My What?

Shadow Hearts: Covenant

By: The Shadow Hawk

Pairing: Kurando/Anastasia

Disclaimer: Just because I really want Kurando doesn't mean I really have him. I don't really want Anastasia to kick me either…

Summary: Kurando and Anastasia dream of each other before meeting, neither one knowing why. Advice from friends and family doesn't help either. When they meet under different circumstances, everything begins to make a little more sense.
Yokohama Brickyard

Anastasia had remained fairly quiet after they had gotten to Japan. Yuri was still sick and prevented them from getting down to business. She sat on a barrel while the others talked about Yuri's condition. Through she didn't want to sound mean, she didn't care much about Yuri's seasickness. It would pass. Besides, she had more important things to worry about. From everything her dreams had shown, her mysterious 'husband' was Japanese. Now that she was in Japan, she wondered if she'd finally meet him and the dreams would end. Or at the very least, make a little more sense.

But then, what were the odds that the man from her dreams was in this part of Japan? Hell, what were the chances he was a real person?

A whine interrupted her thoughts. Blanca was pawing at the door.

"Hey guys, I think Blanca needs to go out." She hopped off her barrel.

"We can't leave Yuri…" Karin started.

"We don't all have to go." Anastasia answered. "I'll take him out if no one else will. I'm sick of listening to Yuri's moaning anyway."

"Now hang on there little princess." Gepetto waved his cane at her. "You can't just go wander around here at night. We don't know what's around here."

"I can take care of myself" She stuck her hand in her pocket, feeling some magic crests. "And Blanca will be with me."

"Gepetto's right. It's dangerous." Karin was always the motherly type. "I don't think you should go."

Anastasia looked at Blanca. He was really anxious to go out. "I really think he should go. You don't want him to go in here, do you?"

Joachim stood up quickly. "I'll go with them." He picked up his tuna and headed for the door. Everyone had learned not to question his choice in weapons by now. So the vampire wrestler, Russian princess and white wolf headed outside.

Blanca started to sniff around immediately. Anastasia and Joachim stood off to the side. He looked down at her. "Is everything alright?"

"Huh?" She looked up at him, confused.

"You've been very quiet lately. Especially since we were on the boat here."

"It's nothing." He gave her an 'I so don't believe you' look. "What? It's nothing. I swear!"

Joachim sighed. He wasn't stupid. Sure people thought he was, but he really wasn't. Something was bothering the young princess but she didn't want to talk about it. He was about to say something when he stopped and sniffed the air.

"What?"

"I smell blood…" His eyes flashed. Sometimes she forgot he was a vampire. He probably liked the smell of blood.

Before Anastasia could ask more, they all heard a rapid series of loud pops. Gunshots. Anastasia knew the noise. Blanca growled and got into a crouch behind some crates. Joachim grabbed Anastasia and crouched behind the same crates. Through the gaps in the crates, they saw a young man running. His steps were clumsy. He was tired, like he'd been running for a long time. He stopped to catch his breath, but that proved to be a fatal mistake.

In an instant he was surrounded by red armored soldiers carrying machine guns. Even though he took down one, the other two were still free to shoot at him. He could avoid some of the bullets but was also hit by many more. Looking at him more closely, they saw he was bleeding fairly heavily. He was probably tired because he was suffering from blood loss.

"We have to help him." Anastasia wormed her way out of Joachim's grip.

He looked shocked. "But we don't know who he is. Those soldiers could be after him for a reason…it isn't our problem."

Blanca growled. He was on Anastasia's side. He wanted to help.

For a second, Anastasia wondered why she wanted to help him but decided she could worry about that later. "Oh come on. You guys saved me without knowing what was going on."

"That wasn't the same thing…"

Her leg shot out and she nearly knocked him off his feet. "Come on, Grand Papillion. Since when was three soldiers with guns against one guy with a sword a fair fight? Even if you think he's bad news we could give him a chance to explain himself before they kill him!"

Joachim made a face. She really knew how to get to him. Every part of him did say that this fight was not fair. "Fine. We'll help."

"I'm glad you see it my way." Blanca already ran out from behind the crates and wrestled a soldier to the ground who had looked ready to fire again. The man with the sword looked on, dumbfounded. He collapsed to his knees as he heard a voice behind him.

"Hey uglies! Look this way!" He was too tired to look at the girl who shouted but her voice sounded familiar. A bright flash of light stunned the soldiers that were upon him.

The spots faded from his eyes fairly quickly, just in time to see a large man in a butterfly mask launch a soldier into the air and knock it into the horizon with a…fish? Kurando tried to shake the image from his eyes. Perhaps the pain was getting to him.

He could see a soldier approaching him as he felt darkness creep into the corners of his eyes. Hopefully, one of his strange saviors would help. He couldn't even feel his arm enough to pick up his sword.

Just as the soldier lifted his gun to smash his head in, he heard a faint buzzing. "Take this!" Something flew over his head and smashed the face guard on the soldier's helmet. Suddenly he realized it was just like the egg toy the girl from his dreams owned. It wasn't a toy. It was a weapon. Just for good measure, the egg flew upwards and came down hard back on his head. The soldier fell, unmoving, to the ground and faded away. It was thankfully the last soldier.

He turned just in time to see the egg fly back to a young girl in a blue coat and hat. She giggled as she tossed the egg up and caught it behind her back. His eyes widened momentarily. It was her, the girl from his dreams. She was finally here. This was what his mother had meant. She had come to him at a time of great need. He didn't want to think about what would have happened if she and her strange companions hadn't come. But that was the last thought he had before passing out and falling to the ground.

Anastasia ran to his side just after he lost consciousness. "Hey! Don't give up yet!" Blanca came over next and nudged the man's face with his nose. He groaned in pain but it was a good sign he was still alive. Anastasia quickly pulled out a healing crest and held it over his body. Some of the major bleeding stopped but he wasn't awake yet. "Joachim, we have to get him out of here."

"But where?" He took off his mask and put it back in his pack.

Blanca, ever the observant one, barked and ran towards some stairs. There were empty warehouses along the road. "Good boy Blanca. We'll hide in one of those until we can wake him up."

Joachim nodded and picked up the young man as if he weighed nothing at all. They all ran for the warehouse and shut the doors before any other soldiers arrived. Anastasia found some tarp and laid it over some small crates, a pitiful excuse for a bed but it would have to do. Joachim and Blanca stood off to the side while Anastasia continued her spells. In a very short amount of time, she had become an excellent crest mage and would have the best chance of helping him.

After a few tense moments, his wounds were mostly gone and he shifted on the crates. He sat up quickly, afraid that there were still soldiers around. His head swam and he groaned again. Suddenly he felt a large hand on his chest push him back to the boxes.

"Take it easy. We took care of the soldiers. You're safe." It took him a second to realize the deep voiced man spoke English.

"Thank you…" He spoke slowly, looking up at him. He was shocked to see such a large blue-eyed blonde man standing next to him. The fish he thought he had hallucinated before was lying on the ground next to his feet. Next to the fish was a white wolf with a strange mark on its forehead.

"You should thank Anastasia. She wanted to help you."

"Ana-sta-sia?" He stumbled over the foreign name.

"It's Russian." A soft girl's voice drew his attention to the side. "Some people call me Anya." She wasn't looking at him but he could see how pale she was. Whatever she had done to help him must have taken a lot out of her. "Joachim, do you have any mana roots with you? I could use one…"

He shook his head. "There's a chest in the corner. I'll go check it."

The large man walked away leaving Blanca to watch Anastasia and the man. She began to lift her head. "Are you al…right?" Her words faltered when she finally got a good look at him. Those eyes…it was him, the man from his dreams, the man Lucia claimed would be her husband. She blushed as his eyes locked with hers.

Kurando stifled a gasp when she finally looked at him. Now there was no doubt in his mind. Anastasia was his dream girl, his wife. They stared at each other in dumbfounded silence while Blanca watched. He got bored and barked, drawing their attention.

"Ah Blanca!" Anastasia pretended to sound mad but she was glad for the distraction. The man was handsome in her dreams but seemed even more gorgeous in real life. She felt like she was already falling for him. "Ummm…anyway…like I said, I'm Anastasia. This is Blanca." She gestured to her canine companion then to the corner. "Joachim is in the corner."

"My name is Kurando." He bowed his head slightly to her. "Thank you again. You saved my life." He smiled. She was cute and brave. He was already attracted to her.

Her blush deepened. "It wasn't a fair fight." Anastasia turned away from him, looking for Joachim. When she saw what he was doing, she let out a distressed moan. "Joachim!" Though once again, she was thankful for the distraction. Joachim's strange antics always lightened the mood wherever they went.

Kurando carefully stood up and saw the large man crouched near a discarded pillar in the back of the warehouse. He was about to ask what he was doing when Joachim started to speak.

"Hmmm…nice pillar…" He picked up the stone structure like it was nothing. Kurando was shocked. It took at least four strong men to pick up a pillar like that normally.

"Joachim! This is so not the time for this!"

Her words fell on deaf ears and he began to go on about the story of the house where the pillar had once been. Kurando watched, slightly amused as Anastasia covered her face with one hand and groaned. "I can't believe he's doing this now! The tuna was bad enough!"

"Tuna?" Kurando raised an eyebrow. He really hadn't been hallucinating. The strange man in rose bondage fought with a fish and now was going to take up an old pillar. He made a mental note that he didn't think today could get any weirder.

Anastasia moaned, embarrassed at her friend's habits. "Joachim tends to make weapons out of anything. He doesn't have much of a problem taking things that don't belong to him!" She yelled the last sentence in his general direction.

"Is…is he crying?" Kurando cocked his head in confusion. This day could get weirder. What kind of people did Anastasia associate with?

"Don't ask. Just don't ask…" She sighed as Joachim picked up the pillar and turned to face them.

"Were you saying something Anastasia?"

"No…don't worry about it…" She rolled her eyes at him and turned back to Kurando. "Why were those soldiers after you? Are you in trouble?" For the first time she remembered that she knew nothing about him.

He took a deep breath. "Don't concern yourself with me. I can handle things from here."

"Grrrr…awooo!" ("You didn't do a very good job with the last ones!")

"Blanca!" Joachim and Anastasia glared at the wolf.

"Whimper" (Well…it's true…") Blanca backed off slightly

Kurando blinked in confusion. "Have I missed something here?"

"Blanca was being rude. I'm not totally sure what he said, but it wasn't nice. I haven't totally learned how to understand him yet." Anastasia gave Blanca a light knock on the head.

Blanca shook his head as if to say 'You know I'm right.'

Kurando shook his head, unsure if this was really happening to him or he passed out from pain earlier and was now having a strange dream. How could things possibly get any stranger? But then, perhaps he shouldn't ask. His dream girl had finally appeared along with a strangely intelligent wolf and a large man who certainly couldn't be considered normal. Was this really happening?

Anastasia turned to Kurando after shaking her head at Blanca again. "Please tell us what's going on. We're already involved. We might as well know what's happening."

Kurando considered this for a moment. "I suppose you are correct. Those soldiers are after my teacher. They believe him to be a threat to their plans. I don't know much else but the man has been like a father to me. I will not allow them to capture him."

Anastasia nodded. "Then we'll help. Maybe he can help us find someone afterwards."

"I'm sure he'll try." The small group headed for the door. "I lost track of my master and his daughter south of here. I hope they are alright."

"I'm sure they're fine. The soldiers were chasing you not him. But we'll hurry." Anastasia smiled at him. Kurando felt like someone knocked the wind out of him when she looked at him. Real life was better than dreams could ever hope to be.

The small group led by Kurando ran through the brick warehouses. Luckily, they didn't have to run far before finding two people, an older man and small girl, surrounded by more red soldiers.

"Master! Princess!" Kurando shouted, drawing everyone's attention. The soldiers turned their attention from their captives and turned on the newcomers. Gunshots went off almost constantly. Blanca's howl rang out into the night before ghostly wolves appeared and joined the fight. Joachim and Kurando backed the soldiers into a corner at the request of Anastasia. When the group was sufficiently close, Anastasia pulled something out of her coat.

"Pendulum! I summon you!" She tossed the monster photograph. It grew substantially before it hit the ground. When it touched the ground a vicious beast came forth. Kurando looked on in shock as Joachim put a hand on his shoulder.

"It's alright. Anastasia can make certain monsters do her bidding after she takes their pictures. It's a strange talent of hers but it comes in handy."

The monster roared, causing water to seep up from the ground and practically drown the already weak soldiers. Anastasia giggled as she tossed her egg up in the air and caught it behind her just like the last time she defeated a soldier.

Everyone was quiet after the battle until the little girl noticed Blanca. "What a pretty doggy!" She ran up to Blanca and began to pet him. Blanca seemed taken aback at first but then enjoyed the attention. "He looks like a big snowball. Can I call him Snowball?" Blanca looked taken aback but Anastasia rubbed his head.

"Let it go boy. You can be Snowball for a little while." She laughed as Blanca gave a somewhat resigned doggy sigh but changed his tune as soon as the little girl began to scratch him behind the ears.

The old man looked at Kurando. "Well, well, you came at a good time. And you seem to have made some new friends, Kurando."

He nodded. "They saved my life."

Anastasia curtsied to the old man. "My name is Anastasia. A lot of people call me Anya. This is Joachim. And the attention hog over there is Blanca." She laughed as Blanca rolled over onto his back, begging for a tummy rub from the little girl.

"Anastasia? That's a Russian name isn't it?" She nodded. "You're a long way from home."

Anastasia suddenly felt a bit nervous. Could this old man know she was the supposedly missing princess? "Things happen. I enjoy traveling as well." She lowered her head, hoping he would drop the subject.

He seemed to understand that the subject was currently somewhat of a taboo with the young girl. "Ah, where are my manners? I've been rude. My name is Naniwa Kawashima. And my daughter is Yoshiko. Thank you for your assistance."

"Would you mind if we asked what that was all about?"

Naniwa shook his head. "It's all a matter of politics. Not an interesting subject for you young people." Joachim was about to say something when they all heard voices and the clunk of armor.

"More?" Anastasia looked worried.

"I'll go look." Joachim suddenly disappeared. "Shouldn't take long."

Kurando nearly had a heart attack when Joachim's voice came from out of nowhere. "Wh-what was that?"

"That was Joachim." Anastasia answered casually, forgetting Kurando didn't know what Joachim was.

"What is he?" He looked a little nervous.

"A vampire." She remarked just as casually. "He's okay really. He does get a little obnoxious when he turns into a bat though."

Before Kurando could say anything, Anastasia held her hand up. Joachim was back. "There aren't many but it will be difficult to manage if we have to worry about Mr. Kawashima and Yoshiko."

Anastasia nodded. "Blanca, go with Joachim and start in on them. Kurando, you should get them out of here. We'll take care of these ones." Blanca and Joachim went back to the fight.

"What? You don't have to…"

"It's okay. We're used to this."

"It's not your fight."

"Let's just say you owe us this one time."

Naniwa stopped Kurando from protesting again. "We will be in the city for a few days. I hope we will see you again."

Anastasia nodded. "As soon as Yuri gets better, we'll head into the city." After that, she ran to join her friends, crest and egg in hand.

Naniwa looked at Kurando, standing there, watching Anastasia run. "Kurando, we should go."

He jerked to attention. "Yes sir…"

They began to hurry out of the warehouse district. Kurando kept looking over his shoulder. "Something wrong?"

"I don't think I should have left them…they didn't have to do this…"

"It's not just that is it Kurando? That girl. You were staring at her the entire time."

Kurando blushed ever so slightly. "I was?"

Yoshiko giggled. "'Rando has a girlfriend!

"It's not like that!" Now he was really blushing.

Yoshiko laughed again and ran ahead chanting, "'Rando has a girlfriend! 'Rando has a girlfriend!"

Kurando lowered his head as they walked. Naniwa looked at him carefully after Yoshiko was out of earshot. "She is not completely wrong, is she? I've never seen you react to a girl that way."

"I…she…that is…I don't know…" He shook his head. "Do you remember the dreams I told you about? About the woman who was my wife and the child?"

"Yes. Those were interesting dreams."

"Anya was that woman…she is the one my mother said would be my wife…"

"Are you certain?"

"Absolutely. I saw her and I just knew."

"Interesting. Do you think she knows?"

"No…she reacted strangely when she first looked at me but I doubt she's had dreams like mine and had someone tell her we'd be married."

"Well, I suppose this is just something that will have to play itself out, won't it?"

He nodded. "I suppose so…" Kurando turned back one last time before leaving the area with his teacher and Yoshiko.

Blanca wagged his tail as the last solider went down. Anastasia took for her hat for a moment and wiped her forehead. Joachim took a quick look around. They were finally free of soldiers.

"Well, should we head back to the warehouse where the others are?" Joachim picked up his newly acquired weapon.

Anastasia was looking back towards the exit to the warehouses. "I hope they got out okay…"

"What?"

Her head jerked up. "Huh?"

"Should we go?"

"Uh…yeah…maybe Yuri's better now…" She saw Joachim looking at her in confusion. "What?"

"Why did you want to help him?"

"He didn't seem like a bad guy…" She tried to shrug it off like it was nothing.

He was quiet for a moment as they walked. "Oh I get it now…"

"You get what?"

"You like him. Must be love at first sight." He chuckled.

Anastasia blushed. "What gave you that idea?"

"Just the way you acted around him."

"Oh you…shut up!" With that, she kicked him incredibly hard in the back of the knee and ran when he fell to the ground with a groan.

Final chapter – Kurando and Anastasia meet again in Yokohama.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed. You're awesome. Just makes you feel good when you see that number go up on the stat page. Again, next chapter's done but there's always the question of when I get to post it. Woo college!

The Shadow Hawk