Whoo de Cougar ish here. n.n Yay~ Let us hope me and Veni's first two works here are accepted well~ And yes, no characters belong to me; Tales of Symphonia is owned by Namco. But by golly gosh, would I love to own them characters~ Dx They're so awesome~ Really~ (dreamy sigh)

(cough) ANYWAYZ~

Let us get to the story, yes? Ciao!

"Lloyd, take it."

"No."

"Lloy--"

"No!"

"Do you really want--"

"I'm fine."

"No. Take it now or else--"

"I already said I'm fine! Sheesh! If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were my dad or something!"

Oh the irony of that simple statement. At this point in time, however, Kratos Aurion was the only one who knew that. Such words emitted from the young brunette teen sitting before him stung, yes. But he was Kratos. And as such, he merely rolled his eyes to the previous accusation, still holding out the new shirt material for his son to wear. With a little magic on Raine's part, it should be able to be modified into his normal red shirt attire. His current one was well...nearly in shreds. Who knew a pegasus-like-creature that fired light-based attacks...wait, rephrasing that: who knew light could be used like a blade in the first place?

Raine had to avoid mimicking the auburn-haired mercenary as she was forced to grab Lloyd's shoulders firmly in an attempt to keep him put as she applied salve to his wounds. The boy hissed in pain, jolting when she started to work on the major wound on his back. Which brought up another problem...his black undershirt was torn pretty badly, too.

"By Martel, Lloyd...how'd you manage to get beat up so bad?"

That was Sheena, who sat nearby, watching the whole ordeal with an amused smirk on her face. One arm was propped up by her elbow on her knee, as her tilted head rested against her fist. Her chocolate brown eyes light up with even more satisfaction when Lloyd's almost identical brown eyes glared back at her.

Sitting beside the ninja, Genis was holding in a snicker. "Yeah, Lloyd. It looked like it had a thing for you."

"Shut up, Genis."

Colette, sitting on the other side of Lloyd, could only blink in confusion at the idea. That didn't make sense...if the pegasus-thing liked Lloyd, then why did it attack him the most? Getting up to make her question known, she walked over to the little mage, sitting down beside him, and taking his hand to write her question on his palm. Genis was forced to ignore the tickling sensation as Colette's finger wrote away. When the question was asked, the white-haired boy was then forced to hide down his embarrassment as well.

"...it was a joke, sorry, Colette," he murmured.

The blonde-haired angel blinked, then a smile broke out on her lips. She wrote back a 'don't worry about it' on his palm, then returned to watching Lloyd cringe at each touch Raine made on his back to heal his wound (As if that is worthwhile entertainment...but I suppose must be.).

"...seriously, though, how did you get so beat up?"

Lloyd glared at Sheena, saying through gritted teeth as again Raine placed her hand on his back. "...darn...beast...kept using that same attack..." Another sharp intake of breath.

"Photon?" Genis guessed.

"I don't know what the heck it was. It just--ow, Professor!" Lloyd turned to the half-elven woman behind him, brown eyes ablaze with short-lived anger. The healer looked coolly back, as if to say, 'Are you really in the position to glare that way at me, young man?' And all at once, Lloyd turned reluctantly back around, only to wince again at her touch.

Kratos rolled his eyes once more, before trying to return to the same subject he had brought up earlier. However, his plan of action was to simply throw the cloth onto Lloyd's lap--which he did, and in turn he got a glare in response. Speaking of which, the brunette seemed to be doing a lot of glaring lately...

"I'm not going to use your old armor...thing..." Lloyd held up the cloth in question. It wasn't armor, really. Just a large shirt material. Actually, it was a special type of cloth, that in which, when mana was applied to it, magic could be used to change its appearance. Of course, Raine would have to sew on the many buttons for him, but that was no matter. It was a task she could easily do--and quickly.

Kratos, however, merely raised an eyebrow at the boy's response to his 'plan of action.' "Why not?" he questioned. "It's still in fairly well condition..."

Lloyd wrinkled his nose up. There were no more winces from him at the moment; Raine was finished with his back, and now scanned him over to see if she got everywhere. First aid would have been wasting mana from her, and apple gels could only go so far, and using so many at once would have been wasteful, as well. So she was left to the old ways of healing.

"But you used it. It probably has your sweat all over it."

This, in turn, earned a quiet 'ewwwwww' from both ninja and mage who sat to the side of the scene. Raine sighed at the development of the situation as she began to put her kit away. The others had already been tended to by now. Goodness...all of them were such kids...and even, at some rare moments, Kratos showed a childish side.

Perhaps like this stage of events before her, where she found the auburn-haired mercenary bickering with a teenager, both acting as if they were kids fighting over their toys.

"It's been washed."

"How long ago?"

"...a week."

"When did you last use it?"

"Two weeks ago."

Seeing that his inquiries had turned against him, Lloyd banged his fist lightly against his knee. Oh, not smart choice. He was wounded there, too. The wince that over took his face and the quiet whine that emitted from his throat revealed that fact. And it was Genis who snickered in response, earning a chocolate-eyed glare just a mere second later.

"Oh, that reminds me. I have something for you, too, Sheena."

Everyone turned to the Professor who had just put away her first aid kit. As she had done so, she must've grabbed the silk robe that now lay in her hands. Sheena blinked in response, head lifting off her fist as she stared in surprise at Raine.

"For me...? But my robe isn't--"

"It is getting old, is it not? You've been wearing it ever since you joined our team. I think it's time you at least received a new one," Raine interrupted, almost firm in tone. For what reason, the ninja had no clue.

Sheena stared at the cloth the teacher held in her hands, a few wheels turning in her head. Okay, two plus two is... "...is that a hand-me-down, too?" Her eyes drifted back up to the professor's face hesitantly. But her remark seemed to have set something off inside Raine, for the woman then turned to them all, her face taking on a red tint of anger as she exclaimed, "Just what is it with children and not accepting hand-me-downs?"

Genis fidgeted in response. Lloyd glanced at Sheena, and Sheena glanced back. Being an only child did have its...spoils for the two. But their youngest friend, as the youngest of two siblings, would naturally think differently. "Y'know...I really don't wanna say it..." Genis began, paused, then continued. "...but I have to agree with Raine this time. I used to hate them, too, but..." At this, he wrinkled up his nose at the memory crossing his mind. "...they're not so bad."

At this, Sheena and Lloyd both gaped at him, for a completely different matter than the point that their half-elven friend had been trying to make.

"You...you had to wear the Professor's clothes?" Lloyd got a glare from the mentioned healer after the question left his mouth. But he intentionally ignored it.

Genis nodded. "Yeah..." At still seeing the gaping expressions, though, his face also took on a hint of red as he blurted, "But we were poor! We couldn't buy any new clothes--Raine had to make 'em all!"

"And she didn't make you any new clothes?"

"It cost us enough just to purchase the fabric I needed for my own clothes. Hand-me-downs were the best ("Cheapest!" Genis 'coughed.' Colette quickly offered him a lozenge.) option," Raine answered to the ninja's inquiry. Her hands were now crossed over her chest, the robe she intended to give Sheena dangling from her right hand.

Kratos crossed his arms over his chest as well. "We are in nearly the same position. Luin is in ruins, and Hima is a two days' trip away. Asgard is out of the question. And I will not allow you, Irving, to continue on this journey wearing those shirts." His gloved hand then gestured to the torn undershirt the said boy was wearing and the shredded red one that lay nearby.

Lloyd scowled first at the mercenary, then at the material that sat in his lap. "No way! It's--it's..." Thinking a moment, he then shot his head up, pointing a finger at his victim, and crying simultaneously, "If Sheena doesn't take the Professor's old robe, then I don't got to take this!"

Sheena blinked, caught off-guard for merely a moment. But her reply was quick. "Lloyd, that doesn't even make any sense! It's dumb for you not to accept Kratos' old shirt when yours is...well...look at it!" But no one needed to look at the old shirt anyway. They already knew its condition.

"Well...isn't it dumb for you not to accept the Professor's old robe when yours is...well...old? Yours might stink! It may be a good thing to--"

Ah, but the teenager should not have even mentioned the prospect of Sheena smelling. Her face instantly turned red, her chocolate glare hardening when the idea had left his mouth. "Lloyd..." she murmured threateningly. Genis could only snicker once more and Colette cover her mouth with a hand--not sure whether to seem amused or frightened for her friend's safety.

But when he would not shut up, she quickly decided it was his own fault and consequently, seeming amused was by far quite all right.

Kratos sighed, putting a hand to his forehead (quite ashamed of his son's behavior, even though he should not deny he had done that to Martel when they were young), and Sheena stood up. Every word Lloyd uttered--which was probably just to make her this agitated in the first place--fueled her until finally she couldn't take it anymore. With a final cry of his name, she lunged at him, and the two engaged in a wrestle.

"Lloyd Irving--I do not stink!"

"Do too! Sheesh--whenever you lift your arms--"

"Shut up, you! I can't say you smell any better!"

"At least I have a reason to stink! All that fighting makes me sweat!"

"And what do you think I do? Just sit in the background and twiddle my thumbs?"

"Sure seems like it sometimes!"

"I can't believe you! I've saved your life a billion of times!"

"So have I!"

"Have not!"

"Have too!"

"Have not!"

"Have too!"

"Have not!"

Oh, the great intellectual debate. Kratos softly pounded his palm against his forehead. Raine shook her head, sighing as she turned around to put the forgotten robe away. Maybe another time, she figured. When these two kids (In her mind, she had put emphasis on that word.) weren't at each other's throats...

Genis, meanwhile, had his arms wrapped around his stomach as he laughed. Colette couldn't laugh--but there was no doubt the twinkle of amusement in her sapphire eyes as she watched the two squabble. It was still unsure to her who won what battle with these hand-me-down wars, but the angel was pretty sure Kratos was going to win (one way or another) in getting Lloyd to wear his old shirt. Eventually, Raine would most likely win against Sheena with the robe.

As for the idea of hand-me-downs in general...she couldn't say for sure. The acceptance of such a term seemed a far way off still. Little did she know, there was still a lot of time left for hand-me-downs to win. Such a thing will be interesting once Zelos, Regal and Presea enter the scene--don't you agree, dear reader?

I look forward to those events.