Chapter IV - Stalker

Desert City Morroc. The only reason for it to be called that way, was for it was located in the middle of the Sograt Desert. Morroc is many things indeed, but desert isn't one of then. There's only one thing the Desert City has more than sand: life. It's far from being as crowded as Prontera, it's true, but it's streets are always full of people from all over the world. Many of those visitors are novices, attempting to become part of the Thief Guild. Many merchants and other people visit Morroc for shopping, as the city is not only filled with dozens of street stores, but it's also home for the most beautiful jewels of every color and shape.

"It's amazing how these people managed to build a city like this in the middle of the desert." Aiko commented, as she walked through the streets of Morroc, examinating the sea of small stores in search of a good bargain. "It kindda reminds me of Prontera."

"Yeah. It's really amazing." Sasuke agreed. "I never tought Morroc would be so big and full of life. I imagined it to be more... well... desert."

"First time you guys've been to Morroc?" Aiko asked, still foccused on the street stores.

"First time we've been to pretty much anywhere." Sasuke answered. "Payon was the first city we visited after we left Prontera for the first time."

"You guys should go out more." said Kirya, laid down on Aiko's cart, legs crossed, eyes closed, her amulet shielding her face from the sun. "Traveling's what's best. You should do that more often while you're still alive."

"..." Hinata stared at Kirya "Aren't you ashamed of being so darn lazy?"

"Nah!" the kyonshee girl answered, rising her right arm and waving her hand in a 'who cares?' gesture. "I'm dead, I don't need to walk."

"It's no use, Rin-rin." Aiko said, with an expression in which the word 'whatever' could be clearly read "She's always like that. I got used to it already."

"Rin-rin...?" Hinata asked, confused and a little embarrased.

"Huh. At least your nickname's got something to do with your real name." Kirya said "'Cause I dunno about you, but I can't see where's the Munak part in Kirya."

"Hun... Aren't you gonna give Sasuke a nickname too?" Hinata asked.

"Sasuke, huh? Okay. What name fits a Sasuke?..." Aiko tought for a few seconds "Sash! That's it. I'm gonna call you Sash!" she smiled, turning her head to look at the boy. Sasuke seemed a little embarassed, but he didn't say a word.

"How come I'm the only one who can't get a decent nickname?" Kirya complained "Why can't you call me something that actually has my name on it? Like... like..." the undead suddenly stopped, as if she had just remembered something. Sitting on the cart, she turned her head down to the floor and placed her hand on her chest, grabbing her shirt tightly.

"Like what?" Aiko asked, withrout noticing the change on Kirya's mood. "Hey, what's the matter with you? Kirya? Hey, Kirya!" she got no answer. "...Munak...?"

"Ah! N-Nothing! It's nothing!" Kirya finally answered, forcing a smile.

"Is she okay?" Sasuke whispered to Aiko.

"She's gonna be fine." she whispered back. "It's probably just some painful memory popping out. It happens a lot. Must be a part of being an undead." the smith girl's voice seemed a bit sad.

"I see..." Sasuke was still concerned about Kirya. He was an acolyte, and even tough she was an undead, or maybe exactely because she was an undead, he felt the need to help her. There wasn't really much to be done, but he could at least try to get her toughts away from whatever was disturbing her.

"Hey... err... Munak?" he said, a little embarassed.

"Yes?" Kirya answered. She liked it when Sasuke called her by her real name. It reminded her of her old friend Ryu, the archer. And of someone else as well.

"Can you... can you help me with something?" said the acolyte boy, trying to find a way to get Kirya to go with him.

"What is it?"

"Can you? Please?"

"Err... okay..." Kirya stepped out of Aiko's cart, confused and curious with Sasuke's request.

"Thanks..." Sasuke said, blushing, as he grabbed Kirya's arm and started to walk away. "We'll meet you later at the Inn, okay?" he shouted to Aiko and his sister.

"Okay!" Aiko shouted back.

"Just what the hell what that?" Hinata asked, as she watched her brother and Aiko's undead friend going out of sight.

"No big deal. He's just being an aco." Aiko answered, smiling. "C'mon, I think I saw something good on one of those stores back there."

"..." Hinata was still thinking about her brother when she turned around to follow her cheerful mastersmith friend.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"...Where are we going?" Kirya asked, as she tried to keep up with Sasuke, who turned out to be much faster than he seemed.

"Oh... I... I just wanna buy something for my sister... for becoming a swordswoman and all... you know? And... miss Aiko gave me this biretta and... I... just wanna get something for my sis too..." Sasuke answered, trying to be convincing. Even if he wasn't making that up at that very moment, he probably wouldn't sound very convincing anyway. Kirya's presence and, mostly, the fact that she wouldn't quit staring at him were already enough to make him too nervous to speak clearly.

"But... what do you need my help for?" Kirya said, still confused. The look of curiosity in her half covered face seemed so cute to him that Sasuke had to turn his very red face away before he was capable of speaking again.

"... Ah... that... that is... because..." Sasuke took quite a few seconds thinking of a good excuse before he could speak again "...Because you're a girl. So you should probably know better than me what kindda gift a girl would like to get."

Kirya kept quiet for a few minutes, just following him. Then she suddenly stopped.

"Hun... What is it? Did I... did I do something wrong?" Sasuke asked, worried, turning around to look at her.

"This doesn't have anything to do with Hinata, does it?" Kirya finally said, her face was totally covered by her amulet. Sasuke couldn't tell if she was angry or upset just by the tone of her voice.

"W-What are you talking about?" Sasuke stuttered.

"You... you're just trying to make me feel better, aren't you?"

"...Yes..."

"...Thank you... Sasuke-kun." Kirya smiled, pushing her amulet away from her face with her sleeve. Sasuke turned his face away, trying to hide his embarrassment. He wanted to say 'you're welcome', but he couldn't get the words off his mouth.

"C'mon, don't just stand in there! Let's go do something! I'll show you the city!" Kirya said, with a wide smile, grabbing Sasuke's arm and pulling him. The young boy's face turned red as a tomato and he lost control of his body. Kirya had to pull him the first few metters before he started to walk by himself.

"I... err... sorry about that..." Sasuke apologized. His face was still very red, and would probably stay that way for quite a while, as the Munak didn't seen to have any intention of letting go off his arm. Holding his arm made her feel good. As if she was holding the arm of another boy... the one she never forgot.

"That's okay. Aiko always have to carry me around. Your sister's right, ya know? I really should--" Kirya stopped as she felt a strong, sharp pain in her back.

The undead girl fell on her knees as a young male rogue, standing behind her, pulled his dagger off of her back. Sasuke imediately kneeled by her side, looking very worried.

"Munak, Munak, are you okay?" he cried, placing his hand on her shoulder. "What the hell did you do that for, you bastard?" he yelled agrily at the rogue, who was still standing in the same place, immovable. Sasuke was a very calm person, and suited very well the job he had chosen. Still, it was quite easy to forget he was an acolyte when he was really furious.

"... Ah... my mistake..." said the rogue lad. "Didn't knew the monster was yours."

"Who-the-hell-are-you-calling-a-friggin'-MONSTER?" Kirya yelled, furiously, turning around to face her agressor "You just stuck a knife on my back for no reason and I'm the monster?"

"... Doesn't really seen like it actually did anything..." said the young man, staring at the inexistent wound in her back.

"Well, it still hurts, okay?" Kirya replied, angryly. Every single person who managed to caught a sight of the scene had just stopped everything they were doing to watch it. And they couldn't really be blamed. A local rogue who had just appeared out of nowhere was standing in front of a very furious acolyte kid, accompanied by a Munak, a 'monster' who was supposed to exist only in the heart of the distant Payon Caves, screaming her lungs out in the middle of the street. It's not something you see every day.

It didn't took very long untill Kirya noticed everybody was staring at her.

"What the hell are you looking at!" she yelled at a group of people standing next to her. The fact that her amulet was hiding the angry look on her face didn't make it lose it's effect, actually, it only made her look even creepier. Imediately, not only the kids she had yelled at, but pretty much everybody in the street stopped staring at then and returned to their previous tasks.

Facts: She was dead and clearly furious. Nobody knew how strong she was. She had a weapon. And stabbing apparently had no effect on her. That's pretty much all it took to freak everybody out.

"So?" Kirya asked, staring at the young rogue.

"So what?" the man asked back.

"Don't you have anything to say?" she replied, annoyed. "Like 'sorry for stabbing you in the back for no apparent reason'?"

"Okay... sorry." apologized the young lad. He didn't seen very sorry, tough. Kirya noticed that, but she decided to just ignore it.

"Whatever..." she said, as she stood up and tapped her skirt to get the sand off of it. "Sasuke. We're going back to the Inn."

"Huh? But I tought we--" Sasuke started, standing up as well.

"Back to the Inn." Kirya interrupted him.

"Hun... okay..." said the acolyte boy, following after her. Sasuke was very worried about Kirya. And also very disappointed for not being able to take that city tour with her. He really wanted to spend some time with her, talk to her, and get to know her better. He worried about her. But not as an acolyte anymore. He worried as a friend would. Sasuke was really starting to grow attached to the undead girl, even tough he had only known her for a few days. He couldn't really tell why.

"Why are you still here?" Kirya asked, suddenly. Sasuke couldn't be more surprised.

"W-What?" he asked, confused.

"Not you..." she answered "...him."

A few seconds after she said that, the young male rogue from before appeared behind then, like magic.

"How did you know I was here?" the man asked. He was convinced his hiding skills were perfect, and simply couldn't understand how could she had seen him.

"I saw you coming after us when we left." she answered, ignoring his surprise. "What leads us back to my first question: why are you following us?"

The man didn't move nor say anything, but he was clearly annoyed for letting himself being caught so easily. Specially because, for him, Kirya was just a little girl.

"Hello! Would you mind stop ignoring me?" Kirya shouted, angrily, grabbing her punisher and trying to look threatening. Neighter her glaze, her tone nor her pose seemed to have any effect on the rogue lad.

"I'm keeping an eye on you." the rogue answered.

"What for?" Kirya asked, confused. The lad didn't answer. His expression was totally empty. He actually looked more dead than the Munak girl.

Kirya grabbed Sasuke's arm and started to walk away, muttering a 'whatever' as she did. The rogue lad kept following her.

"Okay... this is starting to get ridiculous." said the undead girl, when she noticed he was still after her "Don't you have anything better to do?"

Again, the young man didn't say a word.

"Fine. Do whatever the hell you want." Kirya kept walking, annoyed. Sasuke sighed and went after her. And so did the rogue.