Wow, I updated Shu and Kluke: Precious Memories! It must be a miracle! ;D Anyway... Well, there are several things that I should probably mention, but I think most of it will be covered in the review replies. my note after the replies, and my note at the bottom of the story. So... Let's do the replies now! :D

WindGoddess Rune: Oh, I know - well, I was pretty sure, anyway. I just wanted to make sure, since, you know... When you have things written, you can never convey things that you would with your voice. Because of that, I'm constantly worried about what people really mean. And saying that it was "negative" was probably to strong of a way to put it. Anyway, thanks - glad you like it. :)

SoujaGirl: Yep! :D Unfortunately, this one isn't quite as happy. But, if everything goes the way I want it to, the fifth oneshot should be fairly cute. ;)

Now, they didn't review last chapter, but there are two people I would like to give a quick-ish message to:

Prince of Tennis' Shaman and Kat95: Since I'm telling both of you practically the same thing, I just put this in the same thing. Okay... I'm sorry - I tried to work Jiro and Zola in, but my attempts have turned up little more than mush. :( I'm going to try and come up with a new idea, different than the one that I originally had, but I'm starting to doubt being able to fit them into Shu and Kluke: Precious Memories in anything other than a slight mention. However, I'm seriously considering making a small story or oneshot about how Jiro met Zola. I've had that idea for a while, so it's very likely that I'll do it. Still, I'm sorry about not being able to get them into this story.

Replies (and message) done! The message was a little bit longer than I had originally intended, but you all know by now that my messages are almost never short. ;) Anyway... That's all that I really needed to mention. There are some slight spoilers up to Episode 43, so be a bit wary. Oh, I remember two things I did want to mention. One, I know I had mentioned this a while back, but you guys can disregard my asking about whether I should move this to the anime section or not. Everyone who writes for the Pokemon anime puts their stories in the game section for Pokemon, so I'm just going to treat Blue Dragon stories like that. Two, the disclaimer has been discontinued in all of my stories, except for new stories and oneshots. With that, after the title, we can get on to the story! :)

4. One More Talk

Kluke was pacing the carpet so much that her hair was starting to stand up. But she couldn't help it; she felt nervous. Well... nervous was the wrong word. Though she was worried about several things in the back of her mind, it wasn't the emotion at the forefront. Anxious, maybe.

After everything that had happened to her recently, seeing Shu inside the room with the Mast Driver had been an immense relief, a weight lifted off of her shoulders. Shu and this place together... It reminded her of when they had been in Blue Dragon's ruins two years ago. Maybe it was the lighting, or maybe it was just the way he smiled when he saw her. But it was familiar. Painfully familiar.

They were going to meet with Primula and Dr. Tarkovsky in a few moments, though she wasn't sure how long exactly. In fact, she hadn't seemed to be keeping track of time at all; the seconds and minutes and hours just seemed to pull her along. She just wished everything would slow down.

Everything had been slow in the mountains, as she watched and taught the children, looked after Andropov. It was a simple life, but that's all she ever wanted anymore. She wished there had been more machines in the mountains - the only ones she ever got to use were medical devices - but it had been fine. And now, even that was taken from her, by Rosenkreuz. Maybe when Shu had tried to get her to join the Resistance, it had been a warning of what was to come. She hadn't listened, and now her new home had been destroyed.

But this was all something to think about at another time - these were the things in the back of her mind. The thing that was bugging her right now was that Shu wanted to talk to her.

He hadn't said what it was about. He said that it was important. He'd told her to wait for him. So that's what she had done. But it wasn't like it was easy.

The two of them had talked after they'd made it to that village, after Rudolf petrified Michael. It had been a good talk, too. But they'd almost been forced into it (Kluke still suspected that Bouquet had done something). And his voice hadn't been as urgent as it was now. What could he want to talk about, that was so-

The door opened. Shu walked in quietly - she heard Marumaro bothering Noi outside - and then he closed the door, sealing the two of them off from everyone else. Like it had been a long two years ago, it was just the two of them.

"Hi, Shu." It wasn't the best thing she'd come up with to say, but she couldn't really think of anything else.

"Hey, Kluke." That wasn't the best thing he'd said either, but at least she knew now that they were on the same page. He sat down on the couch in the makeshift waiting room, and she followed suit, sitting next to him.

She fiddled with her skirt. "So... What was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"I... I need to tell you something." his voice was filled with conviction.

"Shu," she swallowed past a lump in her throat that wasn't there a few seconds ago. "Did you kill someone?" She didn't know why she asked him so bluntly - it was just one of those things that come out of your mouth before you really think about it. But despite their time apart, she still knew him well, and that was the only thing she could think of that would upset him in this particular way.

"You already know that I killed someone. And you already know who it was that I killed." Oh yes, she knew. She knew very well. It had been two years, but it hadn't changed what had happened. If you could even call it murder; she'd never been able to tell. Still, it was all of their responsibilities', even if Shu continued to blame himself alone for it.

"Then what is it?"

"I fought with Ojiichan." he said it so quickly, he almost stuttered.

"What?" she looked at him incredulously.

"You heard me." he sounded annoyed, but it was only a poor cover for the way his voice trembled. "We fought."

"...When?"

"Two years ago. Right after the battle of darkness. I was stupid enough to try to go home."

Kluke shook her head. "It's not stupid. I wish I could've gone home. If I hadn't been taking care of the wounded, I would have."

That was when he surprised her, taking her hand and smiling wistfully, holding it like it was glass. "You've always been so caring. You've always wanted to help people, and you always found a way to. You aren't like me," the smile dropped along with his voice. "Everyone around you doesn't die."

"Shu, we've talked about this. All of those people-"

"Forget it," his voice was tight. "Let me finish. I... I went back to Talta. But I was a day too late."

Now she was scared. "What do you mean?"

"Calm down. Last time I was there, everyone was mostly okay. But the Rosenkreuz soldiers had come through, warning everyone that soon they would bend to Rogi's will. Toyodeh got angry with them, and one of the soldiers hit her."

Kluke's expression was one of complete horror. Toyodeh... She was an elder. She was one of the ones who guided them. No one would even think of talking back to her, lest they wanted to feel her cane on their back. "I-is she okay?"

"Yeah, she's fine now. But... I got angry. I didn't want the same thing to happen to our village again. And it worked out anyway, since after the battle of darkness..." Something flickered in his eyes for a moment, and he wasn't himself. As quickly as it had come, it was gone, and he returned to what he was saying, "... I needed something to keep my mind busy."

She narrowed her eyes. "And of course, this came in the form of fighting."

"It's better me than some other, younger kid. But that's where the fight started. It..." he sighed. "It was bad. I won't go into it. He didn't disown me or anything. But he made it clear that he wouldn't welcome me if I came back. Not for a long while, anyway."

She gripped his hand. "When all of this is over, I'll go and talk to him. I'll fix it."

Shu smiled at her again, even sadder than before. A kind of sad understanding. "I don't think it'll matter by then."

"What are you saying?"

He shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Come on," he stood. "We should go see if Primula's ready yet."

And then they were back outside again. A few minutes of talking with Bouquet, Marumaro and Noi, and he was back to himself. Not the real him. Just the ghost of himself, the one that she'd seen ever since he fought with Zola. It was ironic, really - rather than a ghost, he was more like a shadow.

But maybe that was what the point was - he had braved the storm, and come out as something greater.

Well, that's it. I don't really know what to think of it. It's very... unusual. Angst-y, confusing... my typical gibberish. ;) I know I probably left everyone with a bunch of questions, so feel free to ask in a message and/or review. Oh, and please review anyway. :) This seemed more weird to me than the other ones that I've written, so I'm unsure of how good it was. I will try to update this after 10 hits, but as many of you know, Shu and Kluke: Precious Memories has been moving slower than a snail. Thanks for reading, though! :D