Since I got some very kind reviews I decided to update. Thank you to those who reviewed and boosted my morale.

Hagi will make his debut in this chapter, so rejoice, Hagi fans!

On with the story…

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2. A Mystery Man and a Friendship

The first thing she noticed when she awoke was that she was lying on a bed. Saya forced open her heavy eyes to bright sunlight. How long was she asleep, anyways? She had escaped very early in the morning, so now it was probably afternoon.

Then…how did she wind up here?

She sat up very suddenly, her left arm swinging. It was heavy, stiff, and sore. She glanced at her arm, only to find it wrapped up in a splint.

Huh. So it really was broken.

She blinked. The sunlight seemed a thousand times brighter than normal, and it stung her eyes. She squinted, then reached up to scratch her head. She was most certainly astonished to find a bandage wrapped around her head. Had she hit it during the fall? She was pretty sure she hadn't.

Then she remembered her blurred vision. Oh. Crap. So that's what it was.

She still had various scratches and bruises covering her arms and legs, and was dressed in the same clothes she had left in. That was always a good sign.

She struggled to think back to last night, vaguely remembering someone catching her after she passed out. Maybe her head really was bad. Oh boy, she hoped not.

So the creeps hadn't gotten a hold of her. Definitely another plus.

But another question formed in her mind: Who rescued her?

She looked around the small house. There wasn't anything extraordinary about it; it was small, not filthy, but rather neat.

She felt strangely comfortable here. Safe. She didn't understand why she felt that way, or how, but it was something she couldn't control.

Apparently, whoever was here was now gone. Temporarily or permanently, she had no idea.

She slowly sat up, slinging her legs over the side of the bed. She stood up, taking one last glance around the room before heading towards the door.

Unfortunately for her, she collided with something solid, warm, and most likely alive.

"Oof!" She fell backwards, but a pair of arms encircled her waist before she could.

Then the blood rushed to her face. She really, honestly couldn't help it. Now she was more or less conscious, and very aware of the person's muscled arms around her waist.

She chose then to look up.

The person was a man, obviously, and he was rather…big.

He was quite tall, broad-shouldered and muscular. His skin was rather pale, which surprised her, considering that most villagers had coppery, tanned skin.

His eyes were cold, yet something drew her to them. She had never seen eyes like that.

He had wavy, dark hair which flowed over his broad shoulders.

He said nothing. Whether he noticed her scrutiny or not, she couldn't quite tell.

His icy eyes bored into hers, and she couldn't look away. Her face still had a oink tinge, but that was all that remained of her previous blush.

"Are you alright?" His voice was deep, slightly emotionless and detached. It wasn't something she could describe with ease. She flushed again, even darker this time, and inwardly berated herself. Wow, she was being an idiot right now.

"I'm fine." She said it quickly and quietly, hoping her voice sounded some semblance of normal.

He nodded, carefully releasing her.

She straightened herself up, pretending to dust off her skirts so she would have something other than him to concentrate on.

When she had been looking for freedom, possibly adventure, she truly wasn't expecting to land up under the care of such a beautiful man!

He simply watched her, never averting his rather blank gaze. She noticed this of course, and it began to irritate her ever so slightly.

"Is there something you want?" She kept her voice as low and calm as possible. She knew full well she was being a little bit rude, but after last night she didn't feel like being polite or trusting anyone. Much less this strange man whose name she did not yet know. So she wasted no time with niceties.

His reply came a few second later. "Not really." His voice carried the same calm, detached, emotionless tone. Saya could have sworn she felt a vein pursing in her temple.

Sure, she knew she was being extremely unreasonable and letting her ridiculous temper get out of hand, but she had gone through too much to remain calm anymore.

She raised her eyes to meet his. Of course, his expression hadn't changed. This only succeeded in infuriating her more. Muttering various curses under her breath, she attempted to trudge out of the house in a very un-ladylike manner. A bitter smirk twisted her features as she thought of what her mother might say if she had witnessed such behavior.

Unfortunately for her, her foot caught on a loose spot on the floor, and she flew forward, arms flailing wildly in the air. Dear God, how many times did she have to fall today? Something told her today would be absolute crap.

But of course, that mystery man caught her around the wait again, turning her around. Much to her dismay, she flushed again. Damn it! Why do I keep doing that? She honestly wanted to smack herself. Curses.

Once again, he straightened her up. With a heavy sigh, she felt her temper melt away like hot butter. She had forgotten that she had even been mad in the first place. With a heavy sigh, she faced him, reluctantly.

"Sorry for losing my temper." She muttered grudgingly.

The man nodded. He really didn't speak much. Talk about tall, dark, and handsome, she mused.

"What's your name?"

"Hagi."

"Hm. Nice to meet you, I guess. I'm Saya."

Hagi simply nodded. Wow, scratch that, he really didn't speak unless he really, absolutely had to. She wasn't used to such silent men. It was a nice change, though.

She smiled, if a little awkwardly and hesitantly, and was blown away when she saw the corners of his mouth twitch. That's an improvement.

You wouldn't think that would be the start of a friendship.

Oh, but it was, and maybe even something more…

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Sorry if you thought it was a tad short, I was short on time here and hadn't updated in a while.

Thanks so much for all the reviews I got! Because of that, I'm continuing the story! ;3 It's nice to know people like this.

Well, please review, and hopefully chapter 3 will come much quicker than this.