Okay, first: I've decided I should ban myself from writing romance as reading this I realized I suck. Or at least I feel like it sounds stupid. Second: I went back and read chapter 1 and started laughing. I'm gonna try to fix it. Third: I just retyped the whole thing and if there are spelling errors, I just don't care right now. I'll fix 'em later. Fourth: never try updating three stories and once. (but I wanted this done before school's out) Fifth: my essay won first place in the competition! (smiles) and I love you all. Thanks.

Chapter 8

Saved

It was hard to think. Everything was so blurry. And nothing that happened next seemed to make sense. Krad watched as darkness exploded around the Power. The Power dropped to the concrete, unconscious. It took Krad a second to realize someone had hit him with the Dark Flame. But who? If only he could think clearly…

As soon as he could stagger to his feet, he turned around… and groaned. Dark had grasped a startled Mika's hand and was explaining how he'd found them.

"I saw the explosions and couldn't resist helping a damsel in distress." He bowed low to kiss the back of her hand. Krad unceremoniously pulled Mika away and stepped in front of her. Dark smirked.

"What are you doing here?" Krad demanded.

"Saving your butt. What's a matter? Can't even take out a few pesky Powers?"

"I didn't ask for your help, and I didn't need it!" Krad retorted. "I had them right where I wanted them."

"Ri-ight," Dark replied. "That would be why you were kneeling on the ground in abject defeat." Then he changed the subject before Krad could come up with a suitable threat. "Who's the pretty girl?"

"That's none…" Krad started.

"I'm Mika." Mika peeked out from behind Krad. "Are you another Guardian?"

"At your service," Dark replied.

"This is Dark." Krad muttered threats under his breath.

"Do you like flying?" Dark asked.

"I've never flown before," Mika replied.

"Never?" Dark glanced at Krad. "I can see why. I could take you if you'd like." Mika started to reply, but changed her answer when Krad squeezed her arm hard.

"Not right now. I'm tired."

"Suit yourself. So why are you hanging out with Blondie?"

"Why, you…" Krad couldn't take it anymore. He started forward, one hand beginning to glow with the light of the Living Flame.

"Krad, no!" Mika grabbed the hem of his shirt and tried to hold him back.

"She's right," Dark replied. "You couldn't hurt a fly in the state you're in. Better quit while you're ahead." Krad couldn't fight both of them. He was already dizzy again. Reluctantly, he released the Flame.

"Another time then," he said.

"Why were you fighting those Powers, anyway?" Dark asked.

"They killed my father," Mika said.

"And attacked a stone," Krad added. "Now they're trying to kidnap Mika."

"The Powers did this?" Dark frowned. "But why?"

"I don't know."

"This has to be stopped," Dark said. "I'll see if I can find them. You know what has to be done." Krad nodded. Dark turned to Mika. "Always happy to help a lady. See ya!" With that he took off into the air and quickly disappeared into the dark sky.

Krad and Mika started home, past the wreckage of the fight. The Powers had vanished sometime while they'd been talking to Dark.

For a time they walked side by side in silence. The world faded in and out of darkness as they passed between streetlights.

"Thank you, Krad."

"For what?" Krad looked up, jolted out of his thoughts.

"For saving me. You didn't have to."

"I came as fast as I could."

"How did you know I was in trouble, anyway?"

"It doesn't matter. I'm just glad you're alright." He caught her by the arm and pulled her close, so that they were only inches apart. Mika realized they'd stopped walking.

"Krad…" she whispered the name, so that it was no more than a breath of air. "Please…" She stopped, uncertain what to say.

"Please what?" He was so close, standing there looking down at her. She realized for the first time that his eyes were molten gold, a sort of liquid fire. And then he kissed her. The world seemed to melt away. It was… bliss, euphoria? She didn't have the words to describe it.

So what if the most powerful people in the world were trying to kidnap her? So what if she had no home? No parents? All her worries evaporated, and she was drowning.

Through the haze in her mind a thought suddenly swam to the surface, and she pulled back from him.

"Blast!" she breathed. "We have to get back. I forgot about Satoshi. The Power's…"

"Mika…"

"…attacked him. What if he's hurt?"

"Mika! Calm down. Satoshi's alright."

"You saved him?" Mika asked. Krad sighed. Somehow Satoshi always seemed to ruin everything. Why did she have to worry about this now?

"Yeah. I… saved him."

The house now had a new door where the Powers had entered, leaving pieces of wood and glass and debris all over the living room. It was a mess, but neither Krad nor Mika felt like doing anything about it at the moment. Mika was exhausted: she kept yawning. It seemed funny to her that she was still in her pajamas. As she walked in, she had her arm out, trying to form a shield. Krad noticed her frustrated look.

"Still can't make one?" he asked.

"Feh!" she replied. "I formed one earlier. Now I can't again."

"Keep trying. You'll get it."

"What a pain." Krad stayed with her all the way back to her bedroom. But when she sat down on her bed, small details in the room caught her eye. The shattered remains of the picture frame the Power had destroyed, lying scattered in a small, glittering circle. The bloody carpet where she'd fallen, trying desperately to move paralyzed muscles. The utter helplessness that followed. The panic: the stifling, screaming, all-consuming panic.

Mika realized she was shaking.

"Krad," she whispered as he started to leave. "I don't want to be left alone. Don't leave me alone." Krad stopped and looked at her. In the back of his mind Satoshi was laughing at him, or smirking, which was the same thing as a laugh from Satoshi.

"Oh, shut up," Krad told him.

"I didn't say anything," Satoshi replied innocently.

"You were thinking it." He sat down next to her and pulled her close, burying his face in her silken hair. She smelled of the nigh, dark and wild, of the Power she wielded, and faintly of the men who'd kidnapped her. There was a light bluish mark forming along the inside of her wrist. Krad carefully turned her hand so that he could see it better once he was sure she was asleep. It was the beginning of a nasty bruise. The thought filled him with a blind sort of rage. How dare they touch her? How dare they cause her pain? Krad tightened his hold on her and vowed to do worse to them before they died. As he lay, holding her in the circle of his arms, he determined not to let anything happen to her.

"It's okay, Mika," he whispered.

Okay, so that's that for now. I can't wait 'till chapter 12! But now I'm stuck on 13. It's kind of funny 'cause that's where I got stuck in my other story, too. I have a chapter 13 block (and I don't even believe in bad luck!).

To Reiko no Tori: Wish granted! And there's more Dark in the next chapter, too. Actually, there's quite a bit more of him.

To StAnThEpLuNgErMaN: I really hope there weren't any spelling errors in this chapter. I'm now in a writing group! Yay! So my grammar's improving too. Looking back over my first few chapters I can see a bunch of comma errors (I hate those!), and several places where my formatting was switched when I uploaded the chapter and I didn't catch it. I keep meaning to go back and fix those.

To DevineDragon: I know it's been a while, but thanks.