Cherry Tomatoes

Yay! Back with another ToS fic! Yay me! This one is Sheena...and ZELOS! Everyone loves Zelos.

. Right?

Okay, how about this! Everyone loves Zelos...with Sheena!

Yeah, yeah, that's good...

Okay! This fic takes place after the game, its Sheena's point of view, and...it came to me while I was weeding my garden! Read, Review...and...rejoice?

The day was cold. The wind from the mountains near-by was cold.

It was a rainy day. Not like, it was about to rain, but like it had just rain, and any minute now it seemed like it was going to start up again. Around my village of Mizuho, this was a day for people to be inside, working on things that didn't require the outside.

The fields around my village are filled of wild plants. I knew I just had to look hard enough, and I'd find the one food that he liked, even when Raine used to "cook" it.

Cherry tomatoes.

I remember...he sat under a tree, holding one in his hand, and then he squeezed it so hard that it burst all over his hand. It looked for a minute like blood, and what he said next drew me closer to his heart than ever before.

"Covered in red again...eh, mother? You loved these things...and then, you were red like they were."

I'll never forget that. Those words that seemed to mean so much to him. He'd eat cherry tomatoes anywhere, no matter who cooked them. When Lloyd and Colette diced them, when Genis made stir fry, when I spiced them, Regal boiled them...or when Raine made "tomato mash" from them.

Now, I'm looking after the village of ninjas, and I hardly see any of those people anymore. When I eat those small red fruits, I can only taste the spices and think of the look on Zelos's face when he thought of his mother.

I was rather damp from the mist and the rain that had began to sprinkle. The wind made me rather numb. I didn't care. Before Mizuho moved, I was going to give him a basket full of his favorite food, just from me.

There they were. Lots and lots of cherry tomatoes, perfectly red and ripe from all the rain. Growing there on the plants, just waiting for me. With my basket in hand, hair tied out of my face, and the favorite ribbon flowing around my waist, I kneeled down, ready to pick all day.

Just for that stupid Chosen...

My fingers were turning red, going completely numb and cold from being out here for so long. My basket is almost full...

"Maybe I should head back inside..." I think out loud to myself.

"...and then, you were red like they are..."

"No! I have to stay strong, and finish what I've started!" I told myself, commanding myself...

So I continued, picking and plucking and wishing that he were here...because if he was, I'd do and say a few things...

First, I'd give him his present.

Second, I'd slap his on the face for all those times he hurt me without even knowing it.

And last, I'd kiss him; stroke him; hold him close...tell him not to leave me ever.

I'm getting really numb...but I won't stop. I'll pick these tomatoes until the sun sets and the monsters begin roaming the fields. I will pick cherry tomatoes forever...if it means that Zelos will be happy.

This encouraged me to go faster, but then reality made me go slower. Mizuho...I couldn't stay here and move somewhere else at the same time! I had a village to look after...they already accepted me as the new chief. Abandoning them now would be a terrible thing.

So I sat there, in the middle of a patch of cherry tomato plants, wondering why my life had to be the one in the world where everything seemed to go wrong. My basket lay abandon, and I didn't pick another plant...

Suddenly, I was mad at the world. Mad at the responsibility that had been laid on me. Me of all people. All I wanted was to be forgiven, and to be able to love Zelos freely, without a worry in the world.

In a flash, I was up, kicking and beating the pulp out of the nearest plant to me. The tomatoes burst and popped under my fingers as I took out my rage on the poor plants.

"Damn the world! Damn it all! Damn my life and the pull of fate that made me this way! DAMN IT ALL!" I screamed, my fingers covered in red...

And that's when it all hit me. I was standing here, in fighting stance, about to beat up a poor plant...and I was covered in red. I was just like Zelos's mother. I was covered in red, and I was about to leave him, perhaps forever.

"No...I won't leave Zelos...he shouldn't have to suffer on my account..." I murmured, slowly back stepping to my basket.

I can't go all out of control. I must be strong, and talk to Vice Chief Tiga about it...maybe he'll let me go to Zelos.

"So all I'm going to do it drop off this food to the Chosen, and then I'll be back to help with the moving, ok?" I told Tiga, who looked rather grim. I imagined he would be, but I wasn't going to let him stop me.

I might have looked strange, standing there, with a basket of tomatoes...

That, and I wasn't wearing my normal attire. I had to change out of my ninja garbs, because they were covered in tomato, so I put on something nicer that that. It was a Mizuho style kimono in a shade of red, with a white petticoat, and a pink obi that matched Zelos's hair. I refused to change my hairstyle...but I did add a flower clip.

I looked more like a girl than I had in years, carrying that basket of cherry tomatoes.

"Right. You go and give your fruits to the Chosen." Tiga repeated. I bowed in respect, and he did the same, and then I turned to walk out of the village. Otogi was there...and when I was just barely out of earshot, I just heard them say this.

"Otogi...are you ready to help with the move, doing Sheena's part and yours?"

"Why, Vice Chief?"

"Because...there's always the chance that Sheena won't come back to us permanently."

The rainy streets of Meltokio were rather empty. After teleporting there, I was surprised that there weren't people. I wished that there were people, so I wouldn't have to feel to out of place...in a group, I was unique and one of a kind, but by myself, I always felt awkward.

All the houses seemed big and haunted with people who didn't care about me or my life. Then, in the middle of it all, was his house. He was inside there somewhere, perhaps alone, and perhaps not...but he was there. He existed with a purpose.

There was his house. Yellow, and there in the moonlit rain. It also existed, protecting him. I suddenly felt a rush of gratitude towards the house that existed to protect her dear Chosen.

I walked up to his front steps, gently placing the basket on the front steps. The cherry tomatoes glistened red with the rain cleaning them off. My plan was to just...leave them, and come back in a few hours to see what he thought.

Either I was just giving him time to think, or I was scared.

That was it...

For the first time since Volt, I was scared of something. I was scared of facing him; of walking up to his house and find that he's in bed with one of his hunnies. If he was, I was going to slap his twice and harder that normal.

But I continue walking up his walkway, my fears building with every step. I place the basket on the steps, knock on the door, and run. Ran down the steps and to a bench down the street a little, where I pretended to not be doing anything.

The door opened, and I heard his voice. I smelled the cologne that he used to wear from this far away. It was him. I knew it, but I forced myself to not look at him.

"Hmm...a basket of cherry tomatoes, sitting on my porch...without a single reason for being here..." I heard him saying.

"Maybe...a prank? Are they poisoned?"

I had to stand up.

"No, no, they look just fine. Nice and ripe and red..."

I would never know what drew me to walk closer to his door.

"Maybe...a gift from above? To remind me of my horrible past?"

Closer yet, stopping to smell the flowers. I made myself not look at him.

"Nope. That's never it. AH! I know. It was a gift from a fan! I'll have to go "thank" all my hunnies individually tomorrow...Or tonight." He mused, and I could tell he was smirking.

I was almost at his porch now. I can tell...any minute now...

"Hey...Sheena." He called, but I think...he knew it was me all along. I froze, and finally turned to look at him.

He looked just like he always had, with his pink and white attire. His hair was back in that headband...the one I longed to steal and watch his hair fall in his handsome face.

I didn't say anything. Nothing was to be said. There was a connection in the way he looked at me, with his smirk and his eyes that seemed to piece thought everything.

"What, pervert?" I shot back, doing it on instinct without thinking about anything.

"Well, first off, red is a very accenting color on your...lovely figure, Sheena." He smirked.

"Is that all you want to tell me?" I asked coolly.

He smiled. He actually smiled, not smirked, but smiled. He picked up the basket of cherry tomatoes, and actually smiled at me.

"Would you like to stay for dinner, since it's getting pretty wet out here..." he asked, smiling.

I just stared at him, before my mind began to whirl. I had already done the first thing...I gave him his present.

In a flash, I was right in front of him, and I slapped him. I slapped him right across the face, hard. He blinked at me, staring in wonder.

"That, you little pervert, is for all those times that you hurt me without actually knowing you hurt me." I scolded him.

Then, my gaze softened. I stepped so close to him that our chests were touching. He was taller than I was, but just by a few inches. I tilted my head up a bit to look into his eyes. He still looked a bit confused...and a bit hopeful.

Then, I kissed him. I stroked his hair. I held him closer so he couldn't run away. He felt so warm...in every meaning possible. When he kissed me back, I felt so safe, wanted...I felt at home. His arms were tight around my waist.

When we drew apart, he was back to smirking.

"Well? You never answered my question, my...precious hunny. Do you want to stay for dinner?" he asked, smirking...but in a loving way.

"Zelos...I'll stay forever." I whispered in his ear.

He smirked. I smiled. After drawing apart, we walked inside, the basket of cheery tomatoes swinging slightly between us.

Yeah...I don't really get this fic, but I just felt like writing it so badly, so here I am...

NOW REVIEW!