(A/N): It's my birthday! So if you read a few of my stories you'll see this message elsewhere today. If it's not too much trouble, and I know it isn't, leave me a review as your birthday gift to me. Now to go play Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate for the 3DS.

Chapter 5

Luna gazed up at the clear blue sky. It'd been three days since they had left the Guardian scum back at that inn. They had already passed through another town, the last one before the mountains. Now the only thing Luna had to look forward to was the long trek around a valley that they could easily go through. Sol had explained that there were monsters in the area and it'd be reckless to try and get through but Luna was sure that with the four of them they could handle anything that came their way. Sure Sol might be a weakling but Terra was a powerhouse of a guy if their duel had shown anything. Only person Luna hadn't seen fight was Aqua so she couldn't get an idea of the other woman's fighting skills but if she was training under the same master that Terra was then she'd have to be good. Come demon fighting time it was going to be all Terra and Aqua which was a letdown since they hadn't see anything of interest in their journey yet.

Clear skies made travel warm even though they were nearing Autumn. With no trees or clouds to shade them the sun was an unrelenting source of heat. Normally it didn't bother Luna but today it felt like the day couldn't get any hotter. It was as if someone was focusing the heat right on them, at one point Luna swore that she could see heat waves. Heat waves this late in the year and so far up north would be an impossibility though, you didn't have to be a genius to figure that out. With such things impossible Luna put it out of her mind as they walked down the dirt road that lead to nowheresville. Roads were filled with monsters roaming the countryside, Luna had honestly thought that at some point in time they would run across one creature or another

What Luna really wanted was to find the Guardians out on the road and teach them a good lesson. It had been ages since she had gotten into a real fight with another human being. Sure some monsters were stronger than her or smarter than her but none of them had the deadly combination that humans possessed. Duels only got you so far in a test of skills. An outright fight against another human would be a real test of strength and cunning, which Luna believed she had a surplus of. Oh sure there were other humans that were better than her in one category or another but she was a blend of what a warrior should be. No matter what the older members of the Knights told her Luna knew that it'd just be a matter of time before she could pass them. After all she was young and there was a lot more to learn before she was there level. All she had to do was keep her core the same and learn to adapt to what was coming at her.

"Hey Luna what you thinking about?" Terra, who was walking next to her, asked.

"Just wishing that we could have had a crack at those Guardians," Luina answered straight. There was no reason to deny what she wanted. There weren't any problems with wanting to test your power against a rival band of mercs.

"Your two groups really hate each other that much?" the brunette swordsman asked.

"Not really, it's more the Guardians have an extreme hatred of us. Captain Rex has made it clear we are to only fight them if we have no other choice but I don't see why we should let them go around acting so high and mighty." It was vastly annoying to know you belonged to the better group but you weren't allowed to show your worth. While Luna could agree that they shouldn't attack the Guardians each and every time they saw them, what was wrong with proving a point every now and again?

"And there's a reason for that Luna," Sol chimed in much to Luna's aggravation. She could only dream up a reason as to why he felt the need to but into a conversation that was clearly between her and Terra. Couldn't he go and talk with Aqua. From the way he blushed around her he certainly had a crush on her. True he didn't exactly go crimson when he looked at her but he never met her gaze and his pinks got a bit of color to them when he talked with her. "We don't fight the Guardians because we are better than them. We don't need to prove that and if we started a fight without reason we would no longer come across as the better mercenary group."

"Yeah, yeah I get it. No need to preach Solaris." Luna didn't talk at Sol, she just get walking with her eyes trained on the horizon. If it wasn't for the stupid detour around the valley they could probably see the peaks of the Boreas Mountains by now but instead all Luna could see was trees.

Luna had been happy talking with Terra for the brief two seconds they had of peace. No matter what, it seemed that Sol was there to interrupt the conversation pointing out something wrong with what she had said. If she didn't know any better she'd say that he had nothing better to do than pick on her and Terra. However, with how often he consulted that map of his and read his books, he clearly did have something better to do. He really was interested in this one book that he had. His nose was constantly in it, when he wasn't causing her problems that is. Luna was curious as to what was so interesting to him that he had to read it while walking. When they had went on their first mission he had his nose in a book then to. Though they had been riding a horse though and that took marginally less focus than walking on your own while reading. From how intensely he was reading the book Luna wondered if it had something to do with demons. But why would he so conveniently have a book on the subject? He had been just as shocked as she was too find out that their target was a fully fledged Fire Demon and there was no way he was that good of an actor. There had to be some reason that he was reading the same book for three days straight.

When the sun reached its zenith they stopped to take a break by a stream. Luna splashed some of the water on her face, it felt good on this abnormally warm day. She didn't know where he had gotten one but upstream Sol was sitting with his back against a good size rock and a fishing pole in his hands. Looking into the stream Luna could make out decent sized fish darting around in the water.

Does he really hope to catch any of these fish? It'll take too long to get any. He's the one always making sure that we pack up quickly and get back on the road. Luna wondered what her partner was thinking as she soaked her hair in the water. Flipping her soaked hair back around she could feel the cool water against her neck, one of the advantages to having long hair on a hot day. It was the best she could do without any shade to protect her skin. Speaking of her skin, Luna looked at her pasty color and wondered what it was about her that prevented her from tanning. Her mother had the same condition, no matter how much sun they got their skin never got any darker. As a housewife Luna's mother had been fine, it gave her the same fair skin as a princess her mother had always said. However, Luna always wanted a bit of a tan to show that she spent her days out in the sun working for a living rather than letting someone take care of her. Much to Luna's disbelief, when they went to pack up after their break, Sol had three fish slung on a hook.

"I'll have to clean them later but dinner won't be dried meat tonight," Sol smiled as he wrapped the fish in a clean cloth. The prospect of having fresh food rather than road food made Luna want to hug Sol. Cured meats and stale biscuits were not the best meal for days in a row. Even when they had stopped by in that last town they hadn't stayed the night, they only stayed long enough to restock their supplies before heading out. Terra and Aqua had never once complained about the pace Sol had set for their travel. Luna wished she knew what kind of training they had gone through. Most people she met, that weren't constant travelers, hated life on the road. Even when she had first started working for the Knights she had complained about how they had to do so much walking. Now she was just used to it and considered it part of the job.

"Well well well," a voice cut through the air, "looks like our prey has caught us our dinner."

"Show yourselves!" Luna demanded. While she didn't actually expect them to do so it had yet to hurt demanding such. All four members looked around for the source of the voice or the person the voice had been talking to. Without anything to hide behind they should be able to easily spot the people.

Across the stream Luna saw more heat waves shimmer. Only they weren't heat waves. From out of the warped light appeared four people, the four Guardians from the inn. Luna felt like an idiot when she realized that the light she had been seeing throughout the day had been the illusion magic. It was impossible to fully hide yourself with magic, there was always a giveaway. The woman with the greatsword stepped out in front of the others. From the way the others looked at her she was the leader of the group. That meant that she would probably be the strongest of the four. The fact she was using a greatsword meant that she had some power in her tree trunk sized arms.

"Thought you two had managed to sneak away from us back in that inn? Please we saw you at your table making your little escape plan," the woman said with a laugh, her voice was ridiculously deep for a woman.

"You cannot escape my sight," the bowmen said as he drew an arrow from his quiver. The feather was spiraled to make the arrow spin in flight. It had yet to be proven that it added more penetration to the arrow but more than a few people believed it did.

"Archer with good sight, looks like your weapon picked you," Luna taunted. She could feel her heart start to race with anticipation at the upcoming battle. There was no way they were going to get away from this situation without a fight and since Sol was currently drawing his own sword, even he knew that for a fact. Drawing her own sword Luna took a quick look at the remaining two members, she hadn't gotten a good look back at the inn. The muscled hammer man looked way too bulky to be able to move with any speed. No doubt his plan of attack was to just pummel everything in sight and hope that he caught his opponent. The other guy with his rapier probably fit into the stereotypical all speed no strength cliché that most rapier wielders did. Considering that Sol looked to have more muscle mass than that guy it was a safe assumption.

"Do not make fun of my companion," the rapier wielding guy said as he drew his fire poker.

"Luna," Sol said seriously like he did with everything but this time his voice carried a bit more weight to it. "I need you to take out the guy with the hammer. Avoid the archer at all costs. He was the one generating the illusion, who knows what other spells he has up his sleeves." Turning his attention back to the four Guardians, Sol narrowed his focus on the archer like he was trying to figure out what he could do just by looking at him. "He's going to be the wild card, that's why he has the bow. With his range he can pick us off with magic and his bow."

"Don't forget about us," Terra said placing his hand on Sol's shoulder.

"Terra's right, we can't let you two do this alone," Aqua said drawing her katana. Her stance wasn't one that Luna had seen before, but whatever worked for her.

"Four on four I see," the hammerer said as he… stripped. He ripped his shirt off to reveal a chiseled chest. Violet diamond shaped sparkles appeared around the man as he struck poses. "You'll face the hammer skills that have been passed down the Strongarm line for generations!" It took all of Luna's self control to not burst into laughter at the sight of the man. He looked absurd posing like that right before a battle. Any credit or threat he may have had just went out the window as he stood their striking different poses. "I Alex Lewis Strongarm will be your downfall, puny Knight!" Luna couldn't hold it in anymore; she held her sides as she started laughing at the man. He was just too funny to be taken seriously.

"Luna," Sol groaned.

"It's too funny," Luna said between breaths. "I mean really, 'passed down the Strongarm line for generations!', who says that stuff?"

"This guy apparently," Sol pointed out. "Pull yourself together. He might not be bright but he's strong and that hammer looks like it has some reach to it. You'll need to focus on avoiding him all together. Luna, don't try to block his attacks. I know you're strong but that guy's a walking mountain."

"I know Sol," Luna said returning to her serious nature.

"It's good to see friends looking out for one another," Aqua said to Terra making sure that she hadn't spoken loud enough for the two world natives to hear.

"Good friends build strong bonds. I'm not sure if they're good friends though," Terra chuckled thinking back to how often the two argued.

"Please, you and Ven argue far more than that back home," Aqua pointed out. "It's like you two are real brothers."

"Let's these two out shall we?" Terra stated more than asked already knowing his friends answer.

"Enough of this!" the over muscled swordswoman shouted as she took her blade off of her back. "Today the Guardians will beat the Knights and the world will know of our victory when we bring back your heads."

"Bit disturbed ain't she?" Luna commented as she walked calmly up to the stream. "She's right though, let's get this started!"

-o-O-o-

Rin sat at the table looking over one of her books. After Mika had helped her sort the books she had started on finding out the effects of the more common herbs that she could get her hands on. Most of what she read she remembered and that sped up the process of going through the books. Some things were just hard for her to forget it seemed, like that night that Mika had slept in her bed. The blonde mercenary was out on another job at the moment, something about getting a ring back from the goblins in the forest. The green creatures had gotten more aggressive over the years and had recently taken up attacking people who traveled on the road going through the forest. It was one of the reasons among why Rin had hired Mika that first time.

It seemed though that when Mika was around Rin felt like she was on cloud nine and the day seemed to pass by rather quickly. Rin had gotten through quite a number of her small books with the assistance of the blonde. Mika helped write down the locations of the plants that Rin looked up and all she asked for was a homemade meal in return. She said it was nice to have some good home cooking once in awhile rather than the slop inns and taverns served to their customers. Rin honestly didn't mind cooking for two, Mika even helped pay for the ingredients with the money that Rin had paid her. Three days had passed since Mika had taken her job and Rin had only managed to go through twelve books in that amount of time. The lack of Mika seemed to make Rin's life a bit dull. Mika had a positive energy about her that was contagious and brightened up the room when she entered it. Rin wasn't stupid, she knew that she had fallen hard for the mercenary and that was the reason she was missing her so much.

Dog earing the page she was on Rin closed the book and got up from the table. She needed to find something to do that would take her mind off the thing she was missing. Having a crush on a person and not knowing their own feelings, though reasonably expecting they don't feel the same, distracted many people from doing what they needed to be doing. Looking at the empty canvas sitting in the corner of her room Rin was reminded of just why she was going through all of her old books. She didn't have time to be messing around, she needed to get through her books and figure out what plants she would need to collect before she was able to open up her shop. Though now that she thought about it. One of the things that she hadn't done was scope out her would-be competition. Vandalia already had an apothecary and she had a good reputation amongst the townsfolk. If Rin really did plan to set up shop in the same small town she was going to have to find out what her Stephanie was doing and how best to come up with a way to make her own shop be able to hold its own.

Slipping on a pair of heels Rin grabbed her coat and headed out the door making sure to lock it behind her. Stephanie's shop was in the center of town near the tavern, a great place to do business. Whatever disease or sickness the tavern goers got, from either the food or the girls, they could go across the street and get something to help. Rin hadn't had much need to ever go to Stephanie's shop as she was able to make her own tonics so Rin didn't know very much about the woman. They had met not long after Rin moved to town and started selling her paintings to the locals. Stephanie had bought one of a barn sitting in the middle of a wheat field with the sun high in the sky and birds flying through the clear blue.

Stephanie's shop was a grey colored shop with a green leaf painted above the door marking it as an apothecary's place. Many of the common stores had a sign that marked them for what they were. Armories had a sword and shield, general stores a brown bag, banks and money lenders a pile of gold, with apothecaries having the green leaf. Opening the door, something Rin realized she'd have to deal with if she set up shop in her own home, Rin walked right in. She was overcome by the aroma of various plants and spices. In the great mix of smells it was hard to distinguish one from the other but she could smell cinnamon permeating through the other scents. Clear jars and bottles sat along shelves that lined the room. Each was filled with a different liquid or substance and the glass clearly marking the contents.

There was only one other piece of furniture in the room, a desk that went from wall to wall. There was a spot on the right side that could be flipped up to allow people to the back. Behind the desk were more shelves filled with potions. Judging from the prices written under the bottle, those ones had more costly or rare ingredients. Stephanie herself was standing behind the counter with an arm full of bottles restocking some of the empty slots. Not much to say about Stephanie's looks, while many considered her pretty with her emerald green hair and chocolate brown eyes. What the men really stared at was her not so hidden large bust. That was probably going to be a, pardon the pun, large part of Rin's competition. Stephanie's dress had a plunging neckline that showed more than even some of the working girls felt was needed. What part of her dress that did hide her skin was so tight that it was practically pointless.

"Hey Steph, got that potion I asked for?" a very familiar voice asked from one of the rooms coming off the main.

"Quiet in there," Stephanie shouted back at the voice, "I'm with a customer."

"Oh, who?" the voice asked. Rin was disturbed by how familiar it was and how she couldn't place it at all.

"I don't know who she is!" Stephanie yelled back at the voice, turning around to Rin after placing the last bottle on the shelf. "Sorry about my friend in there, she's a sheep of a different color. So what can I get you?"

"Just browsing," Rin answered honestly. It was the truth, she just had no interest in buying anything the woman had to offer. All Rin wanted to know was what types of things the potions could do and the going price for them. Potency would have to come later once Rin had figured out how to replicate any of the effects she didn't know. She didn't want to drive another person out of business but at the moment she didn't really have another choice. Marrying some random guy for the sake of her family was more appalling. If all went well Rin would certainly be fine working with Stephanie, she just had to make sure that her income would be enough to support another worker.

"You came in here to look around? Most people come in looking for something specific." Stephanie raised an eyebrow in question at Rin's actions. Her tone was annoyed, she didn't care if Rin was here for any reason other than to buy something and get out.

"Guess I'm not most people am I?" Rin asked with a smile on her face. "You see I plan to set up my own shop one day and I'm checking other apothecaries to see what they stock. Want to make sure my shop is going to be up to snuff you know?"

"Wish you would have come by 'bout a week ago. My shelves were much better stocked. You see, once I empty out enough of my supplies I'm heading to one of the big cities to try my luck there." Stephanie looked out at her inventory that still lined the shelves. No matter how you looked at it she had a ways to go before she would be considered low on supplies. Looking at the various potions and reading their effects Rin wondered why Stephanie had even created them. In a landlocked town there was no need oxygen potion. That was used for swimmers that dived down to the bottom of the sea or lakes depending on the potion because you had to account for the salt in seawater. Vandalia was two weeks away from any sea and over three days to the nearest lake deep enough to warrant such a mixture.

"How many things do you need to sell before you'll be able go to the city?" Rin asked sweetly never betraying the fact that she planned to take over for the green haired woman once she left.

"A shelf or two worth of tonics. Some of these things I'm going to have to scrap. I mean honestly, there isn't a need for any truth serum around here. It's a small town, everyone knows everything about everyone." How untrue that was. Rin was practically a ghost in the town, only a few people seemed to realize that she actually lived in the town even though she had been living here since she was eighteen. Since practically no one knew Rin she knew very little about the people in her own town. That's what she got for spending most of her time indoors painting rather than socializing. Truth serum did catch Rin's attention though. She didn't know that such an effect could be produced from plants, she would have to keep an eye out for such a thing when going through her books, but just in case:

"I'd like the smallest vial of that you have if you wouldn't mind." If all else failed Rin would take some herself and try it out. First she would need to see if it worked, which meant she would need to wait until Mika got back so she could have someone question her. Once she verified that it indeed worked, she would have to try and figure out what had gone inside the darn thing. It might not sell in a small town like this but Rin could see the value for holding onto a small personal vial of it.

"Yo Steph," the same voice as before said. This time it sounded closer, like the person had gotten up from where they had been and moved towards the door. Still the voice sounded like Rin should know the owner. She didn't have to wonder any longer as to the owner because Mika stepped out of the doorway. Her clothes were torn and there was a large gash over her left eye. Her left shoulder was badly burned the clothing around the area charred black. Rin hadn't seen Mika look any worse for the wear than she did right now. True Rin hadn't exactly seen what Mika went through other than that one goblin fight but she didn't think that the blonde had to go through these kind of things. Just what were those goblins doing that they could hurt Mika so badly? Last time she had made quick work of the green creatures. "Oh, hey Rin"

"Mika what happened to you?!" Rin cried racing over to the counter. Jumping over the counter, something Rin never thought that she would find herself doing, she placed a hand on Mika's uninjured shoulder and took a look at the burn. "What happened to you?"

"Know that shaman that kept scampering away, he came back with a vengeance," Mika explained with a forced laugh. From her breathing Rin took a wild guess that she had taken a hard blow to the ribs. There appeared to be nothing at work to clean her up. Rin prayed to every holy spirit she could think of that this wasn't Mika after being cleaned up.

"So you two know each other," Stephanie spoke up reminding the two that she was in the room. Rin's cheeks flared up as she realized that she had completely forgotten that the green haired woman was in the room. Looking around Rin came to fully appreciate the fact she had jumped over the counter to get to Mika. She could only hope that both women thought it was because she thought of Mika as a good friend and nothing more.

"Yeah," Mika answered casually, "I've been doing a few odd jobs for her. I'd like to think that we've become great friends in the short while we've been together."

"Friends eh?" Stephanie laughed. "If you were a guy Mika, I'd say you two were a bit more than just friends."

"What's being a guy got to do with anything?" Mika asked sternly. "What if Rin and I are something more?" Rin felt her face drain of what little color there was. Mika couldn't possibly know that she did swing that way and even if she did why would she go around making jokes about it? This wasn't the kind of thing people joked about without raising a lot of questions.

"Then mazel tov. What people do behind closed doors is their own business. So long as it don't interfere with me and my work I'm fine." Rin eyes went wide and she was shocked that her jaw didn't drop at how casually Stephanie had just said that. Was she just going along with what she figured to be a joke or was there something more going on here that Rin just couldn't bring herself to understand?

"Ya really think that?" Mika asked seemingly shocked as Rin, though far better at covering it up.

"Sure, takes all kinds to make life interestin' don't it? Wait, you actually a skirt chasing girl?" Stephanie asked seriously. There was no malice in her voice that Rin had heard so often from her mother and others who through that Rin had just been going through a phase.

"Uh yeah actually. You're like the first 'normal' person I've met that's been fine with it. Or do you chase skirt to?" Rin felt like her heart was going to explode into a million and five pieces. Mika like women just like she did! There was actually a chance at something between them. Now all she had to do was find a way to confess what she was feeling to Mika without scaring her off. Mika didn't seem like the kind of person that wanted to be tied down to one spot, or one person even, and it wouldn't do Rin any good to come on strong.

"Yes and no. I'm in the middle you could say. Don't really matter to me what equipment they got. Both genders got their perks." Stephanie said as she leaned up against the counter.

"Nice way of viewing things," Mika complemented. "Now if we can get talking about the potion I've been waiting twenty minutes for."

"Right," Stephanie smiled reaching for a bottle with a pink liquid inside. "It'll alleviate the pain a bit and speed of your body's natural healing process. You'll be puking your guts out once the effects wear off though."

"Great," Mika said blandly, "get to look forward to more lying around with a bucket next to my head."

"Wait!" Rin said as Mika uncorked the bottle. "I know that potion. Add a quarter teaspoon of diced ginger and two mint leaves and you shouldn't have as bad of a problem."

"Really?" Stephanie asked. "Mint does seem to have soothing effects. It's used in a few of my stomach flu tonics. How could I not think to add it to this?!" The green haired woman jogged into the back room and came out with a box of ginger and a vial of mint. Taking a knife out from below the counter she diced the ginger. Taking the amount that Rin had specified she dumped the contents into the pink potion which turned a sickly blue color.

"Well bottoms up." Mika said as she downed the contents.