Disclaimer: Do I own Tales of Symphonia? -Checks- Nope, I still don't. I hope you'll enjoy chapter four!

--

The host body curled up a bit as she felt the fabric placed over her. Due to the man's body warmth the clothing was still warm as he put it on her, but that thought partially freaked her out. She could hear him pacing around restlessy for some reason she couldn't point out, and eventually she did fall asleep. She awoke the next morning, and gave off a yawn. She opened her pretty chocolate brown eyes, only to see a pair of black shoes. The lady blinked once in surprisement and backed away slightly, a natural reflex, in case he was about to hit her face with his foot. This wasn't the case however. She lifted her body, and rested partially at her elbow. The next thing she did was gazing upwards, looking at Kratos's face from below. This way he even looked scarier than the day before. "We should move on." He said calm. His voice didn't sound hoarse or anything similar; he probably had been awake for quite some time already. Maybe she had woken up because he had given her a push or so? She sat down now, not resting her body weight on her elbow anymore. She didn't dare to strech herself out in his presence, not now that he was gazing at her like that. She just looked up at him. It almost seemed as he if he was waiting for something. She opened her mouth, being about to reply since she assumed that was what he waited for, but he proved her wrong, since he walked on ahead as soon as she did so. She picked up the upperpart of his costume, putting it around her shoulders, since she still felt cold. "Strange guy..." She thought to herself, standing up, not being quite stable yet as her body swayed back and forth a bit.

When Kratos had been staring at her earlier his mind had wandered off. His face was stoic as he walked on, hearing the footsteps of the girl behind him. He was pondering if any of the Desians had notified Mithos of this event yet. If they hadn't, then Mithos would seriously be wondering what took Kratos so long to bring out report. The seraphrim didn't have much faith in those no-brainers, who only fought for someone else, Mithos Yggdrasill to be exact, not being able to stand on their own legs. It was at that moment realized he was being a 100 percent hypocrite, but he could live with that. He looked over his broad shoulder, seeing that the girl kept a safe distance in between of them. It was either because she was still too weak to walk fast, or that she despised him so much she didn't want to be any closer. Maybe even a combination of both. He let out an interceptible sign of annoyance, and stopped his pace. When he did, she didn't walk on to catch up with him, just like he had expected. He turned around, heading in her direction. She was just too slow, especially for Kratos who was used to travelling at high speed. "..." He didn't say anything as he stopped in front of her. She looked at him wearily, but with a natural curiosity as he turned around, only being inches away from her with his back. As a result, she took a step back as he bent a bit through his knees, having no clue what it was that he wanted. Before she fully realized it she was on his strong back though. Piggyback-ride style. His arms were partially wrapped around her half bare upperlegs, and he straightened his back, forcing the girl to grab his shoulders that way. If she didn't want to fall off at least, that is.

Because of this, the upperpart of his outfit slipped from her hands and fell with a soft thud at the ground. Kratos took some steps backwards after that, and picked up the piece of clothing with some effort, being careful not to fall over. Once again he stood up straight. With that he set off, not paying attention to the slightly confused girl at his back. Didn't he say he wasn't going to carry her anymore today? As usual, Kratos had reasons for his actions. Of course, as he mentally stated before, this would be way faster. Besides, in this position her body weight, even though it wasn't much, was more spread over his body, thus making it easier for him to carry her. Not that it was much of a difference, but it'd be more comfortable for her as well. He could feel her hands clenched his shoulder, making sure she wouldn't fall off. It was an a bit clumsy position for her, but she refused to put her arms around his neck.

A few hours of pure silence later, a town could be seen in the distance as they left the forest area. Anna's arm muscles were stiff, from remaining in the same uncomfortable position the whole time. That way she had forced the auburn haired man to walk up right the whole time, decreasing his balance slightly that way, but it hadn't given him any trouble luckily. "Luin..." Anna whispered to herself, not realizing she actually said that out loud. "What about it?" The cold man asked, making her realize she hadn't only been thinking the word. That way, the tense silence had finally been broken. And getting some background information of the project wouldn't be bad either, now would it? If necessary, he could always predict her actions with it. "...Nothing." She answered, not planning on giving this rude man a peek into her private life, for as far as anything was left of that. Despite the fact he had provided her of restricted freedom and a 'blanket' for the night she didn't like him. He was the leader of this project she was involved in apparantly. That was what her ignorance of Mithos's excistance caused. The man didn't insist on letting her talk against her will, he'd figure it all out by himself then.

They walked through the grassy plains surrounding Luin, the city of Hope. The wind tugged playfully at their bangs, and the sun shone bright, just like the day before. Anna thought she saw something black moving in the distance, and narrowed her eyes. She couldn't see it clear enough, and just focused on the town ahead. Kratos had noticed it as well, but wasn't alarmed or anything similar. After about half an hour they reached the border of the town. It was at this time that Kratos put her down. Having her legs unused in quite some time now Anna couldn't help but stumble backwards, only to be reassured by the firm grip at her arm from the swordsman, who dragged her up. "Humph." He muttered softly, and released her upperarm as soon as she managed to stand on her own again. She withdrew her arm, eyeing him with a slight frown. She was either wondering about something, or mad at him for grabbing her like that. Not paying any mind to what she'd think of him he put on the upperpart of his outfit again, tying the belts together. "Come." He commanded, walking forwards. She followed reluctant. They walked through the main street, and the first building they saw, and entered, was the town's inn. He held the door opened for the girl, something this cruel person normally would never do to a lower ranked apprentice. On top of that, she wasn't even an apprentice. She walked in, having a look of recognation in her eyes, but he didn't notice. Yet. He walked over to the counter, and ordered a room from the old lady who was behind the ebony wooden desk. He paid an amount of gald Anna could not see. The only thing that she hoped was that the prices had doubled since she had gone away, just to get this man poor. Pity enough for her it was unlikely that he would, he was the leader of an enormous organization after all.

Kratos took the key of the room he had rent, and walked back towards Anna. He realized that the woman behind the counter was frowning slightly, as if she was recalling something. The man's gaze went back and forth between the two females a few times before he took her by her arm and head upstairs with her. It was best as less people as possible would know of her presence in town. He unlocked the door's room, pushed her in carefully, and looked at her as she turned around to face him. He looked past her. The windows were locked. Good. "I will return soon." He said calm against her with his usual soothing voice. Anna blinked once in surprise, but before she could say anything in return the door slammed shut right in front of her, and the sound of a door being locked could clearly be heard. Kratos didn't warn her to be silent. If he would, she would most likely make as much noise as possible. "Hey, you can't just do that!" She yelled after him anyway, banging her fist against the wooden door. It was no use, since he was already on his way out. He put the bronze key in his pocket, and left the inn, ignoring the glance of the old lady.

Not long after he was some more small bridges further on ahead, receiving some glances from the townsfolk. Because of his keen hearing he knew it was sometimes of admiration, either because of his looks or his outfit, and sometimes of suspiciousness. They didn't all seem to trust strangers that much. He walked past a wrecked house, the work of Desians without a doubt. After a while he entered a small shop, with a mid-aged man behind the counter, something around 40 Kratos estaminated. The shopkeeper greeted him friendly, being glad there was a customer again, and Kratos gave a very small nod in response to acknowledge his presence. He browsed in the clothes section, not finding anything suitable at all. "Can I help?" The man asked friendly with a ragged voice as he walked over to the auburn haired man. "...I'm looking for some cheap clothes." Was his reply, not eyeing the man at all, not only because his bangs prevented him from doing so. "Oh, okay! Let me have a look..." With that he disappeared, leaving Kratos to search on his own. Eventually he came back, holding a new looking sweater with a high collar, similar to Kratos's, but then in a darkred colour. Obviously the man thought that this man was buying something for himself. It passed muster. However, he didn't assume it was the cheapest thing the man had laying around. Once again the man disappeared, now returning with a pair of white pants, also looking quite new. He decided he'd also take that one. He had gald enough anyway, and never really spend it.

Furthermore, he bought a pair of socks, a pair of brown leather kneeboots with lacets, a similar brown coloured belt, and last but certainly not least; a darkred cape which matched the turtleneck sweater. "That would be fine..." He murmered as he put the clothing on the counter as the man started calculating the price. "...I assume you don't have any bra's?" He added hesitatingly, although his voice sounded confident as ever. The merchant seemed to be a bit taken off guard by this question. "Uh...Yeah, sure. What size?" Kratos blinked once, honestly having no clue for the first time in quite a while. "...Just pick one." He replied, and the man gave a slow nod. Soon he came back again with the piece of clothing requested, and got paid for it. Kratos put all the clothes underneath his arm, and left again. "Thank you." He mumbled as he left the door, but it was highly unlikely the man had heard him. One way or another he said goodbye to his customer, being happy to have made such a big profit today. Kratos head back towards the inn, not receiving any more glances for now.

He unlocked the door and walked in. Thonk! Kratos's right eyebrow twitched slightly, and he grabbed Anna by her waist with his free hand as she tried to rush past him in a hurry. "Not so fast!" He took a step forward, dragging her away from the door opening, and closed the door behind him with his foot. "Let go off me!" She yelled as she struggled to get free. He pushed her roughly away so that he'd have enough time to lock the door behind him, which he did with his free hand. She stumbled backwards, and landed on the bed clumsily. He put the key back in his pocket, and rubbed the spot at his head where he had been hit. He looked at the wooden vase at the ground where she had hit him with in her desperate attempt to escape. "Hmm..." He just mumbled unimpressed and walked over to her, throwing all the clothes, except for the boots, on top of her so that she was covered by it. Kratos stopped rubbing his head. "I don't think I'll buy clothes for you again at this rate..." He said dryly without any expression in particular at his handsome face as he looked at how the host body named Anna struggled to get out of the pile of clothes. It was a sorry sight, but soon after her head popped out of the pile. Kratos surpressed a smile. It just looked so...so...he couldn't find the fitting word for it. The girl blinked a few times in surprise. She had probably been expecting she'd escape easily like that, but oh, how wrong she was. There was no way she'd be able to do that if Kratos was her guard.