/*

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of Symphonia or its characters, I just like to play with possibilities.

Well, here is the rest of Chapter 18! I missed writing about Kratos more than I realized =)

And, this one is much longer than the previous chapter ;D

(I should study for my finals but I really don't feel like it haha.)

*/

Chapter 19

There was a breeze moving around his shoulders, and Kratos realized that Anna was still wearing his jacket. His undershirt did not have sleeves, but he was not uncomfortable- he was rarely ever so. He looked over and saw that with all its belts and buckles it was still a little big for her, especially since she had left them mostly undone, but he couldn't help thinking that the colors looked pleasing on her. Anna's long hair was tangled again after camping in the forest all night, and he wondered if it would have been better to take her to a normal human town for treatment… would that have been a more proper thing to do? He had run off with her without thinking twice, but now that she was conscious he was going to have a much slower time of hiking.

There was so much to consider, now. Yuan had shown interest in her, and it gave him cause to worry. He wondered vaguely if he had actually put her in more danger by saving her life? In the facility she would have lived out her life in the capacity of becoming an exphere, perhaps one of the greatest ever made. She could have been the finest jewel ever produced. That would be honorable, would it not? But Kratos also saw things in another light, which had caused him to act- it was hard to ignore that in the ranch she had been mostly dead, anyway. She had been wasting away in a private room, a prisoner of her own mind. She was just a human, and he was well aware of it, but at that time he had felt it necessary to free her. He wondered what was wrong with him- now he had to take on the responsibility of looking out for someone who sought trouble. It was like setting a killer loose from prison, or freeing a rabid dog from a pound… except that Kratos knew this woman was not a killer, and she didn't have rabies. There wasn't anything keeping her in that place, except her humanity. At the time, he hadn't seen anything wrong with letting this one human go.

Now he was not only setting her wild, he had helped her fly, and in doing so robbed his own cause of its finest treasure… though he knew they would be able to use someone else. There were plenty of other humans they would be able to use, and he had to explain it to himself this way. He had stolen a fish from the market, but there would be other fish. This woman was different, somehow so much stronger than all the others. He admired that, and had decided to give her a better life. Was that so strange, after all? Before he had only planned on setting her free, and watching from afar how long she could go uncaptured; however now, he had found she was hopeless, and he didn't want her to be taken back again. He had overestimated her ability to survive, given her a chance she was incapable of using on her own. If he had gone to the trouble of setting her free, it seemed such a waste for her to end up in the same pond she had been liberated from. He had to find a better place to keep her, before she got herself killed or captured again.

Was he crazy? Perhaps. But she was interesting, a real credit to humans everywhere, and he didn't want to see her in that blank state again. It disturbed him somehow, even though he had grown so used to it. Overseeing human ranches was a large part of his work, after all. But seeing her on the night she had tried to escape, with those wild eyes- and then again, in such a short time subdued and consumed by the exphere… it had caused him to act in ways that were completely out of line. Finally he was aware enough to see that, and to see why Yuan had been mocking him- still, he had to take this woman somewhere that she would be safe. Only then would he be able to forget about the feelings she evoked, and move on like he always had before. She brought out weakness in him, and he had to get away as quickly as possible, but she was a rare curiosity and deserved better than a slow and menial death. Before Yuan or anyone else could find them again, he would put her safely in a place out of their reach… anything she did after that would be on her own head. He had grown so soft, and yet… he found that inside of his embarrassment, there was another type of feeling which had started to grow- there was no reason to it, no measure of it, but Kratos could not shake the feeling that it was a seedling of something strong.

…

It took a moment for Kratos to come back from his thinking, and he turned from the sky to look at the woman standing in front of him. The moments of clarity were now gone, as he looked at her soft figure and her deep brown eyes it seemed difficult to think about anything more.

"S-so, you're really going to stay with me then?" Anna was still in shock from the statement he had made, but he couldn't fathom why. What has she been thinking all this time, anyway?

"I believe I said that."

"How long?"

"How long?" he echoed softly to himself, "I will escort you however long is necessary, I suppose."

Kratos had to wonder if she even remembered all the effort he went through to get her out of that window the night before last. Considering that she had been wearing a Cruxis crystal without a key crest, though, the probability of that was almost none. And considering everything else, he had to wonder why that even mattered to him.

Anna was frowning, and he wondered if she was thinking about something, or just unaware of her own facial expression. He realized that over time, he had learned to control his own- well, more or less. Lately there had been times when it was hard to restrain a smile, but he knew it would not take long to adjust and figure out the solution. He had always been in control of the things around him, and had found the most efficient ways to accomplish his tasks- for most of his life, there had been peace, not chaos. What more was needed, once that could be achieved in a life? Chaos was always something to be avoided, prevented… but somehow, this woman…

"And when you're done with your job you're going to leave, just like that?" She seemed apprehensive, and Kratos wondered what response she was expecting. He was doing her a favor, so why did he feel like this was some sort of interrogation?

"Job? I suppose you could call it a job, with the way you actively seek out danger. But yes, after I've found a safe place for you I will be on my way."

She turned around and lifted her hands to her face. He heard her sigh and decided that perhaps her exhaustion was catching up with her- it felt strange having to guess. Usually she just shouted whatever she was thinking, but this side of her was becoming extremely… tiresome.

"What exactly is your job, anyway?" she muttered with her back to him.

Kratos rolled his eyes, frustrated with her questions. She was inadvertently trying to concern herself with things far above her comprehension. Even if he told her the truth about his work, he knew that it would not be possible for this woman to believe him. She had just met him, what reason would she have to trust him? To her I am a stranger passing through, nothing more...

"You're some sort of guardian angel, aren't you, Kratos?"

She turned to look at him, and he was surprised to see that her eyes were red. She hadn't been crying, he would have heard that, but was she upset? What cause had he given her to be upset? He didn't remember Martel ever being this unreasonable, but perhaps it was because she had been a half-elf, and not human… wait, a guardian angel? Where did she get that idea from?

"Would you at least answer me? Yes or no would do…"

"I don't have to answer your questions."

"Why else would you know an angel, if you weren't one too though?" she paused, and Kratos wondered where she had gotten so perceptive all of a sudden. Although, I haven't known her for more than a brief second, if I think about it...

"I remember…" she began, "very vaguely I remember the night you flew into my room. And I hit you, without meaning to. I wasn't really in control of my body back then, but how else would you have known where I was, if you weren't trying to save me?"

"…" Kratos stiffened. He hadn't been expecting this, but he wasn't going to make it this easy for her. At least her logic has flaws- her accusations are empty. I can still salvage this.

"You obviously don't really work for the Desians either, since you're helping me escape from them."

She was starting to get rather worked up about all this, and she was excitedly telling him everything she knew. He continued to listen, and assess the damages. How much had she figured out already?

"…and that guy from earlier, I think you called him Yuan, he was saying something about you taking orders from some guy named Mithos. What's that all about? I thought angels would work for Martel, or something like that. Who is Mithos?"

Kratos decided her trivial accusations were taking a serious turn, and she had finally gone too far.

"That's enough. I will tell you anything I think you need to know, but for now just forget what you heard." He tried to sound as intimidating as he could- it always worked on the inquisitive humans he had encountered before. It had never failed to stop them cold.

"Like I could really do that! Why can't you just tell me? It's obvious I'm on to something." Her face was red with indignation, her eyebrows arched and her fists curled.

"You don't know what you're dealing with, and you are better off not knowing." He retorted quickly, before she could say more. He had to look away, because the furious expression on her face made him feel a curious emotion, once again… though she was furious he wanted to smile and laugh at her, he wanted to know how that mind of hers worked. For a brief moment, the heart inside his chest- he felt it moving in there, like it was turning over in its sleep…

I should have known. What works on other humans just doesn't work with her… it does the opposite. It's been a long time since I've argued like this... it's exhausting. I'm losing to her, and I'm running out of things to say, but somehow for a moment there I found enjoyment?

"Why are you deciding what's good for me, huh? 'You're better off not knowing'"- she imitated his voice, trying to mock him- "Well you know what, I think that being informed would make me a lot more useful than keeping me in the dark, where I have to feel everything out for myself. I'm not some sort of sheep you can lead blindly through a meadow. Just because we're different doesn't make you in charge…!"

"I see."

Kratos couldn't help but wonder at how naive she was. How she could say something like that with such conviction? Of course he was in charge, he was taking care of her and protecting her, how could she deny that? She kept running towards trouble, with her arms wide open! How many times had he saved her life so far? Didn't that give her reason to accord him some respect? But her words 'because we're different' kept ringing in his head…

"Don't do that! Don't just brush me aside like you think you know everything! Stop messing with me, and just tell me- are you an angel or aren't you?"

"If there is doubt in your mind then I will not persuade you one way or the other." He paused, and before he could stop himself, he turned to look directly into her eyes… "But if you think back, who was it that landed without a scratch after jumping from your window? You should really think a little more before you start jumping to conclusions…"

His face felt hot, thinking back to his clumsy mistake. That had been so reckless, saving her. And when his wings had gone out, it was a miracle he hadn't been injured far worse. He could have killed her with that drop too, if she hadn't happened to have wings already… he thought to the wound on his leg and how he had woken up that morning… such a curious feeling.

"What are you talking about?" He cringed mentally as Anna's harsh tone brought him out of his reverie- he was shocked, once again. She was looking at him expectantly, and Kratos realized he finally had the upper hand. He didn't want it. The memory of that night- he hadn't realized hers was incomplete. He didn't want to lead the conversation, this time. It had been a gamble to say such things, and now he regretted saying anything, if she honestly hadn't remembered. But if she recalled hitting me, how could she not remember landing? Or the fact that she brought me to her house…

"Really though, what do you mean? Landing without a scratch… that's because you were holding me, right? And what about your magic, how can you deny that? You don't look like any half-elf I've ever seen."

"I never claimed to be one."

"Then are you human? Or are you an angel?"

"I am human. That is all you need to know." Kratos sighed heavily.

"But-!"

"Does it really matter that much?"

Anna's eyes widened and he realized he must have finally reached her on some level. He did not pursue it any further- he hoped it would be enough to silence her.

"Sorry…."

She averted her gaze, and heat from the argument began to evaporate. It was as if it had all been emanating from the intensity in her eyes, and when she looked away the cause for the fight was gone. Kratos was glad- he hated answering questions. Now that the air was clear again he looked up at the sky. They had wasted a long time arguing; the sun was already on its way down, it was late afternoon. He tried to plan the rest of the evening, and decided they would probably be better off walking along the river until nightfall, to be sure that there would be water. He didn't have any supplies with him, and after having this conversation with her it wasn't likely he would have the chance to fly around scouting for things…

Silence weighed heavily over them as they stood together halfway between the river and the forest. Kratos sincerely hoped she had had enough arguing for one day, and wondered how to proceed without touching a nerve. But he noticed Anna seemed to be lost in thought, which was a first in the short time he had known her. He let her be, and allowed himself to pursue thoughts of his own.