Yay, this is my first ever fan fiction on here. First of all lets start with the disclaimer!!
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Final Fantasy or the gaming series, the original characters are not mine although i have put some original characters of mine in this, so please do not steal them! This is a purely fan based fiction, All right for the original FF characters go to their rightful owners at SqaureSoft.
So then, what do you need to know about this fanfiction of mine??? - well basically, this is a fanfiction of Shuyin and Lenne before the beginning of FFX and FFX-2.. it's also, how i think their stories could have fit better into the story of FFX, please review, but also please don't be nasty, this is my first fanfiction to be published here.. Thanks xxx
Ch3: The Promise of Forever.
It had been three days since Mahra, Lenne and Teran's older sister had returned from her honeymoon. In that time, Lenne had sat through almost two hours of photos from the actual wedding and vacation, and she was beginning to feel like she needed to have a vacation herself.
She returned home that night to find the apartment completely empty, probably a good thing, just in case Teran had decided to follow her up. She placed her handbag on the sofa and immediately shuffled into the kitchen, rummaging through her fridge for her half empty bottle of vitamin water.
After taking a couple of sips, her attention was directed to a used piece of paper on the cupboard door. Lenne put the top back on her bottle and placed it carefully by her side on the unit so that she could read the note.
A short message was written on it, in Shuyin's hand writing;
My dearest Lenne, I won't be coming home tonight…
There are a few things I have to take care of..
All my love… Shuyin
Won't be coming home?! A few things to take care of?!Last time he said that he didn't come home for three days whilst he went strolling off to Bevelle to spy on the enemy and their weapon. What could be more important than seeing Lenne in the evening after she had been out all day listening to her sister chat away about her wedding ceremony and honeymoon, which the youngest sister knew backwards at this point.
Lenne sighed with annoyance and screwed up the piece of paper, throwing it in the trash as she passed and stormed though the apartment to run a hot bath, with bubbles.
"Stupid man! Why could be more important than seeing the woman you love!" She muttered to herself in an angry tone. She had heard enough of people going away to exotic places and enjoying themselves, whilst she was stuck in Zanarkand working day in and day out, all she wanted was to be with the man she loved and adored tonight. Having a little bit of her own freedom.
"Humph!" She snorted, turning her nose up in disgust at the fact that he would rather be somewhere else. Leaving the hot water running for a little while, she decided to scurry back into the kitchen. Making sure that the area was clear apart from herself, she opened a lower cupboard that she had recently forbidden herself from and pulled out a bottle of white wine, along with a fancy wine glass from the cupboard for glasses.
She popped the cork and quietly announced the word "Oops" sarcastically as she let the liquid slip from the bottle into her glass until it was three quarters of the way full. She grimaced as she tasted the bitter flavour of the wine, but then shrugged it off as the taste changed to a tangy sweet mixture.
Lenne picked up the glass after placing the bottle in a slot in her fridge door and before heading back to her running water, almost skipping through the open plan apartment to the bathroom.
The water was soothing against her cold skin. The relaxing smell of lavender drifted into her nostrils, filling her head with calm thoughts, working in synchronisation with the wine in her hand. When not too busy taking a sip, she would place it on the side unit near the sink and let her body sink further into the mounds of white bubbles, breathing deeply and trying not to think of Shuyin. Her apartment walls were thick, so there was no disturbance from the neighbours as she began to accomplish her goal of remaining calm and relaxed.
Just when she thought she would surely slip into slumber, she was disturbed by the sound of her apartment door being opened. She turned her head sideways to look at the bathroom door and heard a second sound as it shut on its own, without the help of a human hand. Next she heard the rattling of plastic bags and the distinct shuffle of boots against her kitchen floor: Shuyin?
She got out of the bath and dried her body rapidly with a towel off the radiator, cleansing herself of any clingy bubbles from the surface of the water.
She picked up the glass of wine, now nearly empty from the side unit after wrapping the towel around her frail and thin body. Still with all her common sense she stepped out of the room and headed back down the corridor towards the kitchen.
Shuyin was putting away a small amount of shopping that he had decided to pick up on his way to the apartment, sighing as he finished one bag and went onto another.
Upon noticing the recently opened wine bottle in the door, he decided to take it out and pour himself a cheeky glass, placing it on the side next to the bottle of vitamin water left by Lenne just a half hour before. He stood with his back to the cabinets, facing the open plan living room of Lenne's apartment. He sighed again, sipping the wine and letting the tangy sweet mixture dissolve his stress.
Minutes later he was met by the sight of Lenne, only covered by a small towel. Her hair was scraped back into a half hearted messy bun and her face was tainted by a few stands of sweat caused by hot bath water from the next room.
Great! He thought silently, half excited and half annoyed. As if there wasn't enough frustrating him at the moment, this only heighted yet another frustration, one that he couldn't let out so easily.
Lenne immediately noticed that he was troubled, and her half nakedness didn't really help. She half smiled at him and pushed her empty wine glass towards him, "You're late." She said.
Her voice only worked with her body, giving him even more frustration in a certain aspect. Surely she knows that she's doing this…He thought … Oh Yevon, kill me now, this is too much!
He managed to pour her another glass without jumping over the counter and swooping her up in his arms, and then topped his own glass off. "I know." He replied bluntly, "sorry."
"Can I ask where you've been?" She asked, taking a quiet sip of her second glass.
"Yea," He tried to not look at her, focusing his attention on the smooth floor of the kitchen. "I took a quick trip to Bevelle, I wanted…"
"-Again?!" Lenne exclaimed. "God Shuyin, when are you gonna get it into your head that you can't keep spying on what Bevelle are doing?!" Her tone had somewhat calmed down as she spoke.
"I'm concerned for our city Lenne! I'm concerned for you!"
Lenne had never given much thought to the idea of a war starting, she had chosen not to accept the idea that if a war did start then she would have to go and fight on the front line with the rest of her summoner friends. She would never even consider the idea until a war actually did start.
"Shuyin, I'm not going anywhere. You should know that by now." She paused for a moment, taking a couple more sips from her glass, following her lover into the living room where they sat side by side on the couch.
"I just want to help; I go to Bevelle to see if I can catch sight or ear of what they're planning. If we know what's coming before it even gets here then we will be more prepared."
"Why do you want to do this Shuyin? You've not been hired to do this." Lenne placed a loving hand on his knee as he sat hunched over his half filled glass.
He paused as he gave a little thought to her question. "People just see me as the pretty-boy Blitzer. I want them to see me as more than that, I want them to see me as a hero."
"A hero?! Why all of a sudden do you want to be a hero?" Lenne asked, sounding more like a mother comforting her young son who had been bullied in the playground.
At that moment, Shuyin almost did look like a small boy who was being bullied in the playground. Being bullied by someone much bigger than him, "Jecht says that I'm not good for anything but blitzball.
Lenne turned her lip up in disgust at the idea. Not the comment so much as the mention of Jecht.
"Jecht's a Jerk!" She replied sounding very much like the nineteen year old that she was. "I don't know what Mahra sees in him; even Teran doesn't like him that much." Lenne paused and thought of an even better way to comfort him. "You listen to me." She said, removing his glass and placing it on the glass coffee table next to hers. "All of this talk about being a hero in nonsense. The people of Zanarkand love you!" She smiled, taking his head in her hands and bringing her face around to look her in the eyes. "And as for Jecht! The only thing he is good enough for is buying my sister's love and getting drunk."
The couple giggled at her comment, and Shuyin pulled his lover onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her lower back. Lenne dropped her arms so that they fell around his neck. "Shuyin," She uttered lovingly, "you already are a hero… my hero." She smiled and placed a kiss on his smiling lips too.
They sat together in sweet solitude, with no fear of being caught at any moment in their secret meeting. Shuyin couldn't stand the frustration any more, he trailed kisses from her lips to her jaw line, to her neck and lay her down on her back on the cushioned couch that they had been sitting on.
The mothering care that Lenne had felt just seconds ago had now vanished and she only felt pure need for the man she loved as he showered her in his warm kisses.
"Shuyin…" She whispered, "Promise me something?"
"Anything," He replied, slightly tense.
"Promise me that we'll stay together, like this, forever. Until the day we die."
He didn't reply; too busy covering her shoulders with the mark of his hard lips, in the mean time he was thinking.
"Shuyin?" Lenne pressed.
Finally he lifted his head and towered directly above her, looking straight into her brown eyes. "Marry me?" He asked.