Story One: Candy's P.O.V.

Some people are brave. Some people aren't.

As for me? Well. You could call me a coward. But to put it more bluntly and in a sense that I prefer: I'm your regular chicken shit. Yep. If I get scared of anything, I bolt. Or…hide. Normally the situation turns to me hiding, while Shinka, Akka, and Sanjii my guild mates, and what you could call close friends are all left completely and utterly clueless as to where I went off to. In most cases, they think I got carried off or owned by whatever monster or person I was running/hiding from in the first place.

Oh yeah. In case you were wondering; I'm a hunter. Although I degrade the title pretty damn well.

Well. Today it seemed that those guild-buddies of mine I so lovingly mentioned earlier were attempting to bring me along to Nifflheim. To be blunt: I hate the place. Did I mention I'm a chicken shit? I'm pretty sure I did. But…at least I had people to protect me. Look after me. Even take a hit for me.

I'm not one to socialize all that much. Mainly because I like the friends I have now. An angsty assassin. A spas of a wizard. And…a jackass monk. These are my friends. The ones that I will always speak highly of. Minus that little…jackass bit there. You can ignore that. Do it.

"Fucking hell, Candy!" Sanjii, the monk was a tad upset with me. You see, I always whine about where we're headed. Unless I'm not scared of the location, then I'll be the first to get going. Weird how that works out, hm?

"We've been there before. And you didn't die. Your precious 'Shinka-chan' was there to save your timid little ass." Sanjii snorted, while fixing the red-tinted goggles that sat atop his head, his spiky blond hair getting a tad ruffled in the process. Not like he really cared or anything.

Simply staring at the ground I began to pout, at times it made him stop bitching. "I don't care…" I mumbled. I bet I looked like a fucking child. Sitting on the cobble-stoned streets of Prontera, with my legs stretched out in front of me, my precious pet, Squish, sat in my lap. My violent, yet loving Deviruchi. He matched my hat. So that was simply a bonus. The miniature demon was attempting to pull at my blond, red-streaked hair, pulling at the small angel wings that came from my ears instead. I didn't mind. He always did this.

"Oh my…" Came a seemingly gentle voice to my right. " You've gone and made her pout again, Sanjii. I think this may be a new record. How long did it take you this time? 1 minute? Or have we entered seconds?"

"I think it's seconds now, Akka." Sanjii answered the top-hat wearing wizard with a grin.

Akka then flopped down beside me; trying the best he could to not disturb Squish in any way. Past experiences had caused him to be afraid of the little purple monster. Personally, I found it fucking hilarious. My spell-wielding buddy had taken his top hat off of his head, revealing his chestnut brown hair, and had begun to spin it slowly. He did this all the time.

"Where's Shinka?" He asked me rather suddenly, his dark sunglasses sliding down his nose a tiny bit. Man he was funny looking. I doubt anyone could take him seriously.

But, before I could even guess as to where our immature leader was, Sanjii sort of interrupted me, before I could even open my mouth even. "He told me he'd be here in a matter of seconds. He was just selling some random crap he had for some reason. Also says he has more food for your little asshole of a pet." He said, while his ice-blue eyes looked over at Squish. He really didn't like my precious. Damn…asshole.

Of course, true to his word, Shinka arrived in…well…a matter of seconds. He looked to be a tad pissed off.

'Probably another idiotic newb', I thought to myself. It seemed to be a plausible explanation.

His face was some what dirty, his eyebrows were furrowed, his little cat ears that stood perched at the top of his head were arched back, and his crimson red eyes were seemingly glaring at the ground.

'Yep' I concluded to myself, 'Another idiot.'

"Shit, dude…" Sanjii chuckled to himself, pulling at that little devil ears that came from Shinka's ears. They were like my angel ears. We matched. It was intentional, I think. "What did you do this time? Or what did some moron do this time…I should say."

Shinka gave Sanjii a small glare, swatting his hands away from him, before taking a seat to the left of me. "Just some idiots pestering me for items. And zenny. They then attempted to kill me. So…I killed them instead." He was so blunt about it…of course I couldn't really see what emotion he had on his face. Thanks going to the slab of dirty-blond hair that practically constantly covered his right eye.

Normally, in a situation such as this, I'd start complaining about idiots and how I hate them so. But, I was being eerily quiet. There were two main reason for my change of attitude.

Firstly. Well, I didn't want to go to Nifflheim. Just the thought of going there didn't really make me all too over-joyed. It was dark, scary as hell, and was filled with monster that could kill me rather quickly. Yeah, yeah. I knew I'd have three others there to help me…but…still.

Secondly. I sort of wasn't feeling all that well. You could say me being seemingly sick was my own doing, since it sort of was. See. I went to Lutie just the day before. And with so much bare skin, going to a place covered with snow and with temperatures in the negatives isn't really the most intelligent idea in the world. Perhaps I hadn't caught a cold. Perhaps I was simply feeling down because of Sanjii's plans. Yeah. That could be it.

But. Of course. I was proven wrong. How? By a sneeze and a sudden urge to do nothing but sleep all day. Then, I started shivering. It wasn't even cold. It was actually…rather humid. Curse you Lutie. Curse you and your wonderful snow.

To be honest, I didn't even clue in when Shinka had stood up, taken a hold of my arm, pulled me onto my feet, and began pulling me away from the huge crowd of people and off to a less…well, crowded area. I heard him tell Sanjii and Akka to stay put, but he couldn't tell Squish to stay where he was since…well, the little 'ruchi only listens to what I have to say.

"Shinka-chan! Why'd you do tha---" But, I was interrupted before my complaining could end. Shinka's hand was pressed against my forehead. He knew I was 'sick'. Damn it all to hell. I swear he has some sort of sixth sense for these type of things.

"You went to Lutie…didn't you?" Shinka asked me rather bluntly, as he stared down at me. I knew there was no point in telling a lie, since…well, he would be able to tell if I was fibbing. Just by my expression, I bet he could tell. Since…I was staring at the ground, my feet shuffling back and forth. Much like a five year-old child would do after breaking something and getting discovered. Heaving a small sigh he took his hand from my head, so her could rub at his temple instead. "You did."

Leaning over I scooped Squish into my arms, cradling him much like a mother would do with a baby. Falling backwards a little bit I rested my back against a wall of some random house, allowing a small groan to pass over my lips before looking up at Shinka again. "I was Angeling hunting…" I told him simply.

"You know full well you can find Angeling in other places…" Shinka stared at me, his arms crossed; he didn't look too impressed. Can't say that I really blame him. Yet again I was ruining seemingly decent plans for the day. "But. That doesn't matter…" He muttered, his expression softening almost immediately, this causing me to wonder what he was thinking. "…I'm assuming you weren't planning on telling us about you feeling sick and all?"

I tightened my grip on Squish, looking at the ground. How the hell did he know that? Well. I never really did ever tell anyone about anything. Mainly because I never enjoyed ruining the day for anyone else. I hate having blame put on me, especially when I can't help it. So, I figure, hide it, and everything should turn out at least some what decently. But, with people like Shinka around, my plans sort of constantly go down the tubes. I already said that he seemingly has some sort of sixth sense when it comes to any form of sickness, so, he always blurts out whenever I'm sick, just by taking a quick look at me. How he does it is beyond me.

"Of course you weren't." Shinka laughed lightly, placing his hand on my head, and giving my hat a quick rub, messing it up just a tiny bit. "But…how bad are you feeling? I know you don't want to go to Nifflheim. But if you're up for anything else, and actually feel like moving, then by all means, I'll join you."

Oh, Shinka. Being your regular over-protective self. I don't think he was ever really comfortable unless I was with him. Not that I care or anything. I almost never die when I'm with him. "I'm fine. I'll just go to Nifflheim. Seeing Sanjii's reaction after hearing my decision will be enough to make me feel better." I lied. I still didn't really want to go. But…I knew that it was sort of pointless to be all that afraid. There was a chance that I'd suddenly have the urge to faint, but that was highly unlikely.

But…Shinka caught me after I had begun to walk away. He must've caught me swaying from side to side. Of course…anyone could. "No." He bluntly said to me. He had taken hold of my hand, making sure I wouldn't be running off to Sanjii and Akka, getting a warp before he could say otherwise.

"Wh…what?" I laughed, my voice shaking a little bit. I wasn't nervous. No. To be honest, I don't know why I was speaking in such a manner. "L-let me go Shinka-chan. I'm fine. Really."

Shinka furrowed his eyebrows. Staring down at me with another one of his intense looks. "You're a crappy actress, you know that?" He mumbled. I could tell that he wasn't trying to be intimidating. He was just worried. As usual.

Staring at the ground again, I pouted. There was no point in attempting to convince Shinka otherwise. But…I didn't want to stay in some bed all day. And I didn't want Sanjii barking at me for it. "Let…let me go. I can live with this. It's nothing."

"No." Shinka repeated for the second time, pulling me by the hand he had caught earlier. It seemed that he was brining me back to where Sanjii and Akka were sitting. But…why would he bring me there? I thought he didn't want me to join them on their…escapades. "We're going to tell the Sanjii that you're not feeling well. I know you think you can come with us. But…if anything were to happen well…I don't know what I'd do. You know full well I'd feel positively horribly if you were to get hurt."

Pressing my heels into the ground, I made Shinka stop. This causing him to turn around and stare at me, clearly clueless as to what I was doing.

"I want to go with you…" I mumbled over the conversations of other people. "If I feel horrid…then I'll simply get Sanjii to teleport me back here. I'll sleep the rest of the day. Then I'll be find by tomorrow. But…I want to go. I really do. I know you'll be there to make sure I don't get hurt! You always are…"

Shinka looked down at me, in what seemed to be shock. It was rare that I burst out in such a way. I guess you could say he hadn't grown accustomed to it. His expression changed rather quickly. A small smile creased his lips as she shook his head, laughing slightly at my sudden 'plea'. "Fine…"

"Huh?" I blinked, not really understanding what was going on.

"I said fine. You can come. But the moment you feel sick, or dizzy, or anything of the sort, you tell me. Then we'll mooch a warp off of Sanjii, and you're going straight to bed. Got it?" Man, when Shinka wanted to be precise…he was precise. And I couldn't disobey either. That would call for consequences.

I couldn't help but grin after this, I felt so much better just because of it. "Of…of course!" I said after a long delay. With Squish clinging to my shoulder as best he could, I clung to Shinka's middle, something I usually did when I was pleased with whatever he had to tell me. After letting go, I went onto my toes and whispered: "Psst…Shinka…guess what?"

"What?" He whispered back, playing along with what I was doing. Even though he didn't really know why I was suddenly back to my regular self.

"Love!" I squeaked, jumping up and giving the assassin a quick peck on the cheek, running back to where Sanjii and Akka were waiting, giggling like mad, while my cheeks were a bright red. Of course I left Shinka to stand there. Face blank, strawberry red, while he never even blinked. Ooohoho. Toying with him was fun.