A.N: Another chapter done, hope this one is better than the last...and a bit longer too. And thanks again, to all the kind people who reviewed this less than wonderful fic.

I'm not afraid!

"Do you think you'll ever find love again?"

Kratos turned to the woman sitting beside him suddenly, almost slipping off the boulder the action was so fast.

"Excuse me?"

Raine looked at Kratos, meeting his gaze, and dropped hers suddenly, caught off guard by the look of incredulity, pain, anger and ….hope? in his eyes.

"I…I'm sorry," she stuttered "I wasn't thinking…it was a careless thing to ask."

She could feel the weight of his gaze on her even when she turned her head fully away in guilt and shame.

'What a stupid thing to ask a man who lost his one and only long-term partner. The woman who gave birth to his son. The son he cherishes so much, because he's so much like her. Because he's all that he has left of her. Anna.

By Martel….'

Kratos stared at the woman who sat by his side, unable to form any words in response. His first instinct was to say something cold and harsh, throw her off the scent of his weakness. Stop her from noticing that the question hurt him, cover it up with anger.

It was too late, he realised. She'd seen the hurt when she'd looked him dead in the eye, and though shouting at her would make her back away and never bring up the subject again…he didn't want to. The half-elf knew that she had made a mistake. She hung her head, turned her face away, went completely tense…he could see it in the muscles of her bare back, the skin just as tense as her muscles.

Not quite believing that he was going to let it slide, he exhaled slowly.

"Why do you ask?" he questioned, his voice quiet, slightly uneven.

Raine started in surprise at the tremor in the usually silken voice…and moreso at the fact he wasn't shouting at her…wasn't telling her that it wasn't her business…wasn't glaring. Nothing. Just calmly (well, sort of) inquiring as to why she had asked.

"I don't know…I've just….it doesn't matter. It's not the sort of thing I want to burden you with. Just foolish female sentiments."

Kratos tilted his head slightly, his curiosity aroused at the last comment 'Foolish female sentiments?...the rational Raine Sage is brooding over her marital status?'

"Raine...I don't claim to be an expert in…love or courting or anything of that vein. My relationship with Anna was nothing short of a miracle, in the fact that it occurred…so I can't say that if you tell me your problems that I can solve them all…but I am willing to listen."

He finished his little speech, looked at the woman who sat beside him and was surprised to find that his anger was gone. Not because what she had asked hadn't hurt and flustered him….but because it was her who had asked.

Raine sighed. "I just…" she choked, "I've spent a lot of time on my own and…I come here, and I see Lloyd and Colette together. I see Genis trying to woo Presea, I see Zelos flirting with Sheena. I see Regal, mourning for Alicia but happy….because he had her…" she paused again, looking down at her hands as they fidgeted nervously in her lap, not quite believing that she was thinking these thoughts, and feeling them…much less saying them out loud. To Kratos Aurion of all people. "Who do I have? Who have I had?"

She laughed suddenly at her almost total lack of love life. "Everyone around me has love, or has loved and been loved in return."

Kratos snorted "I wouldn't call what Sheena and Zelos are sharing 'love'…or what Presea and Genis have."

"It's a start."

"It doesn't mean anything. Raine, we don't fall in love with the one member of the opposite gender that we spend the most time, based purely on the fact that we spend a lot of time with them."

"They have something though…"

"They have a platonic relationship…although I'm not sure the term 'platonic' can be used in reference to Zelos."

She laughed again. Softer this time though, not the harsh bark that she had directed at herself before.

"I suppose that's true enough."

"You know it is."

"We're feeling confident aren't we?"

The auburn haired man drew himself up to his full height, exaggeratedly puffing out his chest before proclaiming:

"This is one of the subjects in life that you should never doubt me on."

Raine raised her eyebrows in surprise at the strangely light-hearted display that Kratos had just put on, having never seen any sort of real sense of humour from him before.

The half-elf glanced up at her companion, randomly noting that his attire was the same as usual. Black and almost completely concealing…in this heat.

"Something wrong?" the voice snapped Raine out of her thought.

"Umm…no, I just….aren't you hot?"

Kratos raised an eyebrow. "Not particularly."

"Liar…you're sweating."

"And you noticed this because?"

She shrugged. "I merely noticed, that's all…if you're hot, why don't you….um…change into something a little less…concealing?"

It was Kratos' turn to shrug. "I'm not overly uncomfortable…and, that aside, I merely choose not to."

"Uh-huh."

The dark red-head turned to her. "You don't believe me?"

"I find it difficult to believe that even an angel who is resistant to temperature can be comfortable dressed like that in this heat."

"….That's it?"

"No, Kratos, that's not it…I find you very attractive and I want you to strip off." She snapped sarcastically.

Kratos shifted slightly, feeling uneasy at both the subject and Raine's foul mood.

When the woman got into a bad mood, she was singly the most terrifying thing that he had ever seen, as he had witnessed during the 'world regeneration' journey when she had caught a couple of rebellious teenagers in the act of trying to vandalize the Balacruf Mausoleum's writings that were carved into the walls.

Each youth had been holding a paintbrush and were doing a fairly decent job of creating accurate paintings of 'indecent' body parts on the tablets.

He hadn't seen what Raine had done to the two boys, and he was partly glad that he hadn't. All he knew was that by the time the professor had finished with them, the boys weren't so rebellious anymore. In fact, they had bowed low to the group, and apologised for their 'sins'.

At this point, Kratos, along with the rest of the group, had backed away from the silver haired half-elf as she reappeared from around the corner, wearing a very disturbing smile.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, which Kratos noticed his consciousness had not been participating in:

"No response?" Raine mocked

"I don't think there is anything I could say to that which could promote a decent conversation."

"Depends what your definition of decent is."

"Not a conversation based on my fear of disrobing."

Raine turned her head to him slowly, an incredulous look playing across her face at Kratos' wording.

"Fear?"

"Incorrect expression," he explained, quickly. A little too quickly, the woman noticed. "I meant to say, dislike."

"Right, right…of course."

That sat in silent for a few moments, until Raine absolutely had to pursue that train of thought.

"So why are you afraid of undressing?"

"What?!"

"Sorry, let me rephrase," she gathered her thoughts while seraph stared at her "why are you afraid of being semi-naked in front of other people."

"I'm not."

"Did you have a bad experience as a child or teenager? Because I would've thought four thousand years would be enough to get over it."

"Raine,"

"Seriously, isn't it long enough?"

"Raine," the angel repeated, his voice dropping to a growl.

"Well, come on…share…"

"Raine! This is not up for discussion." He dropped his voice from the shout it had turned into, his breathing heavy. "I have my reasons."

Raine opened her mouth to reply, but was cut short by a shout from the other side of the beach.

"DINNER!"

"I suppose we better had head over there." The half-elf murmured, still shaken by her companion's outburst.

Kratos nodded his agreement and slid off the rock smoothly, stretching his slightly stiff legs, then turned to watch Raine as she gathered up her various books and slid off the rock…only to be yanked unceremoniously back by the rope that tied her to the boulder.

"On the subject of strange habits," the human commented, trying to dispel his anger and return his demeanour to normal "why do you insist on tying yourself to a rock?…could you not just sit farther away from the water…or try and overcome your fear?"

Raine shot him a dark glare, and he quickly closed his mouth to refrain from saying anything further, opting to silently watch her untie herself instead.

Her task completed, Raine folded the rope up neatly, held her head high and strolled past him, coolly informing him that;

"I'm not afraid."

OK, hope you enjoyed it.

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