-- Title -- Scarlet Momento

-- Author -- You know me...heh..

===// A/n -- ^_^ Hope you enjoy.

--))))

Four

E Eve of Confessions

------

Mia opened her eyes and sat up in her bed. She looked around and placed her hand to her forehead, suddenly remembering everything that had happened. She glanced over to a table and saw the familiar woman, Nina, sitting there. "Good morning," Mia said.

Nina looked up and smiled warmly. "Morning young one, have you rested well?" She asked.

"Yes...thank you. Even though I still don't understand why I'm here in this strange place, it almost feels like home to me."

Nina nodded and stood up from her seat. "Kain will take good care of you as your Guardian, don't worry."

"Kain? That's his name?"

"Why yes, he didn't introduce himself because you fainted outside and I don't think you would have asked names when you were that scared," Nina said with a chuckle.

Mia slipped out of bed and stood, looking around the building. "This is a beautiful house, Nina," she said.

"Oh, thank you, my late husband built it a long time ago."

"Sorry..."

Nina shook her head. "Don't worry about it, Mia, he resting in peace at the bottom of the mountain where he had died five years ago."

"Did you have any children?"

"No, it seems the only child we did have was Kain, but he isn't by blood. We took him in when he was just a child and he grew so fast, we thought it was the food we gave him. Though, if he hadn't grown as much as he had, you'd be having a toddler as your Guardian. I think it's because his destiny is to protect you and the Gods made him grow enough to fullfill his task to you."

Mia smiled and looked around. "Do you have clothing I can wear?" She asked.

"Oh, yes, sorry for going on about my life and not thinking about you. Wait here and I'll get them," Nina said and vanished into the back rooms.

The door opened and Kain stepped inside. The two gazes met and Mia turned away. "Good morning, Kain," Mia said.

"Yes...a good morning, a morning to start our journey and get it over with so I can go back to how I was," Kain muttered.

Nina appeared again and handed the clothing to Kain. "Mia, you'll need to bathe before you wear them. Kain will take you to a nice spring where you can bathe in privacy, the baths we have here are rather....well...you'd prefer to bathe in the clean spring."

Mia smiled at Nina and walked over, taking her into an embrace. "Thank you, Nina, for the housing."

Nina smiled and hugged her back. "Not a worry deary, you were like a daughter to me in the short time you were here. Oh, take this with you, it will keep you safe from spirits who might want to harm you."

Nina held a diamond shaped pendant in her hand and Mia looked at Nina. "I couldn't take this from you."

Kain growled. "Just take the damned thing and let's get going," he grumbled.

Nina shot a glare at Kain and smiled when she looked at Mia. "Go on and take it, I never had a girl...so I want you to have it," she said.

Mia took it from Nina and placed it around her neck. "Thank you Nina, so much."

Mia exited the house with Kain in front of her and she took one last look at the house before walking a little faster to catch up with Kain. "So where is this spring?" She asked.

"Not far from here," Kain replied simply.

They traveled through in silence and came upon the spring. Mia smiled openly and turned to Kain. "This spring is beautiful!" She exclaimed.

Kain raised his right eyebrow and dropped her clothing onto a nearby rock. "Yeah, sure, take your bath and get dressed. I'll be waiting a few feet away so you can have your privacy," he said and walked away.

Mia undressed and slowly stepped into the spring. Around the spring were flowers, herbs and tall trees. A place that seemed to be well shielded from the real world and Mia blushed as the cold entered her pores. The soothing caress of the stream made her smile and she waded into the middle.

Mia shook her head and went under the water. Her long hair floated around her face as she opened her eyes. Clear, pure water that didn't sting her eyes and she felt the warmth of it. She looked down to see pebbles of different colors resting on the bed of simple sand and her eyes halfway closed as she reached down. Mia snatched one, a silver one with azure blue markings on it, and rose up beneath the surface near the bank of the spring. Droplets of water slid down her skin and her hair draped down longer, saturated with water. She stood looking at the stone and the azure markings sparkled. She stood halfway out of the water and held the stone up towards a beam of sunlight that came through. Her eyes caught a movement in the brush and she turned her head slowly to see a figure. A young man with silverish blue hair and his eyes were locked onto her.

Mia stared back, almost caught in his yellow orbs and she didn't make a sound as his eyes scanned over her. Taking her whole figure in and Mia suddenly came back to reality, but she couldn't scream as he stepped out of the bushes. "Who are you?" The young man asked.

"M-Mia....," She replied, her eyes locked onto him.

"I've never seen you around here before...did your family travel here?"

Mia's eyes watered and she dropped the pebble that was in her hand. She screamed loudly and covered herself up best she could. The young man frowned and leaped back into the bushes as Kain appeared from the opposite side. "Mia, are you alright?!" Kain exclaimed.

Mia looked over at Kain and rushed out of the water. She ran to him and hugged him around the middle, tears spilling from her eyes. "There was a man and he came out of the bushes, asking me all these questions. I couldn't scream, his eyes...his eyes weren't normal and they trapped me! Kain, I was so scared!"

Kain looked ahead and tried to forget what he had seen. The body, the water and everything. He moved away and turned so he wouldn't see her. "Get dressed, he's gone and I'm glad he didn't hurt you. We must get on with our journey," he said.

Mia nodded and hurried to get dressed. She wore a pair of black pants, a white shirt underneath a black tunic and she tied her hair at the nape of her neck. She wore black boots and buckled them. Kain turned around and nodded. "Let's get moving...we shouldn't delay."

The two exited the spring and beyond it was a pair of yellow eyes watching them. The young man, Xavier, stood in the shadows and his hands balled into fists.

Xavier vanished from the trees.

Kain and Mia came out of the forest, Mia looked back and sighed.

"Mia?"

Mia turned to Kain and blinked a few times. "Oh? Yes, what is it?" She asked.

Kain raised his left eyebrow and shifted his weight slightly. "You were just standing at the edge of the forest and I said your name twice, you didn't answer. Did something happen back there?"

Mia blushed faintly when she remembered that two men had seen her body and she folded her arms over her chest. "No...nothing happened, Kain. How long will it take to get to the Goddess?"

"A year."

"A year!? What are we going to do in a year, just travel?"

Kain nodded and walked ahead. "Yes, now let's get going. We might get lucky and prove the legend wrong by getting there early. We don't want to linger for a long time out here."

Mia trotted and walked next to Kain. She looked up at him and studied his hair, face and ears. Taking in every detail she could on his face and her heartbeat skipped a beat when he looked at her with his grey eyes. "Something wrong?" He asked.

"N-no, just looking at you is all I'm doing," Mia murmered as she looked ahead.

The dirt road went on and on both sides of the road was country side. A few people were out in the fields working and some had horses. Mia tilted her head as she spotted a few children even working with the adults and they even worked as hard as them. Kain looked at Mia and found himself remembering the spring. The shape of her body and the scent of her flesh when she had run to him. He frowned as he thought this and felt the faint feel of her body against his. How it fit him like they were a puzzle and it angered him deep inside that this girl affected him like she did.

"Kain, can we rest for a bit, it's getting dark and cold," Mia said, bringing him out of his thoughts.

Kain looked around and realized the sun was already setting, darkness rolling in. "That's a good idea...we'll set up camp," he replied.

Kain led her into the field and under a lone tree. He cleared a few feet so he could put together a fire and Mia sat down against the tree trunk. She pulled her feet close to her body and watched Kain start a fire. "Do you think it will take us a year to get to the mountain?" She asked.

"I don't know," Kain replied.

"Will we run into trouble on the way?"

"Most likely."

"Will we have enough supplies?"

"Maybe..."

"Are we going to any towns to rest?"

"......"

Kain looked up from the fire and stared at Mia for a little while. "You humans ask a lot of questions that you don't need to ask, did you know that?" He asked.

"No...I just wanted to know things...that's all," Mia replied quietly.

Kain nodded and stood up. He walked over to where Mia was sitting and plopped down next to her, his hip touching hers. Mia's face grew hot and she scooted away just a little so he wouldn't notice that she had moved away. Kain let the back of his head rest against the tree trunk and his eyes closed. "Get some sleep...we'e heading out early tomorrow," he said.

Mia nodded and slid her legs out, allowing her to lie down. She rested the side of her head on Kain's thigh and closed her eyes. Kain's eyes snapped open and he looked down at Mia, fury was the first thing that popped in his head, but was quickly replaced with nothing. He folded his arms over his chest and watched the flames until his eyes grew heavy enough that he had to fall asleep.

==== to be continued... thank you to those who keep reading this stuff. Hope you enjoy it mucho. Now unto the next chapter!