Author's note: Thanks all so much for those who read my last chapter. Really appreciate it .

Disclaimer: I don't own Kyou Kara Maou or any of it's characters but the OC and plot are mine... heh, silver lining xD...

Chapter 5

Sarah took off her white Simaron coat and folded it while Josak put out the fire. If she was going to have to journey to Shin Makoku on foot, she didn't want to look like a Big Simaron commander.

"We need to get you a cloak," Josak said. "With that hair and eye color, you might as well waltz into Caloria holding a sign saying: 'I'm the Maou'."

Sarah gave him a flat look, "Thank you for your dry humor, I so needed it."

"You're welcome," Josak said, smiling from ear to ear. Obviously, sarcasm wasn't in his dictionary… Of all the people I get stuck with… him?

"How much money do you have on you," Josak asked.

"Let's see…" Sarah started. "Back in Big Simaron, I kept my pay in my saddle bag, like everyone else. When you guys brought me to the hydrofoil, I only had the clothes on my back. Now, how much money do you think I have on me?"

It was perhaps a bit unlike her to speak that way, but she was still irritated from the day before when Shinou wore her last nerve.

If Josak was affected by her statement, he didn't show it. "Good point, well then, as I am in a similar predicament as you, we'll just have to wait until it gets a bit darker."

Sarah followed Josak's example and settled down on the ground.

Her back smashed hard against the surface of the raging water. Water rushed in from all sides as her entire body was swallowed into the depts. She was only faintly aware of the strong currents that threatened to wash her away. But instead of being swept away, she was falling… She continued to fall…

Her eyes were closed and she felt a calmness washing over her. Even though she didn't know why, she had the vague feeling that she had accomplished something great. She welcomed the sensation. But at the same time, she felt a great sadness as if she would never again see the sunrise on the horizon.

All of a sudden, her descend was halted and she time ticked slowly by. She didn't care… Time had no meaning now. The feel of the current had now totally disappeared. She opened her eyes at long last and saw that she was suspended in black nothingness. "Is this death?" she asked herself.

She suddenly felt very small and very alone. Her violet dress felt soft to the touch but brought little comfort to her. She brought her hands up to her face. They were the hands of a child. She felt alarm rising within her, yet a part of her told her that there wasn't a need to.

Then, a bright light shone from above and she was forced to shield her eyes. Squinting against the light, she saw a dark figure appeared from within the light. His voice was warm and soothing as he said something to Sarah.

"Who are you?" Sarah asked without thinking, her voice sounded strange in her own ears.

The figure seemed to hesitate. "Would you?" the figure pressed his question.

There was a long pause. But Sarah was quite aware that she wasn't considering the question. Someone else was thinking, but it was her that at last said, "I would."

She sat up and reached out. Then, everything was bright.

Sarah's eyes flew. Her gaze fell outside where the night sky was clear and the star twinkled. How long was I asleep?

As Sarah stood up, she noticed Josak was no where around. She considered the possibility of him leaving her behind but discarded it as Josak appeared out of the gloom holding a few objects.

"Here," he held out a deep purple cloak. "Put this on."

Sarah swung it around her shoulders and fastened it. She noticed that it was quite light though think enough to provide warmth and shelter, ideal for traveling. It wasn't as fine a weave as the one Sarah left behind in Big Simaron, but, all things considered, it wasn't a bad piece of workmanship.

Josak pointed to the folded cloth on the floor. "I don't think we should risk leaving it here." He open and held out a leather sling bag. Inside, Sarah saw some dried fruits and nut, sweet meats and other traveling provisions.

"I'll carry this," Josak said as she slung the bag over his shoulder.

Sarah raised an eyebrow. "Wait a minute, if you and I both didn't have any money to begin with, how did you—?"

Josak held up a hand. "Now, now, one shouldn't worry about such trivial things," he said with a wink. "Come on, I think it would be faster if we were to stole away on a ship that's heading out at morning tide." He turned and peeked out of the opening of the cave. He waved her to follow.

"I couldn't find anyone to… um, contribute a sword, so you have to keep that hilt and scabbard of yours hidden," Josak whispered as they moved through the undergrowth. Sarah knew what he meant by that remark. The hilt of the sword was a unique design only used by Simaron commanders and the scabbard had designs engraved in to state what rank the possessor held.

They cleared the small wooded area within a few short minutes. Silently, they set to the empty cobblestone streets. Pausing every now and then behind houses and in small alleys to avoid detection.

Once or twice they had to hide themselves from a few patrols of Calorian soldiers who were on their night watch but otherwise, the run to the harbor was relatively uneventful. After a length of time, they caught sight of their destination.

In the predawn gloom, Sarah could make out shapes of ships of all sizes. Already, a few people were loading and unloading cargo for the morning's shipment. Obviously, Josak had not anticipated that these many people would already start working before dawn. They ducked in one of the nearby alleys again.

"Which ship are we bound for?" asked Sarah in a low whisper.

"Unfortunately," Josak said with a hint of bitterness. "That one." He pointed to a ship with an opened cargo hold and at least a dozen people forming a line to load the cargo. "That ship leaves on morning tide for Suberera, a desert land just east of Shin Makoku. It's a smuggling ship, but a ship none the less. After that, we could journey by horse. It would be a week's worth of riding, half a week if you're willing to risk laming your horse to the border. In total, we could see demon land within a little over a month's time."

Josak's face turned calculative, and then he shook his head. "No, we have to get on this ship, the next ship bound for Suberera isn't due here until two weeks later. It's too close to the war." He turned to Sarah. "I forgot to ask you. Are you a full-blooded demon? Hoseki could really hurt if you are."

"Last time I checked, I wasn't affected by Hoseki at all," came the reply. "I'm not even sure if I'm demon at all," she muttered under her breath.

"That's good," he said. "Now on my signal, we try to get to the ship. If we wait any longer, chances are we're not going to get aboard unnoticed." He started to move out then stopped. "By the way, you have demon blood in you. They are no double back humans."

Maybe in this world… but what about mine…

Then, she had an idea. She restrained Josak with a hand on his shoulder before he cleared the alley. She looked around the alley and found an old rusted can. Josak raised an eyebrow as Sarah told him to boost her up to the roof. Josak shrugged and cupped his hands. Sarah stepped into it and nimbly scrambled up. Sarah carefully navigated her way on the rooftop. When she reached an appropriate distance, she propelled the rusted can in the opposite direction of the smuggling crew.

All the men looked up from whatever they were doing. One of them, probably the leader, signaled and the dozen men pulled out various alien looking weapons and slowly moved in the direction away from the ship, leaving the way to the cargo hold unguarded. Sarah jumped down to joined Josak, who had already started to make a run for the opening.

By the time the smugglers came back empty handed, Josak and Sarah were already in the deepest reaches of the hold.

Sarah and Josak stowed away in the ship for two weeks, eating the rations Josak had 'found' and ducking out of sight when one or another sailor came below deck to check on the cargo. They kept quiet most of the time on the voyage instead of risking detection.

Keeping still and quiet for long periods of time was never one of Sarah's talents. A fact she had painfully discovered. Without any form of entertainment, the minutes were slow to past. It was only on the third or forth day out at sea that she found that tensing and relaxing her muscles helped a little.

Most of the time they were keeping still, Sarah pondered her most recent dream. And just like every other dream Shinou gave her, it made little sense. She was almost certain that the dream was somehow connected to Shinou in one twisted way or another. What was Shinou trying to tell her?

"Why did you do that?" Josak asked all of a sudden.

"Hm?"

"That day on the gibbet, why did you do what you did?"

"Oh, that… it was more of a spontaneous kind of thing." Without knowing exactly why, Sarah blushed.

Josak chuckled. "No doubt."

"Why are you going through all this trouble to get me back to Shin Makoku with you?" Sarah asked him in turn.

Josak looked hurt. "Did you want me to leave you back in Caloria?" he quipped.

"No," Sarah said quickly. "Since we'd settled the fact that we didn't like each other back on Gwendal's ship…" She left the sentence unfinished.

"Liking someone and doing the right thing when the time comes is two different things," Josak answered, and then a grin crept on his face. "Besides, His Excellency would kill me if I lost you, so I'm merely saving my skin."

Sarah feigned a pout and giggled.

Three weeks later, they heard a shout from above which startled them momentarily. "Land ho!" the lookout bellowed.

A/n:

Okay, I admit, this isn't one of my better chapters. Plus, I'm kinda stuck for the moment. Not to mention mid-terms are coming up...

To i love athrunThanks so much for the review! I hoped you like this one too!

To Torana: Squee! That's a relief... Glad you liked the last chapter.

To All my readers: I know there's at least thrity of you out there right? Lol, I hope people don't click the link over and over again and I find out that only ten people read O.O But it doens't really matter. I hope this chapter is up to expectations. Thanks for reading!

Anyway, personnaly, I think that Josak and Sarah are starting to get along Oo! We mustn't have that now, can we? Soooo... (evil smile) Let's see what happens in the next chapter. So until then...

Forever,

Val.