Note: The girls name is MEE-ka, not MY-ka, though I bet most of you figured that out. Some of my friends were pronouncing it wrong.

Chapter 4

A New Power

Mika was a little confused. Her head hurt and when she brought her hand carefully to her forehead, it came away bloody. Oh, ouch! She grimaced. But at least they hadn't caught her, she thought and promptly wondered who they were.

Flash. Shouting. Men wreathed in a power like shadows that turned the very air dark. Broken glass. "Run, Mika!" Screaming. Flash.

Mika shivered and looked about her. That's when she saw the white wings spread wide beneath her (there were still a few feathers fluttering to the ground) and the blond-haired man lying prone beside her, one arm flung limp across her stomach and the other beneath her. She nearly sprung up, other details catching her eye as she did: the blood-splattered across his face and wings, the torn white attire, the spreading red stain at his side, and the odd angle at which his lower legs were twisted.

"Cripes!" she thought, finally realizing what he was. "He's one of the Guardians! I'm looking at one of the legendary Guardians!" Mika couldn't seem to wrap her mind around the fact. This was one of the beings her father had talked about only in hushed whispers. This was a being of story and legend. A wielder of the Living Flame. Movement out of the corner of your eye. A shadow among shadows. A protector of the stones! And he wasn't moving. Mika panicked. "I've killed him! I've killed one of the Guardians!" Half torn between awe and desperation, she leaned over him and shook him. "Wake up! Please wake up! Wake up, darn you!" He suddenly stirred beneath her, groaning. Mika jumped back, exclaiming, "Uh-oh! He's alive!" Then she realized what she was saying and rushed forward again, hugging him tightly in relief. "You're alive! Oh my word, you're alive!" His eyes fluttered open blankly and then suddenly focused on her, opening wide. He started to jerk up, hissed suddenly in pain, and started to fall back again just as Mika shoved him back down.

"No! Don't move! You're injured! But I'm here! It's okay! Just hold still!" (A/N: Giggling. I like Mika! Don't worry, she's not as much of a ditz as she seems)

xxx

Krad still wasn't convinced he was awake. Except for the pain… The pain was real. He could barely breathe without the movement sending jolts of electricity along his spine, causing him to tremble involuntarily. There was a sharp pang that let him know his legs were broken and what felt like a few ribs. Despite this, it was the utter inability to defend himself that caused him the most alarm.

He'd have just killed the fair-haired nuisance of a girl pinning him to the concrete if it wasn't that he didn't think he had enough energy even to do that. It wasn't worth it, not when his body was already healing itself. He could feel bones reforming, the skin mending, underneath the torn cloth the scratches were disappearing. But he was still weak. Healing took a lot of energy. He managed to push the girl off and tried to get to his feet. Halfway there, however, he started to crumple and would have collapsed if the girl hadn't caught his shoulder and held him up.

"You shouldn't be pushing yourself so hard," she complained. "In your condition, you should be in the hospital. Come on." She started to guide him forward but Krad wouldn't budge.

"Not the hospital," he replied, keeping himself upright by sheer determination.

"You need medical attention. You're hurt!"

"Not the hospital," he repeated. The girl shook her head.

"Fine. Kill yourself. See if I care. Where to?" Krad gritted his teeth. He took a moment to curse Satoshi out for getting him into this. But at the moment he was going to have to trust the girl. He didn't have a choice.

"I'll tell you where to go."

xxx

Mika was muttering threats under her breath.

"Of all the stupid, dumb, ludicrous…! But no,we can't go to the hospital!" Mika sighed. The truth was she was worried. She could tell he was more hurt than he let on by the fine lines of strain around his eyes and by the way he leaned against her. Mika was lucky she was strong. As it was she was half staggering under his weight and if he collapsed she knew there was no way she'd be able to drag him very far.

Did he have to be so stubborn? She glanced sideways at him but his face was as unreadable as ever.

"He must be in a lot of pain," she thought to herself. "And he did it for me!" She remembered the terror that had filled her when she'd realized the truck was going to hit her. There had been no way to stop in time and… she'd been running from something. But it had all come down to those few seconds on the road, the headlights she hadn't seen in time glaring down on her. She'd been certain she was going to die… that she'd run away from death just to meet it again. But then everything had changed. Someone's arms had caught her, held her. For a few seconds he had shielded her with his body and for those few seconds, while her face had been pressed to his chest and she had clung to him for protection, she had been safe. She even remembered thinking, "Everything will be alright now."

She smiled at the memory and glanced sideways at him again.

xxx

Krad focused on putting one foot in front of the other. He knew he must be heavy but the girl only gritted her teeth and continued forward. Who was she, anyway? She seemed familiar. And why did she keep looking at him? He glared at her just for good measure. Women, he thought, were strange. He'd never understand them. Not that it mattered; he'd have to kill her anyway. He knew this even as he nodded towards Satoshi's house.

"That one." She knew too much now; she knew where he lived and that endangered Satoshi. But killing her would have to wait.

"That one?" she asked breathlessly, pointing. "It's huge!" And indeed it was. It looked more like a mansion with its sprawling lawn and wrought-iron fence. Despite the gate's intimidating facade (A/N: meaning a deceptive appearance), the girl simply pushed it open with her hand and helped Krad through.

It was a relief when they reached the door. The girl looked stymied (A/N: hindered or frustrated) for a second when she saw that there was no door handle but Krad simply reached forward and pushed in the code. The door opened soundlessly. Krad didn't wait around for the girl to close her mouth but took a step forward, forcing her to move with him. She helped him in and onto a couch.

"Stay here," he told her before letting exhaustion carry him away.

xxx

Mika felt distinctly uncomfortable in the huge house. She took a quick tour around to orient herself and finally found a closet with towels and blankets. Grabbing a couple blankets, she returned to the room she'd left the Guardian in and curled up on one of the recliners. She was tired, especially from half-carrying the Guardian around, but it took her a while to get to sleep. There was something about the darkness of dreams that caused her to shift restlessly away from them, something waiting for her...

She was jerked roughly around and slapped full across the face. It effectively helped dispel her shock. She found to her amazement that her face was wet; she was crying. The man who'd slapped her gripped her by the shoulders and shook her.

"Let go of me!" She started screaming, jerking wildly in his grip.

"Shut up!" the man yelled. He slapped her again. She turned her face away but continued to thrash, screaming and kicking. For a moment she broke free but then he caught her around the waist and hauled her back. Someone else came over and began to pull her shirt up while the first kept her arms pinned.

"No!" she screamed hoarsely. "No! I hate you!" There was the lightest touch on her now bare shoulder.

"She has the mark," the man said. He let her shirt fall back down around her.

"Well, that certainly makes things easier," the other guy said. "Bring her. And be careful; she'll be dangerous at first." Mika was never sure what happened next. It was just that suddenly all the emotions that were boiling around inside of her, the frustration and the fear, reached a deafening point in her mind. And where up until that point she'd been focusing on what was in front of her, beating herself senseless against it, in her desperation she just all of a sudden pushed sideways with her mind instead. And that's when it happened. Something exploded outwards. The man who had a hold of her gave a sudden yell as he was knocked flat away from her with all the others. Mika never stopped to consider what had happened; she ran, fleeing out through the broken window. Behind her she heard yelling.

"Get her!" But they were slow. She ran… into the light and screech of breaks.

xxx

Krad woke with a lot more energy than he'd gone to sleep with. He might not have been completely recovered from the enormous drain of healing so many wounds but food would take care of that. Satoshi was beginning to stir in the back of his mind, groaning slightly from the effect of the mental beating he'd taken. It would take a while yet for the blue-haired Tamer to feel up to anything that could remotely threaten Krad, which was just fine with him. It meant he could deal with the girl.

He was briefly surprised to find that a blanket had been thrown over him. It was quickly pushed aside, though, as he got up. There was a blanket folded up in one of the recliners but the girl wasn't there. Puzzled, he walked around until he found her in the kitchen. She had scrambled some eggs and made bacon with orange juice and toast. It took her a second to notice him as he stood in the doorway.

"Oh, good!" she exclaimed. "You're up! I made you breakfast but I was afraid it would get cold before you woke up."

"You made me breakfast?" he asked, looking at the food quizzically.

"Yeah. You looked really tired and I figured you could use it. I hope you like eggs." Krad decided not to tell her that he'd never eaten food in his life. Satoshi was the one who ate, not him. He had no need to.

"What's your name?" he asked instead.

"Mika. What's yours?"

"You don't need to know."

"Oh." She looked at him sadly. Krad decided that he'd better kill her now, before she looked at him like that again. It was better to get it over with. He walked towards her suddenly, light flaring into his hand. Mika, sensing instinctively that something was wrong, began backing up. "What are you doing?"

"It's okay," Krad replied, but it didn't reassure her in the least. She turned and ran. "Wait!" Krad threw a ball of brilliant light after her but she was already out of the room. It hit the wall instead, leaving a foot-wide hole. "Hold still! You won't feel a thing, I promise!" He ran after her, through the door, where he was promptly hit-square-in-the-side-of-the-head by a hardback book. He staggered for a moment.

"Leave me alone!" Mika shouted, grabbing another book and chucking it at him. Then she turned and ran. Krad chased her down the hall, blasting holes in the floor. (A/N: I wonder what the repairman is going to think?) Mika swerved into a bedroom before she realized there was no other way out. Desperate, she looked around and spotted a mirror. Krad, sure he'd finally got her trapped, ran in after her, throwing the bright light already gathered in his hand into the room. But he hadn't counted on the mirror she was using to shield herself. The balls of light hit the mirror, shattering it, and reflected. Krad threw himself sideways, but not in time. One of the magical spheres grazed his side, incinerating his shirt and some of the skin beneath it. When he got back to his feet he wasn't one bit happy. And Mika was defenseless. Krad stalked towards her.

"No!" Mika shouted, raising her arms as if to ward him off. "Stay away from me!" Neither of them saw it coming. White light gathered suddenly in her hands and exploded outward. Krad barely managed to get a shield up in time as it washed over him. For a second the room was filled with light and it was impossible to see anything, then the light died away. Mika looked at her hands in shock.

"What the heck!" Krad exclaimed. He caught Mika as she tried to escape and pinned her to the bed.

"Let me go!" Mika shouted, squirming. But Krad had her now. He pressed her face down into the blankets because it was easier to restrain her from hitting him that way. "You tried to kill me!"

"I had to. Now hold still, you're making this difficult." He tugged her shirt up around her shoulders. Mika could feel his hands on her back.

"What do you think you're doing?" she demanded, angry and breathing a little heavily. But Krad let his breath out in an expulsion of air, having found what he was looking for and he was too surprised to listen. High on her right shoulder he could see an odd mark etched in her skin.

"My word!" he exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell me you were one of the Powers!"

"What are you talking about?"

"That mark on your back; that's the mark of the Powers."

xxx

To Shimmering Solitude: Good to hear from you again. You sure are prompt!

To Devine Dragon: Yea! It's nice to get another review! Hope you liked the chapter! Oh, but I can't wait to get to Dark's part in a couple more chapters! (giggling evilly) Watch and see!