Disclaimer: Not mine.
AN: I see this occurring once Kratos returns to your party after the duel in Torent Forest. The idea/inspiration itself came from a joint effort of Sora no Hoshi and Penamesolen to get me to write a "Kratos in Danger" chapter for Z-Skit Theater. Thanks for the idea guys, I hope it's as good as you were expecting!
Now he knew, it couldn't be more clear. He finally understood the reason that, after the incident in the Tower of Salvation, she never took her eyes off him whenever they met, no matter how charged the situation got. Relieved though he was that her attentions weren't the product of a lingering crush or those of a woman scorned, the interest still terrified him, and with good reason.
Once his wings came out he ceased to be 'Kratos Aurion, Mysterious Sword-for-Hire' and became 'Kratos Aurion, Ancient Hero and Seraphim of Cruxis.' In other words, he became by far the most fantastic, marvelous biological specimen available to Raine in both worlds; a truly dangerous position to be in.
When she first asked to examine his wings and Cruxis Crystal he almost consented, but that was before he noticed the ominous gleam of the scalpel she held palmed and, to her reckoning, hidden at her side. It was at times like those when he loved his enhanced angelic senses the most, they were so useful when it came to keeping out of trouble. However, acute as they might be, his senses couldn't keep him out of danger all the time. Especially not when being pursued by a tenacious, half-elven maniac like Raine.
The moment Kratos discovered her intentions to all but perform a vivisection on him, he took to the air, easily soaring up out of her reach. It was a perfect and surprisingly simple escape, aside from one minor hitch: He forgot, but Raine had a Rheaird. The look on his face when she rose up level with him in the air openly brandishing her scalpel, as she would tell him later, was beyond priceless, and was documented thanks to a tiny bit of Tethe'allan photographic technology she had acquired in Altamira. (A disposable camera with a built-in, mana-powered, automatic flash. What a wondrous invention!)
That was several hours ago and, as Kratos discovered, eluding Raine was becoming quite difficult. Flying slowly drained his mana and, though he could hover in one spot indefinitely, the energy required to propel himself faster than a Rheaird was taxing. He was quickly growing fatigued while she rode a tireless machine. It got to a point where Kratos expected that when he looked over his shoulder he would see not only Raine barreling after him, but his wings blinking in and out of existence as well. Not wishing to fall to his death (as it would be far too embarrassing an end for a being with wings), and hoping to preserve strength enough to defend himself, he located a spit of land along the coastline and began to descend. Raine would follow, as he was well aware, and though he was loath to harm his son's teacher, Kratos Aurion would not go quietly! Or so he thought.
In his haste, Kratos slightly misjudged his energy reserves. The last of his expendable mana ran out while he was still in the air, approximately ten feet above the ground. There was still enough left in his body to keep him for dying and the fall, though unpleasant, didn't end him, but his body informed him very firmly that if he tried anything else he would certainly die and refused to move. Raine arrived just minutes after.
"You're lucky I saw where you fell, Kratos. What happened? Are you low on mana?" Taking the swordsman's inarticulate grunt as an affirmative she set to healing him. First Aid only though, she didn't want him running off again. "I see, so I was correct. Angelic wings are made of pure mana and siphon energy away from the rest of the body to generate lift. Fascinating... I'll inspect them later, after you've rested and regained your energy. As for now I'll just..."
Kratos flinched or, more accurately, tried to flinch away from the mad professor as she pulled out her scalpel but found he was still hopelessly immobile. With few other options, he heaved a resigned sigh.
"Fine, do it already. Just be sure to anesthetize me first." He tensed as she grabbed his sword arm, lightly tapping various spots with the edge of the scalpel, as if trying to decide the best place to make the first incision. At the first touch of cold steel, Kratos gritted his teeth. She wasn't even going to knock him out. A single strong blow to the head with her staff would do it at this point, but it seemed Raine planned to work while he was still awake. 'This,' he thought, 'will be unpleasant.'
"Stop being so dramatic, Kratos. It's only a blood sample. A little prick on the finger and we're done. Honestly, you're worse than Lloyd when I have to give him his immunizations! There." Kratos felt her release his arm and opened his eyes to see she was telling the truth. A tiny nick on his finger seeped a few drops of blood, but was quickly clotting. In Raine's hand was a small glass vial that held several more drops and her scalpel was nowhere to be seen. "That wasn't so bad now, was it?"
"I suppose not." Kratos' voice was rough and scratchy, but returning. The brief rest while Raine took his blood, stressful though it was, restored his energy enough that he could struggle into a loose, cross-legged sit. "It certainly wasn't worth flying across the world to escape from, though I never would have run from you if you only explained yourself before lunging at me with a scalpel." Raine threw him a curious look.
"If I may ask, what exactly did you think I was going to do to you? You seemed quite agitated."
Realizing that "I thought you were going to slice me open and divine from my entrails" would be a bad response, Kratos simply cleared his throat and quietly stated "I've heard stories from Noishe."
-x-
The Rheaird ride back to camp was relatively quiet. Kratos sat on the back, nursing an Elixir and rather embarrassed about how greatly he overreacted. Raine drove, anxious to get back to her equipment and begin testing Kratos' blood. If she waited too long it would begin to clot, and while she could always procure more it seemed a shame to waste the sample she had worked so hard for. After what seemed like an eternity of near-silence, Raine spoke up.
"You realize I'm still going to examine your wings and Cruxis Crystal when we land, right?" She sensed him tense up again and hastily added, "No scalpels this time, I promise."
There was a slight pause and another resigned sigh before she felt Kratos relax slightly. Raine could tell without looking that the swordsman was holding a hand to his forehead in exasperation as he ruefully muttered "Very well, as you wish." Grinning impishly to herself, Raine knew there was only one way to properly respond to that.
"Marvelous! Of course, I have more tools than scalpels..."
Glancing back over her shoulder to check on her passenger, she noted that Kratos once again looked very scared.
AN: Yes, Raine can be rather... Overzealous when it comes to her research, this is true. But we have to remember she can also be calm, collected, and rational about her studies as well. That said, I still love the image of Kratos flying away with Raine on his heels in her Rheaird, madly waving a scalpel.