A.N: Ok, thank you to those who've reviewed, and I apologise for the length of time it's taken to update this..exams and stuff. Anyway, another short chapter, I'm afraid, but I hope you enjoy it.

What to say

Lloyd flopped down onto the soft sand with a muffled 'thud' finally worn out from the game of tag he, Colette and Genis had been playing for the last 45 minutes. The aforementioned blonde girl joined him soon after, sitting beside him, her breathing as laboured as his.

The brunet pushed himself up opening his eyes to see Genis stalking over to them.

"Sorry Genis," he grinned "but hey, think of it this way…it's training. You do enough running and pretty soon you'll be as athletic as me!"

The half-elf muttered something about preferring to 'exercise the mind' and collapsed, face first, into the white sand, sending up a cloud of gritty dust around him.

Lloyd coughed, waving his arm trying to get the sand away from his face.

"So…I wonder when dinner is?"

"In roughly an hour, assuming that Zelos doesn't burn it." Regal informed the young man from his position beneath the palm tree.

Lloyd turned and looked at him "An hour…that long? And Zelos…come on; he only ever makes pasta…"

"I like his food." Colette piped up, perpetual smile on her face.

Lloyd groaned "But it's only ever pasta. Pasta, pasta, pasta. It's always spaghetti, or lasagne or….uh….spaghetti bolognaise and…." He trailed off, realising he couldn't name anymore pasta dishes.

"I believe he's making jambalaya today, Lloyd."

"See!? Pasta!"

Genis took this opportunity to sit up. "No, Lloyd," he corrected "Jambalaya is made with rice and lots of spices."

"Oh…"

"I've never had that before! Sounds good…is it good, Regal?" the blonde girl asked, Colette asked, joining in with the conversation.

"It is if you like spices…and as Zelos has a habit of going somewhat overboard with the spices, you better had like them."

"Sounds yummy."

"Colette, it'll probably blow your mouth off, knowing Zelos." Genis commented, brushing sand off his bare chest on onto his pale blue swimming shorts.

"But it'll be nice. It sounds it."

Genis rolled his eyes at Colette's faith in Zelos' cooking, knowing that they'd probably all be gulping down water by the gallon, after taking a bite of dinner.

"Yeah. Sounds nice…and I can handle a little heat." Lloyd stated "C'mon Genis…Zelos' isn't that bad really…at least it's not Raine that's making dinner."

Genis snorted a laugh into his hands. "Yeah, that's true…you remember the time she baked that cake for Colette's birthday and spread curry powder on the top, 'cos she thought it was strawberry?!" he laughed.

Lloyd and Colette joined in laughing. "Or when she buttered the chicken that she put on the sandwiches instead of the bread?!" Lloyd suggested.

Colette sat beside the two boys, giggling. "Hey…come on, she can't help it."

"Nah….but it's still funny!" Genis exclaimed, rolling onto his back, kicking his feet into the air as he laughed.

"Where is the professor, anyway?" Lloyd asked, looking around in case she was close enough to overhear and then slap him for the comments.

Regal pointed to the rock at the far end of the beach. "She's over there…as she has been since she came out of the house this morning."

"She's been there all day?" Genis asked, sobering.

"Is she OK?" Colette asked, clasping her hands together in a concerned manner.

"She is fine, I'm sure, she merely wants time to read. Besides, Kratos has gone over to keep her company." Regal answered

The group looked over to the out cropping of rock, seeing Raine sitting on it. About 10 metres away was Kratos, slowly walking towards her, still dressed in his full black outfit, minus the small cloak that usually covered his shoulders.

"Geez, you'd think he'd be hot, dressed like that." Lloyd observed, watching his father approach his former teacher.

"He can't be. He'd...umm take his shirt off, if he was too hot, wouldn't he?" Colette blushed at the idea of seeing Kratos shirtless. He was usually so…well, demure wasn't the right word, but Colette had only ever seen the skin of Kratos' upper arms, shoulders, fingers and face. Everything else remained covered at all times…even his forearms and neck never got bared. At least, they never had been when she had seen Kratos' on a regular basis. Even in the Triet desert, when it had been blisteringly hot, and everyone else had pulled off layers to keep cool, he hadn't. It'd been strange, almost surreal.

Genis had pulled off the light blue jacket he wore, so that he only had the dark blue t-shirt on, Lloyd had stripped to down to the white sleeveless shirt he wore under his thick red coat….even the professor had been forced to take off her orange coat and wear only the cream silk blouse she wore underneath it. Kratos, though, had remained fully dressed, save for the shoulder cape, which he had grudgingly removed, even when the sun was as its highest and he was drenched in sweat, he hadn't even pulled off his gloves. And he hadn't complained either. Not once.

"I suppose so…maybe he's just old fashioned and doesn't believe in showing off much skin?" Lloyd suggested "I mean…he was raised four thousand years ago."

"Well, maybe," Genis answered "But he's adapted his behaviour to suit the times he's lived in…I mean, aside from the slightly weird lack of emotions, Kratos acts in pretty normal ways, to fit in."

"So he really isn't hot like that? After all, we know he can feel hot and cold and everything."

"I wouldn't spend too much energy dwelling on that trail of thought," Regal advised "It's hardly a pressing concern. I'm sure that if Kratos was uncomfortable, he'd do something to alleviate it."

Lloyd frowned at Regal. "What's 'alleviate' mean?"

-----

Raine glanced up from her book, blinking, and stretched slightly, staring out at the vast, blue monster laid out in front of her.

She had been sitting on the rock, hunched over her book, reading, for several hours now and her back was stiff and sore. Still, the setting was nice and she had got much of the book read. It was fascinating and would help her research into trans-mana hybridisation of the monsters of Symphonia no end. Maybe if she finished it soon, she could start writing her research paper…finally.

The sound of quiet footsteps on soft sand caught her attention, abruptly pulling her from her train of thought.

Listening, she identified the steps as Kratos. No-one, not even Presea, the smallest and lightest of the groups had steps as light as those of the seraphim.

The man stopped just behind her, glancing over her shoulder to the book as she turned and looked at him. His dark eyes scanned the text quickly and he turned his gaze on her, meeting her eyes squarely as the context of the book became apparent to him.

"I thought the point of meeting up with old friends on a tropical island was to get away from work." He commented, raising an eyebrow at the complex book.

She smiled lightly. "True…but this isn't work to me."

"I believe that, quite possibly, you're the only person I will ever meet who could say that about reading a book on monster species hybridisation…through changing mana signatures."

The half-elf merely inclined her head. "Yes, that's probably true…" she trailed off, realising that this topic was now worn out.

Kratos, sensing her slight unease at the silence, reached for a topic that would interest her and make her feel more at ease. He felt slightly ashamed of himself that he could not even hold a conversation with someone he truly thought of as a friend for more than a minute.

It was, however, Raine who started the conversation up again. She cleared her throat quietly, closing her book and settling it on her lap.

"If you don't mind my asking, Kratos….why did you come over here?"

The seraph turned his attention to her, and then shrugged slightly, looking like an embarrassed teenage boy.

'Looking very much like Lloyd," Raine reflected.

"I thought that you might like some company, having spent the morning alone," he looked down, scuffing his boots slightly "Although, I realise that I am hardly the most companionable of people."

"Neither am I. Proven by the fact that I've spent all morning on my own, reading."

He glanced at her.

"That's a signal Kratos…I'm happy for you to join me." As a show of this, she moved over on the boulder, making room for him.

A rarely seen smile formed on the mercenary's face and he sat down on the rock, next to her, bracing his legs against the rough sides of it to keep himself from slipping into the water.

The two sat side by side in silence for a time, staring out at the sea in front of them, unsure of what to say to one another. Anyone watching would have thought the two were lovers, silently basking in each other's company, so in tune with one another that they needn't say anything.

Wrong. They sat together as friends and allies, both silently working up the courage to say something, both knowing that if either did, the conversation would probably end again soon.

Eventually, growing bored with the silence, Raine decided once again to try at conversation. But….what to say…

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