Alaia Skyhawk: I'm in fluff mode... he he. I've been waiting for ages to write this Kranna stuff and I'm going to thoroughly enjoy doing it.
Thanks to SSmage who pointed out I'd accidentally uploaded chapter 9 onto chapter 8. I messed up during uploading my files and didn't realise :S
Anyway it's fixed now if you want to read it, chapter 8 now actually has chapter 8 on it :S
I don't own Tales of Symphonia so please don't sue me. I do however own Krishka, Dallinius (Dalli), Aluran, the Alurannai and any OCs, except Sanaro and Annule, who belong to Mr.Who2123, and Mika and Fiuras, who belong to WingedWithFieryMana, so please don't steal them...
Enjoy
-
Chapter 12: A gift for a gift.
-
The apartments were deserted, one occupant on the other side of Sylvarant, and the other on the other side of the settlement. Anna crept down the short hallway and into Kratos' room, Noishe at her heels, giving her directions.
"You said the album was in the storage chest by the window. There's a chance that the camera is in there too."
Noishe whined nervously, as if expecting the Narim to appear behind them at any second.
Why do you want the camera?
Her green eyes were filled with exasperation as she glanced back at him before heading across the room, as plain as her own, to the storage chest.
"If Kratos is missing me that much then having a picture of me will make it easier. He's given me something that's really important to him, the least I can do in return is this... and don't you dare breathe a word of this to him until it's ready..."
The tone of her voice said she meant it, though Noishe had no intention of telling Kratos anyway. The two of them proceeded to rummage through the box already thoroughly messed up from the protozoan's earlier search. It was there, in the very back corner at the bottom that they found a small box containing a camera, tiny enough to fit in the palm of your hand and thin enough to hide up a sleeve easily.
Noishe peered at it intently.
It's no wonder none of us saw him using it, if it's this small. He could have just closed his hand around it to hide it. It looks like it only holds one or two shots though, there must be some film slips somewhere.
A further search of the chest revealed nothing. The only way they could take a picture would be if it already had film slips loaded into it. Wordlessly they crept back out of the apartment, heading off in search of the only one Anna knew well enough to trust with this.
----------------------------------------------
The black haired alurannai woman's jaw was practically hanging off, stunned into silence by what the conspiring pair had just told her.
"You're Kratos' 'match'?"
Anna shuffled nervously under Vayla's stare, Noishe nuzzling her to reassure her.
"It looks like it. He told Noishe that he wanted to court me, he didn't want to scare me off, so he told him to give me a photo album he had. It's full of pictures from the Kharlan War and even has some pictures of my ancestors in it. I wanted him to have a picture of me to keep with him since I have so many of his... so me and Noishe snuck into his room and found his camera." She pulled the little box out of her pocket and handed it to Vayla. "We couldn't find any film in his storage chest, and I don't know how to tell if it has any left in it."
Vayla looked down at the camera, then back up at Anna. Her voice was barely a whisper.
"There are pictures? He... took pictures of our journeys together?" Anna nodded mutely, Vayla taking a deep breath before she began to take a closer look at the camera. "You'll have to show me later, then I can tell you a bit about them." She smiled, the camera now out of its box she started to check the side. There were three slots, the cover was closed over the front-most one but the other two were filled. "It's a simple three shot camera, you use the slips front to back, taking them out and switching the focus setting to use the next one. We'll need to get the paper to develop the picture on though, and make a darkroom. Kratos probably had his equipment stored in his ver, and used it when ever we stopped at a town where he could be sure of finding a room to work in. After all, blacking a room out is easy enough if you know the tricks." Anna looked disappointed, Vayla grinned at her. "Hey, never give up. You don't know the Alurannai, I can guarantee you there'll be someone around here with the paper and chemicals. Given how long we live we might try something, set it aside at some point and end up storing it in a ver, forgetting about it. You stay here while I go jolt a few memories of people who used to do photographs."
Bemused, Anna sat down on the edge of Vayla's bed, absentmindedly stroking Noishe's head as he put it in her lap.
She's just hiding her feelings, you startled her when you told her about the pictures. Four thousand years is a long time for Kratos to hide them, though he probably found them too painful to look at right after the war ended. It's like Vayla said, alurannai can store things for a long time before they remember they're there. Kratos probably only remembered he had those photos once he'd been reminded of Allen and Eliza.
The two of them sat there for nearly an hour before Vayla came bustling in the door with her arms full of bottles, trays, paper and a lantern with red glass covering the openings. The next twenty minutes were spent setting everything up on a table that Vayla had pulled from her ver, much to Anna's amusement. She giggled at the green eyed angel's expression.
"You wouldn't believe the things I keep in it. I think I still have a pair of dirty socks from back during the Kharlan War. I threw them in because we had to leave a town in a hurry and I don't remember ever taking them back out again." Anna began to giggle as well, at the thought of a four thousand year old pair of dirty socks. They both broke out into outright laughter when a quick rummage by Vayla confirmed that she did still have them. Holding the socks, their edges embroidered with ivy leaves, Vayla carefully put them back. They had been a present one year from Martel, she wanted to keep them as they were, especially as they were now tied to this happy memory as well as the memories of her past. She grinned. "Let's go find a nice spot to take that picture, I'll black the room out when we get back."
----------------------------------------------
Swords clashed in unison, like the beating of drums as they were thrust and parried through the pattern of the drill. Ten warriors were lined up in pairs, blades a dance of steel between them.
Yuan had finally decided to release Kratos from the chain, freeing the swordsman to train the Steady Nine once more... Though training when you're preoccupied with thoughts of a certain person is not a good idea.
Did he give it to her? If he did, what did she think of it? Maybe it was too big a present. Maybe I scared her. Maybe...
"Look out!"
At the last second Kratos brought his sword up to block the strike coming down on his head. Tia, who was partnering him in the drill, was trembling in shock and relief.
"I'm sorry, one second you were doing the drill and then you stopped as I started to swing. I couldn't... I didn't mean..."
He held up a hand to stop her.
"It's alright, it was my fault. I should have been concentrating, but instead I allowed my thoughts to wander."
The Nine gathered around him, curious. Tia having recovered from her shock, plucked up the courage to speak.
"Sir, if you don't mind my asking. What could distract you in the middle of a drill? You're always telling us how important it is to remain focused during a fight. To not let our guard down."
Kratos had to exert stern control over himself in order not to blush. Instead his face was composed and his voice calm.
"It's nothing to concern you, just a personal matter back home that at present I can only deal with to a limited extent. It's been on my mind for a few days."
Assuming that it was something to do with family or a close friend, they decided not to pry. Returning to their positions they looked to him to restart the drill.
Face still composed, though sighing with relief inside, Kratos took his place and readied his sword. And the dance of steel began again.
-------------------------------------------------
Giggles were coming out of Vayla's home, as two women finished a special gift for a certain swordsman.
"That's it, I think it's done. Do you think he'll like it?"
"Don't worry about it, Anna, I'm sure he'll love it. Hey, Noishe! Get over here and take this to Kratos."
Moments later Noishe came trotting out of Vayla's home and headed off towards the Nae Shiu Sentinel.
------------------------------------------------
"Good work, you've all improved tremendously over these past few weeks. All of you have earned a break, I'm giving you tomorrow off. Now go enjoy yourselves for a while."
Cheers erupted from the Nine, some of them thanking Kratos with friendly slaps on the shoulder that, when they'd first met him, they never have dared to use. By this time though they knew that, here in the base, he preferred they treat him as a comrade rather than their superior. Morale high, they headed for the training room door only for it to open before they got to it, a green and white Arshis strolling in, head in the air and tail wagging happily.
Noishe paraded up to Kratos and shoved something into his hand before strolling out again. A huge canine grin on his face.
Baffled, Kratos unwrapped the cloth bundle Noishe had handed him before nearly dropping it in shock when he saw what was in it. It was a picture of Anna, arm draped over Noishe's shoulder as he sat next to her, happy smile on her face with an equally happy canine grin on the protozoan's. Set in a plain wooden frame, it was just the right size to fit into a pocket. Hands trembling he pulled a note out from underneath it.
You didn't scare me, but you did surprise me. Noishe bringing me that photo album was a big giveaway about your feelings. I like you, but I need the time to get to know you. Give me that time and I'll let you know how I feel when I'm ready. Anna.
He couldn't help it, couldn't help the smile that crept onto his face as he read Anna's message. He sat there gazing at the picture, until a burst of muffled giggles brought him back to reality.
Kratos turned beet red as David gave him a clap on the back and began to laugh.
"So that's why you've been daydreaming. Commander Kratos has a crush on a girl!"
If it was even possible, Kratos turned even redder as he started to splutter.
"Don't you dare say anything about this outside of this room. Yuan knows, but if I find this circulating the base gossip..."
Galen waved his hands to silence him, before grinning round at the rest of the Nine.
"Look, I think I speak for all of us when I say 'your secret is safe with us'." They all nodded as he continued. "What I think we need to ask is, how can we help out? You get almost no free time with all the paperwork you do, but we'll be getting a week's leave every three months unless we're out doing an assignment. If there's something you want to get her from say, Triet or Izoold, we can get it during our off time. What do you say? Interested?"
Kratos hesitated for a moment before starting to grin.
"Let me think about it and I might just take you up on that offer."
-------------------------------------------------
Alaia Skyhawk: He he, the Steady Nine are gonna be sneaking things into the base me thinks XD