Disclaimer: I'm pretty tired of writing disclaimers. ;_; I don't own Legend of Legaia or its characters, no matter how much I love 'em. If I'd intended to make money off of this fanfic, do you really think I'd be posting it up here for free?


Sightseeing

Chapter Nine: A Surprise


The sun's rays filtered through the blanket of leaves above me, their faint warmth licking at my skin. A summer breeze blew through the branches above, rustling their branches; as I breathed in, I could smell the sweet scent of leaves and grass, the coolness of the water, and the fresh, crisp air blown in from the mountains to the north.

Laying my right hand on the faintly glowing trunk of the Genesis Tree that stood before me, I let out a sigh. This was home.

It was still hard to believe that I, of all people, could be happy, those ten long years of innumerable crimes completely forgiven. That I could just come home, and be treated with love like everybody else. I couldn't possibly be worthy of any of this. It was amazing.

"You were here, Cara." It was Grantes' voice, soft and kind. I felt a sudden surge of relief. I looked up, turning around to face him. His hair was in his eyes again, and once more I fought back the urge to fix it.

"Oh, so you've finally come out of your hibernation. Winter ended months ago, you know." I said with a playful smirk, the hand I had on the Genesis Tree now placed on my hip. It was a little cruel, but he deserved it, I thought.

He looked at me sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck with one of his hands. "Uh... how long was I out for?"

"Oh, only about eighteen hours. It's lucky you didn't eat more of it, you could have been out for days." I told him, with a slightly more annoyed tone.

Grantes looked down. "...I'm sorry. I didn't know. I thought it would taste good..."

I sighed. "Everyone knows you can't eat water Lippians! They have more toxin than the bigger ones because they can't defend themselves from people like you..." I trailed off, watching him look more and more embarrassed. I was starting to feel bad.

I placed my hand on his arm, reaching up with the other and brushing the hair out of his eyes, running my hand down his cheek. "I'm sorry... of course you wouldn't know. You've only lived here for so long... I'm sure there aren't any fish in the sky." I added with a little smile.

He took my fallen hand, his fingers resting between mine. Stepping closer, he bent his head towards mine, his other hand running a stroke through the hair on the back of my head. I leaned forward and our noses brushed; and his warm lips pressed against mine in a kiss. I returned it, feeling his warmth spread across my face.

Dammit, I still love him, I thought to myself.

He slowly took a step back, softly smiling as I looked up at his face. I sighed, shrugging my shoulders and looking vaguely off to the tree at my right, messing with the hair at the back of my neck with one hand. "...I'm sorry, I was just worried about you."

He chuckled playfully, watching me stand there and look embarrassed. "I can still cook us that Devourer for dinner, if you'd like."

I could tell what he meant by that. "What, so you're that afraid of my cooking?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. So I had burnt yesterday's lunch, and the dinner before that, and most of last week's meals, but...

"N-no, it's not that, I just thought -" Grantes trailed off, suddenly looking over the bridge, towards the rest of the village. Confused, I followed his gaze, and before I could see what it was he was looking at, a voice called out to us.

"Grantes! Cara!"

My eyes quickly focused on the young man running down the bridge toward us, the steps wobbling and water sloshing under his feet with each heavy, quick step he took.

"Huh?" My eyes widened with surprise. "Gala, back here so soon?" I didn't expect to see the young monk here again, especially since I hadn't heard his leader mention that they would return to Buma in the first place.

He ran up in front of us and stood with his arms folded, but he sounded a little winded. "About that, I would like to talk to you a bit later..." Gala paused for a second, catching his breath. "...but, as for the moment, have either of you seen Noa? She ran off when we reached town saying that she'd race me to your house... but I lost sight of her in the fish market and ended up here somehow."

Grantes stepped forward. "Noa... was running to our house?"

It was like he'd stolen my words. Noa was... racing Gala through the town? How was this possible? When we'd seen her only a few days before, she was completely listless, and only spoke once... the word "no", when we'd offered her dinner. "What are you talking about?"

Gala looked down, placing his hands on his knees. "It's a long story, but I will tell you a little later. I have to go find Noa now, though. I'll be back as soon as I find her!" He took off, going in the same direction from where he'd come.

Grantes and I turned to each other, wearing looks of disbelief. "Is Noa really okay?" I said breathlessly, fighting back a bit of a smile, and I could see he was too.

"I guess we'll find out once he finds her." He replied, his eyes brightening.

Once he finds her? "What do you mean, once he finds her? We're going to look for her too!" I grabbed his rough hand, dragging him forward towards the bridge. "Come on!"

He released my grip and quickly caught up with me, giving a nod. "I'll head for the fish market, and you head home, okay?"

I laughed, picking up my pace and heading right. "Just don't pick up any Lippians while you're there, okay?"

He turned away, running off in the opposite direction, calling back over his shoulder. "I'll try to keep that in mind."

I kept running, worming my way through a small crowd of people gathered around a fishing boat, and eventually finding myself running across the wooden planks that lead to our house. I stopped in front of the door and looked around; there was no Noa in sight.

I reached towards the doorknob, and dropped my hand, hesitating. "Noa, are you there?" I called out, peering through the small window that was set in the door.

There was no response. I waited a moment, before turning the knob, opening the door softly and taking a step inside.

"...Noa?" I scanned the main room, it seemed to be empty. I sighed, closing the door behind me and leaning against it. "I guess she's not here yet... I'll have to wait for her." I mumbled to myself, my head falling back onto the door panel, and my eyes closing for a moment.

Giggle.

I heard a giggle.

I opened my eyes, turning quickly to my right. A young teenage girl with her bright pink hair tied up at the back of her head, flowing down, stood there with her knees slightly bent; a hand clamped over her mouth, her eyes wide.

I smiled incredulously. "Noa!"

She uncovered her mouth and smiled brightly, laughing loudly between words. "I thought you'd never notice I was behind the door!"

She was happy! I couldn't believe it! I flung my arms around her shoulders, hugging her, without a single thought. "Oh Noa, I'm so glad you're okay!"

Noa hugged me back, then looked up at me with a grin. "Thank Vahn and Gala! They're the ones who helped! Though, Vahn's far away now..." She looked down slightly, but then quickly looked up smiling again. "Is Gala mad? He came and got you, right?"

I took a step back. "Hmm... no, but he did seem a little worried about you, since you just ran off like that." Vahn was far away? Come to think of it, where was he? I'd never seen them without their fearless leader before.

"Aww... Gala's too serious." She said matter-of-factly, frowning slightly and sticking out her tongue.

I laughed. "I think so, too. I can't imagine being a monk and having to be so serious all the time!" I looked down at her, gently touching her shoulder. "I'm sure he cares about you a lot, though, Noa." She nodded, looking up at me. I smiled, raising an eyebrow, amused at her cute expression. "One of these days you're gonna give the poor guy a heart attack if you keep this up!"

She looked at me, a bit worried and a bit puzzled. "What's a heart attack, Cara?"

I blinked. Who raised this girl, anyway? "Well, it's when-"

The door opened behind me, and we quickly sidestepped it, though both a bit taken aback. Heavy footsteps filled the room as the monk entered it, and I could see Grantes through the doorway following close behind.

"Cara, have you found -" Gala stopped mid-sentence, as he saw Noa hiding behind me, looking up at him sheepishly.

I smiled. "Yes, I found her." I stepped aside from Noa, looking at her. "Now what do you have to say..?"

Noa looked up at the man as if she were expecting an inquisition. "...I'm sorry."

Gala sighed, wiping a hand across his tired brow. "It's alright, Noa... I just wasn't expecting you to run like that."

Noa stared incredulously at him. "Really? It's okay?"

Grantes burst into the room as Noa was talking, and his eyes widened just as mine had. "Noa... you're really alright!" He exclaimed, as he quickly approached her.

"Huh? Oh right! You live here too now!" She said, smiling. "I almost forgot. You're in love, right?"

Grantes' cheeks flushed, his hand somehow finding his way to the back of his neck again as his eyes wandered towards me and then to the floor. I smiled; it was silly how a young girl's words could make him so flustered.

Even so, I knocked him over the head. "Aren't you going to say something?"

He looked up at me, rather embarrassed again, then smiled towards Noa. "...Yes, we are."

Noa smiled back, widely. "Yay! You guys should be happy!"

"We are, thanks to you." Grantes replied softly, the gratefulness we both shared showing through in his voice. Noa grinned, looking a little embarrassed.

There was a pause for a moment, and an obvious thought suddenly crossed my mind. "Oh! You don't all have to stand here." I brought an extra chair over to the table and sat down in it, looking over at everyone. "Please, take a seat!"

Gala made a stiff, quick formal bow towards me, in typical Biron monk fashion, and sat down in the chair across from me, Grantes sitting down next to me and Noa leaping into the remaining chair that was close to all of us.

I spoke up again, leaning forward, putting an elbow on the table. "So... why did you guys decide to come back here? And without your blue-headed leader, at that?"

"Well, Vahn took a Door of Wind back to his hometown already," the monk explained with a strange look downward, "and since I will be returning to the Biron Temple in Sol shortly-"

Noa interrupted brightly, sitting up in her chair.

"Gala thinks that I should stay with you for a while!"


Whoa, this chapter turned out pretty long! Which makes sense, seeing how long it took me to write it... =_= I'm sorry, guys! I've had a bunch of crazy things going on (involving my 2nd term in college, new baby kittens, and my mom getting us evicted) that totally kept me from focusing on the chapter... not to mention that this was a transition chapter (and in a new POV too!) and thus far more difficult to write. Those crazy life issues are still going on I'm afraid, minus school (yay summer!) so until they're resolved it might be a little while before you see a new chapter. I apologize in advance! T_T; I already have part of the next chapter written, so in the off-chance that I actually have time to finish it before these things get worked out, see you soon!