AHH! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT, AFTER ALMOST A YEAR, I'M UPDATING!

Dunno why… I suddenly just wanted to. Haha. I remember typing this chapter a million times before, but for some reason, I keep loosing them. Man, I'm still annoyed coz of that until now.

…

Chronicles of an Acolyte

Part Three

…

Ohmy… ohmyohmyohmy… something really queer happened… Kira and me set of to Mother Mathilda, and that's where all the confusion set place. First, Kira stopped a distance away from the nun's cottage. When I asked him why he did, he simply shrugged and urged me to go ahead.

So I did. Mother Mathilda is this old lady, and extremely nice. She told me the consequences of being an acolyte and so forth. She told me that she was going to chant a spell that would not exactly teach me to heal, but more of remind me how. Because, according to her, everyone knew how to, you just needed the right way to awaken your magic… or something.

She also told me something interesting. Some of the people who asked for their powers to be awaken never return to the Prontera Church to be labeled a nun… they simply roam Midguard, knowing how to heal others. It wasn't exactly against the law, but it was considered immoral. Don't ask me why… ehh…

Mother Mathilda started chanting her spell, and everything went white. I could sorta feel something warm in my throat and chest… after that, I had a difficult time breathing, and just collapsed on the floor. Mother Mathilda said something about that being normal, because the spell was quite strong.

Dunno what happened next… I remember passing out and hearing voices. I gained consciousness after awhile, but I was still SO tired. When I opened my eyes a bit, I realized that Kira was carrying me on his back and bringing me who-knows-where.

Erm…

He was…

Warm.

Somehow, I felt secure, and I just dozed back to sleep… that being the reason, and another one that when he noticed I was awake, he said, "Go back to sleep."

So I did.

…

Morroc was a relatively warm place. In one of the old houses, a small girl ran inside a room and started laughing, waking up someone who was still one the bed.

Rumi, the one on the bed, rubbed her eyes and sat up straight.

"W-where am I…?" She asked, all confused.

"My name's Raine!" The little girl replied enthusiastically. Rumi soon realized she was the girl from before who accidentally made a pack of wolves attack Rumi. "Cliff told me to wake you up, or he'll eat your breakfast!"

"A…ah?" Rumi stood up immediately. "Breakfast…? N-no, I'm sorry for being such a burden!"

Raine looked at her and shook her head in a childish manner.

Soon enough, Cliff popped his head inside the door and started yelling. "Hurry up! Kira's going to kill me if we don't give you 'proper accommodation', or whatever goes on in that crazy mind of his!"

Silence. Rumi looked at Cliff like he was the most horrible person alive (which she could have sworn she was).

…

"This is delicious…" Rumi said between gulps of her soup.

"Thanks!" Raine replied cheerfully. "My brother and me made it!"

Rumi smiled back in gratitude and continued to eat her breakfast. She and Raine chatted on about almost anything that came into mind.

"I live here with my two brothers, Cliff and Plain… Plain's the one who was teasing the wolves yesterday!" She gave a cute pout. "We're all orphans, and Cliff is a cool and nice brother coz he's acting like our dad! Err, I mean one, I mean…"

From the other room, the voice of Cliff muttering something was heard.

"What about Kira, then?" Rumi asked with curiousity.

Raine seemed to think about it for awhile, and finally replied, "Cliff's petrified of Kira, so he does anything Kira says."

This time, not only muttering was heard as Cliff stormed into the room, all red. "I'm not scared of him, Raine… geez…" He faced Rumi with a scowl. "We owe him a lot, so we do him any favor we can afford."

"I see…"

"By the way," Cliff continued. "He said he's coming here later to escort you to Prontera."

"N-no!" Rumi exclaimed, not wanting Kira to do her any more favors.

Raine blinked. "Are Rumi and Kira a couple…?"

"No!" Rumi exclaimed, for a different reason this time. "Anyway, Cliff, I can go to Prontera by my—"

"No." Cliff replied simply.

"Bu-"

"Quiet, woman."

"ARGH!"

Raine cheered on as Rumi chucked her now empty bowl at the thief, who ducked almost professionally, if he hadn't hit his head on the edge of the door.

…

"Cheent! Look!" Mint's voice rang, all happy. She exited the Archery Office in her new uniform, and proud of it.

"Chent?" She blinked. Where was her brother this time? A scowl crept to her face as she realized her brother was flirting with a priestess, when he should have been complimenting her new image.

With no second thought, Mint crashed his head with her the flat of her boots. Chent, being a knight, didn't get hurt but sarcastically pretended to.

"Great, Mint." He commented at last.

Mint smiled. "And, I think I beat Rumi to it!"

"Ah."

…

"H-honestly, Kira!" Rumi exclaimed. "I can walk to Prontera alone!"

"But, err…" The assassin scratched the back of his head in a sheepish manner. "We're already here, anyway…"

Rumi blinked a bit sheepishly. Had she been complaining that long? All she knew was that at around afternoon, Kira had come to Cliff's house and they ate lunch together. And even with Rumi's protests, Kira practically dragged her all the way to Prontera, not wanting her to travel by herself.

The whole way to the huge city, she was complaining, but not really making any serious actions for him to stop escorting her.

"I… see…" Rumi squeaked in embarrassment.

Kira chuckled and pat her head playfully. "I'll see you around, Rumi."

She shrugged in reply, excited in finally signing up as an acolyte.

…

It took way longer than she expected. When she came out of the church, the sky was dark and she probably had to stay in the inn, which she lodged before. But it was worth it… she was now wearing the official acolyte uniform, the fabric soft against her skin.

In a good mood, she practically skipped her way to the inn.

"Ah!" Kira's voice exclaimed. "Rumi did it!"

Manong, the inn keeper, smiled. "Yes, she did. She looks even prettier, doesn't she, Kira?"

Kira, who was seated on one of the stools with a drink in his hand, grinned at Rumi. "Yup, she does."

Blushing furiously, Rumi took a seat beside Kira. "Uhm, I'm staying here for the night…"

"Really now?" The old man replied. "Okay then, but I'm not allowing any midnight visits from Kira."

Spit-take.

"What?" Kira exclaimed, staring at the old man who was laughing at his own joke.

Rumi, who was blushing even more now, avoided looking at Kira. "Ahh…"

…

"He says no midnight visits, and he bans it, supposedly… so now, I'm going to do it just to annoy him!" Kira said, practically banging on the wall in annoyance.

He was in Rumi's room. Rumi was seated on her bed, blinking at him in confusion, now wearing her normal clothes and not her acolyte uniform; same with Kira, who she has never seen in an assassin uniform, since that was the supposable situation anyway.

"It's not midnight…" Rumi replied softly, stating a fact.

"Geez, Rumi." Kira replied, a bit exasperated. "Do you even know what he meant by that? Of course I'm not gunna give you a real midnight visit."

Rumi scratched the back of her head. "No… what did he mean by that?"

He looked at her, confused. "Then why were you blushing before?"

This made her blush again, and she fiddled with the blanket of her bed. "I dunno…" Truth was, she was blushing because everyone else took it as a big deal, and even though she didn't know what was going on, she felt embarrassed that she was the center of attention.

"Ah! Kira!"

Kira tilted his head. "What?"

"Do you still have your wounds?"

"Err…" Kira started. "I got more than enough. Why does that make you happy?"

Rumi sweatdropped. "No, I'm sorry… I just wanted to try healing…"

The crimson haired teenager gave a chuckle and plopped down on the bed beside her. He pulled up his sleeves and frowned at the bruises on his arms. Forcing a smile, he looked at her. "Go crazy."

She chuckled, and tried out her newfound spell with his bruises. Rumi held his arm with her hands, and his arm radiated with warmth as she tried her spell out.

Since she was not that trained yet, she only succeeded in healing a small amount of them, and that was only on his arm, not counting the rest of the bruises and wounds on his body.

"S-sorry…" She didn't really expect much, but she felt so useless, not being able to heal what was expected from average acolytes.

"Hm? No, don't worry. You're new at this, and I've got way too much wounds for any acolyte or priestess anyway."

She sighed and fiddled with her fingers, staring at the ground. There was complete silence as Kira stared at the ceiling from his spot beside Rumi.

"So, what're you going to do after tonight?" Kira asked.

"Uhm… I don't know… probably go to Payon to visit a friend."

"I see."

Silence.

"You want to…" She hesitated for a bit, but she knew she wanted to ask. For some reason, she had grown fond of Kira. "Err, 'escort' me there, or Cliff said, whatever you mean in your crazy mind?"

Kira mumbled something about killing ungrateful thieves, and patted Rumi's hair. "Sure. If I'm not going to be doing anything, I'll come with you."

"Thank you."

Silence.

"What's your last name?"

She blinked, confused at the sudden random question. "Izumi."

He gave an expression she couldn't explain, but it soon disappeared from his face just as soon as he had it.

"Why?"

"Just curio—"

"Kira?" A voice yelled as the door to the room opened. It was the old man, keeper of the inn. "Didn't I say no midnight visits?"

"Wha…" Kira started. "It's not even midnight yet, and I'm not planning to give her a midnight visit!"

Rumi blinked. "Will someone please tell me what that is..?"

To Be Continued…