Disclaimer: It's obvious I don't have Tales of Xillia, because it was properties of Bandai Namco.

Beach is nice isn't it? Jun is hopeless as well that I couldn't help it for anyone who wondered. Oh and yeah, Jude did find Milla attractive, who wouldn't? Sure I'm a girl and all but I still find Milla attractive with those envy inducing curves. *looking at own body and sigh* Anyway, let's stop being gloomy and all and I hope you enjoy this chapter and the next chapter as well~ I was about to do a double update, but reconsidered it because of some reason, one of it being I was on block about Chapter 20 so for now I take it slow and the other is next week I still have another University Entrance Exam stuff coming along.

Okay folks, now that you were done listening on my pitiful rambling please go ahead and read the not-so-new chapter of this story! Welcome guys to chapter 8 'Beach Trip - Friends or Not?'

After walking for few minutes Jude and Milla finally reached the deepest part of the cave. But Milla preferred to rather call the place clearing instead of cave because of some facts. First the top part of the cave was open, giving big space for sunlight to pour into the cave. Second, there was a big pond, which got hit directly by the sunlight thus made the water reflected the light, dying the cavern into a pleasant blue color. And lastly, there were some trees that were grown here and there, giving the vibe that this part of the cave was more like a park.

"Wow, it looked like an aquarium!" Milla noted with child-like happiness as she let go of Jude's hands and ran straight to the side of the pond before she looked inside, completely ignoring Jude. There were no fish in it but a lot of colorful seashells were there. She could see that the pond was rather shallow as well.

"I'm glad you like it Milla. Anyway, look over there, there is an altar for the sea god. This place is the place where fishermen around this area gave offering to the sea god, Susano-o," Jude explained as he approached Milla who was busy watching the beauty around them and he pointed his index finger to an altar further ahead when he stood beside Milla.

Milla was surprised by the explanation and quickly looked up to follow Jude's finger direction. She indeed saw an altar when Jude continued his explanation and said, "People outside the fishermen rarely came here anymore so this place was rarely attended to. But I remember that people still come here from time to time to clean this place so this place wasn't deserted. I'm used to come here when I'm still a kid."

Milla turned to Jude's direction only to be startled that he was already right beside her. She wondered how he managed to sneak in on her. She pondered it for a split second and concluded that maybe she was that distracted.

She quickly covered her surprise and instead asked, "Was it okay for us to enter a divine place like this? Would someone get mad at us or those things like a curse from the Deity?"

At first Jude simply looked at Milla without blinking. But split second later he laughed in amused tone since he didn't expect Milla to believe in superstition. He remembered that at their first actual meeting, Milla had answered him that ghost is a work of fiction so he didn't expect that Milla would believe in superstition.

Milla frowned and turned her head away since she realized the reason why Jude laughed at the first place. She crossed her arms over her chest and said, "Better safe than sorry. Did you never hear this saying, Jude?"

Jude's laughter died down when he realized that he had offended Milla. He gently placed his hand on Milla's shoulders as he said, "I'm sorry Milla, it was just… it took me off guard because at the time we first introduced ourselves, when we waited for the rain to stop, you said that you didn't believe at ghost so I didn't know that you believe this kind of thing. And for the question, yes, this site was open for public, though it wasn't that famous. Well, just take this place as a hidden shrine so I guess except we did something that offended the Deity, we wouldn't get cursed."

Milla was surprised to hear that Jude still remembers about what she had said before and turned her head to the side. With a pouty face she said, "God and Ghosts are different being you know… I didn't believe at Ghost since they are only work of fiction but I know that there is God … Anyway, I'm surprised that you still remember that…"

Jude simply smiled at the retort from Milla. Of course he knew that Ghost and God are fundamentally different and it is natural for Milla to have different opinion toward each thing, but it was still come as surprise for Jude. He decided to stop asking to avoid destroying Milla's mood.

When the silence occurred, Milla took some time to calm her foul mood and raced up heartbeat. She managed to process all of the information somehow. She then looked at the Altar and after she clasped her hands she said, "Well, the God of the Sea, we asked for your permission to relax in this place. We wouldn't do anything to disturb your peace."

Jude simply looked at Milla who looked intent on praying. He never knew this side of Milla before though he sensed that Milla did this more because of the force of habit. He repeated Milla's words inside his heart as he looked at the Altar and he swore that the Altar flashed up for an instant.

Milla didn't saw the flash and instead sat down as she dipped her feet into the water. It was freezing but pleasant at the same time since the sun in the summer wasn't particularly merciful. She looked to Jude whose mouth was still wide open and his gaze fixed on the Altar. She tilted her head slightly and looked at the Altar but saw nothing.

She merely shrugged it and then she (innocently) said, "Jude would you like to sit down? The water here is so refreshing you know."

Jude was startled and looked to Milla and then to the Altar and then back to Milla once more. He did that for a few times until he was convinced that his eyes were just playing trick. He sheepishly sat down as he said, "Y-yeah… anyway, you look happy Milla."

Milla turned to the side and saw the gentle smile Jude put on whether the person realized it or not and quickly looked down due to the creeping heat on her face. She let go of Jude's hands as she fiddled her thumbs, didn't know exactly how to respond to that question. Of course she knew the feeling of happiness, but having someone other than her family said it was a new experience for her.

Of course during her interaction with Leia and Mai, she felt a lot of emotion and happiness was one of them. But, Leia would instead say 'Today is really fun!' while Mai would say 'I'm really enjoying myself' well, anything in the line of enjoyment and fun but none of them ever noted that she looked happy or having fun. She was flustered because she knew that it meant Jude had watched her face a lot to say that she is happy right now and it was right indeed.

Jude simply laughed lightly and he took a conclusion that Milla was happy that she got to see this place and not realizing the inner turmoil in Milla's mind. Jude simply looked straight to the pond since he remembered about what he had promised Milla to tell about the creation of the cave.

Jude cleared his throat slightly, gaining Milla's attention, but before Milla could ask, Jude said, "This caverns was created by the force of the sea waves. No one knew for exact when this cave was formed, but it was a fact that whenever the tide was high, this place was flooded and we could use boat to enter this place. The Altar and area around it were designed to avoid the highest tide so it could remain intact without being washed away by the sea water."

"So, it then created a path inside and in this place where there was something lower than the lowest tide, the pond was formed. And the people living around this place created an Altar where the tide couldn't reach. I guess that's a sound theory to explain why the place was so slippery and how the Altar is in good condition, conservation attempt aside of course. The Force of Nature was surely amazing, isn't it?" Milla continued the explanation with what she had learned from her past school and what she got from how Jude was explaining things. She knew it had no relation toward her future career but she knew that she knew the enjoyment of learning so she loves to know a lot.

"You certainly knew a lot Milla," Jude commented as he praised Milla for her vast knowledge and the ability to actually understand his words, unlike Leia and Jun who either would skip or made a run for it. He sometimes wondered how come they managed to graduate from junior high.

Milla chuckled lightly at the harmless praising. She pulled back her right leg from the water and placed her chin on her knees before she said, "I'm just doing my reading. Book really is an interesting invention. I found our school book collection to be quite astounding as well so I'm glad I joined the library committee instead of anything else. If I could say it, I love book that told us a story of an adventure, romance, mystery, suspension, angst, and also general knowledge both social and science. Well did you have anything matching my preference Jude?"

Jude simply laughed as he was glad that Milla wasn't being malicious to him and decided to brush the malicious aura from before for Milla being offended. He placed both his hands on the flooring of the clearing and then said, "Scratch the romance and angst and you got my preference. Oh, and don't forget with medical book. Now that you told me your favorite genre I understand why you take on Zestiria… Talking about that book, did you read it already?"

Milla blushed slightly though only those with sharp eyes would notice that she was blushing. Milla looked at the pond's surface as she replied, "I was halfway past the book… When the second term started, I'm confident that I would be finished with it."

"You read fast," Jude commented as he watched Milla splashing the water using her left leg by moving it back and forth. In Jude's view, Milla looked serene and it made her looked like a fairy or was it his eyes playing trick on him?

Milla didn't reply on the compliment and her gaze was fixated on the pond. The air of silence was hanging around them but both didn't mind the silence. There simply was nothing that made them must felt awkward and both knew it by heart that they were both bad at conversing.

Jude then thought about his nature of relationship with Milla. He was sure that they weren't dating but he wasn't sure that they were friends. He only met Milla for the fourth time though he felt like he wanted to let her see all sort of things and knew a lot of things about her. He liked how he could surprise the girl and heard her small laughter here and there. He wasn't experienced with the whole 'friendship' thing as well so he couldn't really create an answer. He decided to just ask.

"Say, Milla…" Jude said softly, breaking the silence that was hanging between them.

"Hmm?" was Milla simple response. She had completely lowered her guard around Jude as she found no reason to do so when he didn't ask anything personal.

"Are we friend?" Jude asked without beating around the bush. He wasn't one to walk around in circles and albeit he knew that this would come as rude, he couldn't think of a way to smooth it over.

Milla's eyes that were looking down on the pond blinked once before she turned her head to Jude's direction, so her cheeks were on top of her knees instead. She never expected this kind of question coming and albeit it didn't catch her completely off-guard she still wondered why Jude even asked that she didn't realize that the way Jude worded it would sound rude. Of course Milla knew that albeit she had some feeling for the male beside her, they weren't dating. So the most logical answer was that they were friends. Could it be she took it wrong?

"We aren't?" Milla responded with another question of her own.

Jude was taken off-guard by the reply and quickly waved his hands in front of his chest in defensive manner when Milla looked at him with eyes that flashed hurt. He had no intention to hurt the girl in the slightest so he quickly said, "We just met recently and it was just by chance that we had the same hobby and then… I wondered are we friends? As long as I knew, we never stated that we are friend… if there was a way to state it."

Now it was Milla's turn to get surprised. By the force of instinct, she quickly said, "Do we need to say that we are friend before saying that we are friend? I befriended Leia and Mai naturally… am I wrong somewhere?"

"No, no, no, that's not what I meant!" Jude replied quickly since he didn't know how to explain it either. After all he and Jun became friend without saying that each of them wanted to become friend with each other as well. But in the end of the day, Jude wasn't one who understood the concept of relationship so he couldn't really explain what he meant. He knew that Milla would listen to him and they like each other company as well but something was wrong.

"Then, what do you mean? I'm not so good with this kind of thing as well. So, if you didn't state yourself to me, I wouldn't understand. One thing for sure, I'm thinking of you as a very good friend," Milla said with stern face as words flowed out from her mouth before she could process it. She didn't even realize that she had raised her tone when her head shot upwards due to the furry of her emotion.

When she indeed realized what she had been rambling on, she quickly said, "…I'm sorry… it's not my intention to be emotional and raising my voice like that. But, it's true that I appreciate your presence around. You are nice, kind, and you get what I was talking about… talking with you is fun for me. So, I naturally believe that you are my friend. Maybe it was just something that I naturally interpreted because I felt like you would always be there for me…"

'Maybe the last part wasn't very true…' Milla thought as she reminded that in the future, it would be quite hard for her to stay around Jude. After all in the end of the day she is still the scion of Maxwell Corporation and she couldn't escape it.

Jude quickly recovered from his shock and then quickly turned quiet. He wasn't one to take offense, and he wasn't angry to Milla from her outburst. But somehow, after hearing that Milla thought of him as a friend, it had hit him a little bit too hard in the heart. He didn't know why exactly though.

The silence that ensued after was stiff and suffocating for Jude. He looked at Milla who was apologetic and hoped he wasn't mad. The way Milla looked sad hit his bad button and he didn't want her face filled with that kind of expression. He then took a deep breath and tried to make his brain worked right as he thought about how to express his intention.

"I'm not angry Milla… it's just that I wondered whether you are an acquaintance or a friend… and now after how you said that you thought of me as a good friend… I realized that I thought of you as a good friend as well…" Jude said with slight hesitance. Now that he said it out loud that they are friend, the word 'friend' left some bitter taste in his mouth.

"Yeah, we are friend. And since we are friend right now, how about we go back? I'm sure Leia and Jun would be done around now," Milla said calmly as she pulled her legs from the water and stood on it. She then placed her right hand on her hips and parted his legs slightly, giving her a demanding aura she never realized.

"Yeah, I guess you are right…" Jude replied as he stood as well as he gripped his right arm using his left hand. He still couldn't shake the weird feeling when she said that they are 'friend'.

No word was spoken between them as both walked out from the cave to meet up with their friend. Milla who had understood the layout of the cave perfectly didn't need Jude to lead her anymore. Jude himself felt weird of the absence of a hand for him to hold all the while.

As they exited the cave and walked back to the place their friends were. He wondered, did he really think of Milla as a 'friend'?

Jude pondered about the answer of the question as he watched Milla's smiling brilliantly when she looked at the sea. He then wondered what would happen instead if Milla didn't answer that they are friend but something else entirely.

'Could it be that instead of that, I expected another kind of answer…?' Jude thought as he watched Milla walked on the shallow end of the sea and splashing the water in the process.

Jude didn't know what kind of another answer he expected from Milla… yet.

Okay folks this is the end for the chapter 8! I was… you know unintentionally made Milla become quite the moody character in Jude's eyes. Okay maybe she is moody, but she reacted like that because of well… you know what, right?

Oh well, now Jude got freaking friend-zoned by Milla lol. Anyone out there know why Jude felt bitter about the whole 'friend' stuff? I guess it was natural like that freaking tag on the top of this story *wink*

Anyway you would be bored from my rambling and to prevent myself for further spoiling your fun, I would pull back. I don't think I had used this line so often since I finished earlier part of Lost Treasure and I had it bad in Vocaloid fandom. When you are done reading this notice, please don't forget to do this ritual…

Read…

And…

Review~ your review is my energy to go on!