Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia

Chapter 3

I heard a faint pounding sound. It seemed to becoming from a distant place, so no need to worry about it. But it came again, a little louder this time. I couldn't seem to figure out what it was coming from. My mind seemed fogged and it was hard to think clearly. A third time, more persistent.

I groaned as my eyes opened, becoming fully awake. Using my elbows to sit up I yawned and looked at the clock to see it was 2:30A.M. The pounding came again. Now being awake I was able to tell it was someone knocking at the door. The urgent knock came once more. I got up and quickly headed for the door. Who the hell would come this late?

I unlocked the door and began to open it, but suddenly someone pushed their way in. Before I had time to react or even tell who it was they shut the door as fast as they could. They pressed their body against the door and they made sound of relief. They sagged down to the floor, breathing heavily.

By this time my eyes had fully adjusted to the dark and I recognized the form sitting on the ground.

"Yuan..?"

He looked up at me. "Sorry... For disturbing you so late... "His tone was a bit off.

I kneeled down next to him. "Don't worry about that. Are you alright? What happened?" It was difficult to keep the concern out of my voice and the way Yuan glanced up at me told me I failed from seeming unworried.

I placed my hand under his arm to help him up until he hissed in pain. Withdrawing my hand quickly as if I had just touched fire, I noticed my hand was wet. The scent of blood was in the air. Considering I could smell it so distinctly without any elven blood to enhance my sense of smell was bad.

I looked at him, when he saw the concern on my face he made a grunting sound.

"I'm fine. It's nothing serious."

He could be so arrogant sometimes.

"I'll be the judge of that."

I wrapped an arm carefully around his waist and helped him up. He growled quietly in protest but didn't push my help away. After getting him to the couch, I turned the light on, squinting from the sudden painful light. As my eyes began to adjust I went back over to Yuan. A soft gasp slipped when I saw him. He was covered in cuts and wounds. The worst looked to be on his right side, slightly under his arm. It was bleeding badly.

I sat down next to him and placed my hand on his arm. Casting First Aid seemed to slow the bleeding a bit. The tingling sensation from doing magic would always be an odd feeling, no matter how many times it was used. Noticing he was still in pretty bad condition I used First Aid again. He seemed to be doing much better now. I was about to cast it a final time, just to be safe, before he interrupted me.

"That'll do," he growled.

I sighed and got up the feeling of his eyes on me as I left the room was a little uncomfortable. Coming back a few minutes later while holding a pair of clothes the curiosity left his eyes.

"Why don't you take a shower and get yourself cleaned up. Then you can tell me what the hell's going on."

He just grunted, so I took that for an 'okay'. After directing him to the bathroom, I sat on the couch and sighed. What kind of trouble has that man gotten himself into this time? I rubbed my hand across my face, and yawned a bit. My eyes turned to look out the window at the starry night sky. I faintly thought about what happened to the other Renegades. The question I wanted to know most was who had attacked Yuan, and why. Well okay, why was a stupid question. I'm sure Yuan has gotten on a lot of people's nerves.

My mind pondered on this till I heard the bathroom door open. I looked over to see Yuan walking in the room. It was quite a site to say the least. He was pulling his pant legs up. I couldn't hold back a chuckle when he tripped over them and almost fell on his face. Can you blame me? To see the fearsome Renegade leader, a four thousand year old Seraphim and he was tripping over a simple pair of jeans. Since I was a bit bigger then Yuan was my clothes were a bit too big on him, but I didn't think it'd be such a problem.

I heard him grumble under his breath as he finally made it to the couch. When he sat down he glared up at me for my amused look at his struggle. I figured that look on his face also meant he was ready for whatever questions I had.

"What happened?"

"Our base was invaded," he gave a tired sigh.

"By who?"

He glared at me slightly, "I don't know."

"Well what about the rest of the Renegades? You didn't just leave them there, did you? Not very leader-like of you." I grunted.

"I didn't abandon them!" It was a bit of a surprise that he shouted. But I stayed silent, letting him continue. "We were taken by surprise when attacked. A good number of my men were lost. Although I made sure the rest were evacuated safely."

"So you ran just like that?" I raised an eyebrow.

"No!" he hissed, "We fought back for a while, but we weren't really prepared for battle," he admitted.

"A good leader should always be ready for anything." I coldly stated.

"I know that!" he said irritated. "But I've been a bit busy with a dozen other things! Making a new government isn't exactly easy!"

I grunted in response, thinking about what else to ask,

"Well where are the other Renegades? Where did you evacuate them?"

"Home," he simply stated.

"Home?" My face twisted with confusion.

"Yes, home. They went where ever they lived before joining the Renegades."

I gave him an odd look. After a few minutes of silence all I could ask was "Why?"

"Why what?" he glared at me, obviously annoyed.

"Why send them home? Don't you have another secret base in case of emergency or something?" I cocked my head to the side slightly, my auburn bangs shifting to cover my eyes a bit.

"Are you an idiot? What if one of my Renegades was disguised as the enemy? My 'hidden base' would no longer be hidden. And what's stopping the enemy from attacking again? We may be more alert but that doesn't mean we're completely ready for an attack. I won't lose anymore of my men for no good end."

I smiled. He was a good leader. A bit short-tempered but he was clever. He cares about his men.

"What are you smiling about?" he glared at me suspiciously.

Noticing that I was still smiling at him, I quickly put no expression on my face again. "No reason." Deciding to change the subject before he pressed it, I went on with my interrogation. "So what are you going to do? If you didn't evacuate the Renegades somewhere then you don't want their help."

"Well I figured I'd find out who attacked my base on my own. Then go from there."

"Hmm..." My gaze settled on the floor as my mind went over the new information for a moment.

Wait a minute...

I looked up at him suspiciously. "Why did you come to my house...?" Dreading the answer.

"Well..." he looked away, "I was hoping you'd let me stay at your place for a while..." He glanced up at me quickly before returning his gaze to the floor. "I can't really return to my base the way it is now," he quickly added.

A soft groaning sound was made from the back of my throat, I was afraid of he'd say something like that. And of course he didn't have any other 'friends' to stay with. I was about to ask him why couldn't he just stay with one of his Renegades or live on his own. But to ask one of your followers if you can live with them would be humiliating. And living on his own would cost Yuan gald he most likely didn't have.

But what if Yuan's attackers found him here? That would put me and the whole town of Luin in danger. This town could end up being destroyed again. I wouldn't have these people's blood on my hands.

"Kratos...?"

I looked up; apparently I must have been silent for to long. He looked impatient... and nervous? Why would he be nervous?

"Alright. You can stay here." Yuan's face lit up for a second till he noticed I was looking and forced it away. Yuan's been acting kind of weird today…

"But you better keep a low profile Yuan. A really low profile! We don't need to put the people of Luin in danger." He nodded in agreement.

"Alright then," I stood up, "if that's it I'm going back to bed. I don't have a spare room so you'll have to sleep on the couch."

"Okay." He glanced at the couch he was sitting on.

I went to the closet, took out a blanket and threw it at him. "Here." A smirk slightly touched my lips as it hit him in the face.

As I walked to my bedroom his muffled cursing could be heard as he glared daggers at me.

I closed my door and laid down. What a night. I suppose a more eventful life is what I wanted. Careful what you wish for. This certainly wasn't what was on my mind. I sighed and tried to go to sleep.