering if there actually was a relationship.

I shut the front door and meandered over to the back of the desk, looking at Flora face-to-face. "What kind of relationship?" I practically demanded. The receptionist held her hand up to her mouth, nervously biting on her short, unpainted fingernails. She did not attempt to turn her stare away from me, however she also chose not to say a word. I took the liberty of clearing things up myself, "If you mean to say that we're involved in something romantic, that's not at all true. There isn't even a 'relationship' to be serious about."

"I shouldn't have said anything," Flora quickly murmured, her voice drowning in regret, "I've just heard a lot of things lately. Gossip, I guess. It was wrong of me to have assumed that the things people have been saying are facts."

I'd unconsciously begun tapping my foot against the floor, letting everything that I was being told process in my mind. "What's been said?" I finally let my curiosity take over. I wanted to know what it was that the people in the city were thinking.

"Well..." Flora hesitated for a moment, although she knew that she would be compelled to answer eventually, "People say that the two of you have been spending basically every night at the festival together..." That was true. "...And that you've been holding hands and speaking to each other without restrictions." That was false. "Also, the innkeeper supposedly spread word that the Chosen has a key to your hotel room and has used it to visit you during the night on several occasions."

I could not resist rolling my eyes with a mocking chortle. Why, I wondered, do people insist on deciding how other people are living? "They're lies, you know," I clarified; though I hoped that Flora had figured that out already. Judging by how hurriedly she nodded after my statement, I'd say that she understood. "I'm glad you brought this up," I broke the silence again, "It's always nice to know what's going on in your own life." I made no effort to veil the sarcasm in my voice. It was just so absurd. All of it. "Anyway, I'm going to get going. I'll see you again tomorrow, Flora."

I left the laboratory, questioning what it was that I should do about these rumours. I couldn't go up to every one of Meltokio's residents and say, 'Hey. All of that stuff you heard about Zelos and I? No truth to it!' There was really only one person I could speak to about these lies, and that was Zelos himself. I went to the noble quarters, weaving past every person that came by while knowing that they were probably thinking about how Zelos and I were an item. I bounded up the several stairs leading to Zelos' front door, and then pounded on its wooden surface. As per usual, Sebastian answered the door and then went to get the almighty Chosen.

"Hey there, Sheena!" he greeted after taking his sweet time to come downstairs.

"Do you know what people are saying about us?" I inquired instantly—no 'hello', no 'good to see you'.

Zelos blinked at first, not quiet grasping what I was asking about. Then suddenly, it hit him, "Oh! You mean the stuff about us being a couple? Don't let it get to you." I could only gape. Why was he referring to it so apathetically? "The rumours will die down eventually," he explained, "That, or they'll become a truth."

"A truth?" I snapped back, and then suddenly I silenced completely. A truth, he said? A truth to us being a couple? For a few seconds, I became detached from reality as I daydreamed about what it would be like to actually be involved with the Chosen of Tethe'alla. My walls of fantasy suddenly shattered when I heard Zelos laughing at me. "Hey, cut it out!" I ordered, "This is serious. Don't joke about it becoming a truth!"

He continued to chuckle—more discreetly at this point—and remarked under his breath, "Yeah. Joke." I huffed in response. "I'll tell you what... Why don't we leave the city for the rest of the day? Just to get your mind off of all of this. You'll realize that their words don't mean anything." I was about to give a nod in defeat, but then Zelos decided to add another comment: "It's not like you had a reputation to lose in the first place."

"Oh, shut up," I playfully nudged him in the arm. "But... that doesn't seem like a bad idea," I was sure to add. Actually, I thought that it was a great idea. I had been locked up in Meltokio for weeks now and even though I had come to enjoy it, a short escape was welcome.

With our decision to temporarily flee all of the commotion in Meltokio, Zelos and I strolled down to the water body that separated his continent from mine. Problem was, we hadn't chosen the greatest day in the world; it was the afternoon and the sun was at its high point, beating down on us as it would in the middle of the desert. It literally felt as though the skin on my face was on fire, it burned so much. I was starting to regret my choice of conservative clothing as sweat plastered my clothes to my skin.

The fairly short walk to the water seemed to take forever. When we had finally made our way down to one of the docks and sat down at its ledge, Zelos made the remark that we were both thinking: "I can't stand this heat any longer!" I nodded my head absent-mindedly as I fanned myself with my hand. Fans hardly seem to work when all you're doing is wafting hot air in your face. Zelos stared intensely at the slightly murky water, "I wanna jump in..."

At the time, I just laughed at him. I hadn't expected him to actually do it, but... Well, when he began to take off his shirt, I thought he was insane. "Zelos, you're not seriously going to--" My statement was cut short when he dove into the water, the liquid splashing up at me. "Oh Jizou, you've lost your mind; that water's freezing! And pretty contaminated, too!"

Zelos' head reappeared above the water's surface, and he instinctively straightened out his tousled hair. "I'd rather freeze than melt under the sun," he said calmly, "Besides, I burn easy."

I couldn't help but let a playful smirk appear on my face as I lied down on my stomach, suspending my arms over the edge of the dock so that my hands could feel the water's coolness. "And taking off your shirt is going to make that better... how?" I teased.

He pulled himself out of the water and sat down next to me. "Oh, don't deny that you like it, Sheena," he taunted right back as he wrung the water out of his hair. I did like it, and I did try to deny it. While he toyed with his hair to the point of perfection, I watched him. I never would have imagined that he'd have such a nice physique... I mean, I had figured that by wearing brightly coloured clothes he was compensating something, however he really did have an appearance that most girls would swoon over. I was not about to faint in his presence or anything, although I still stared and he noticed. "Like what you see?" Zelos asked mischievously.

"No!" I retorted on instinct, sitting upright.

He chuckled as he shook his head so that the loose water came out of his hair. "Hey, can I get to judge how you look when you're wet, too?" he inquired hopefully, to which I again objected with a 'no'. "Aw, c'mon..." Zelos swiftly moved forward and gripped onto both of my forearms to prevent me from knocking him away. Technically, I could have still done so using my feet, but I didn't; something told me that he was not actually going to push me into the water. If that had been his plan, then he would have already done it. He was only holding onto me and staring at me the same way that I had been staring at him a minute before that. He suddenly moved closer to me and touched his lips to mine, and then pulled away quickly.

My eyes were wide in disbelief; they were also shining in wonder. "Y... You..." I stammered, bringing my hand up to my mouth to finish conveying my message: he had kissed me. The light pressure that he had left was still pulsating in my lips.

"Kissed you?" Zelos finished my sentence, "Well observed." In that moment, I found it almost unbelievable. Just like that I had had my first... romantic encounter. It was hardly anything, and yet I couldn't help but feel like it was a big deal. Zelos easily noticed how stunned that I was, and so he commented, "What? Is this your first kiss or something?" I could tell by the tone in his voice that he was joking; that he thought that it could not have possibly been my first kiss. He soon realized—with help granted by the way that my entire body seemed to glow red, and not from the sun's heat—that what he had said was no taunt. It was a reality. There was a smile present on Zelos' face, "Oh my... You're the most innocent person that I've ever met."

"Sh...shut up!" I snapped, looking away from him shyly, "I... How old were you when you first kissed a girl?"

Zelos shut his eyes, humming quietly as he contemplated. "On the lips? Ten or eleven, I think..." he answered. I blushed even more. "But don't feel bad about it," Zelos hurriedly added, "With the way things are in Meltokio's society now, it's nice to meet someone who has more decency than a twelve-year-old." His honesty was not at all helping, and so I pulled my knees to my chest and let my head sink down into them. I couldn't see him, but I heard Zelos shifting closer to me. The chill of his fingers brushing against my chin forced me to look upwards, into his eyes. I almost wanted to hate him for grinning at me in such... amusement. Any feelings of loathing that I had had faded in an instant as again, he kissed me. That time I was not shocked. I kissed him right back; albeit, very awkwardly. After all, it was a new experience, and since he was the experienced one, Zelos guided me... which is rather humiliating to admit, actually. Still, it was enjoyable. When our lips finally parted, Zelos just stared at me. I stared back self-consciously.

"What?" I asked plainly.

"Oh, I was just noting how good a kisser you are," Zelos replied slyly. I knew that I was blushing again, if I can even say that I had ever stopped. "And to think that you've never done this before..."

I turned my head away, playfully saying, "Be quiet, Zelos!" In truth, I appreciated his comments.

And that settled it... there weren't rumours anymore. There were facts. Although there was one major setback with the existence of these facts: who I was, where I was from. I didn't live in Meltokio where all of this gossip existed. I lived in Mizuho, the most traditional area in all of Tethe'alla. Outsiders like Zelos were not accepted; disgraces like me did not belong as it was.

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Another chapter done—booya! And the romance has already started. Now, you must keep in mind that Sheena is telling this story to Colette, and so she's not going to go into detail about the friendship that developed before the romance. Colette doesn't care about that. XD I'll try to update as soon as I can, but I have exams all of this month so it might be tough. (Plus, I'm not sure where I want this story to go in the next chapter...) Here, as always, are the responses to reviews:

To MoonCannon – Yes, sir; I shall obey! Heh... I always admire how you review pretty much every fic, whether you agree with the concept/pairing or not.

To sylenis – Thank you very much. Nice to know that I write so well that it hurts. o.0 Wait... is that a good thing?

To Adriatic – Yes, Zelos is kind—it's the apocalypse! Ahem... As always, your reviews are much appreciated. And I shall definitely consider writing a Kratos fic for you. I just need inspiration. (Actually, I started a one-shot for ya... but I'm already at a writer's block. XD)

To FairyV – Sheena's loneliness is yet to come; but it's there. It's pretty much just vanished for the time that she's in Meltokio because Mizuho's not on her mind; however as you probably tell, Mizuho's going to be coming into the picture soon.

To KyraValo – Thank you muchly for your comments! The praise is very enjoyable to read.

To Sir-dik-dik-follower of Beef – Well, with both you and my best friend trying to get me to try RE4, I guess it's only a matter of time until I'm forced to play it. XD And I'll get the Mother's Day chapter up, I swear! It's just... over a month late... it's about ¾ of the way done!

To Black Winged Huntress – Thank you (for the review), thank you (for favouriting this). Can't promise that Zelos will stay sweet, though. (wink)

To kuramagirl44 – Pft! That's Mithos-style crazy? Work on your maniacal laugh! More like this: Mwehahaha... hoohahahah! HAHAHAHAHAHA! (cough, cough) Don't mind me. I'm crazy.

To Bids(at)Ebay – Woohoo! Three cheers for me! (Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray!) Wow... I just gave cheers to myself... I'm pathetic. Heh, heh. Thanks for the review.