This isn't my first Breath of Fire story to be honest. Years ago I wrote another one, but I took it down because it was written pretty badly in my opinion.

But ever since I replayed Breath of Fire II with that fan re-translation I had the desire to go back to the fandom once more.

And if some of you didn't play the re-translation: go ahead and do it. It's way more lively than the official translation and I'll use some of the characterization from there too.

Just another day

Township was just your typical ordinary countryside town. Well as ordinary as it can be seeing how it was basically built from scratch in a matter of months and had a secret engine hidden underground that made it able to fly.

Though its flying days have been over for the past few months since the brave group of adventurers, that had built this town - some of them even with their own hands! -, defeated the dark god St. Eva and sealed the entrance to the underworld with it.

Ever since then the group enjoyed their peaceful days, and as time passed some of them, like Nina, Spar, Jean and Rand, moved on while others-

"Get back here, you mutt!" shouted Niro, the -sometimes- nice, elderly man that had lived in Township when it was still only one house.

"Forget it, gramps!" the voice of Bow the Grassrunner echoed through the air, followed by his laughter.

-Others simply stayed since they really didn't have a place to go.

Amongst those was Katt Chuan, the resident Woren, gladiator extraordinaire and beauty supreme - don't let that snake Deis tell you otherwise -. The young girl was currently sleeping in her room and in her bed for once, since she had the comical habit of falling from it and sleeping in some very funny positions on the floor.

A crash from outside made her ear twitch and she turned around, letting out a moan as soon as the sun hit her face. Cracking one eye open she was promptly rewarded with the sun stinging her right into it. Letting out a hiss she rolled around to block the sun out-

And fell right out of bed.

"Ouch." she muttered and rubbed her backside, her tail swinging from side to side as she did so. Another crash echoed through the air, coming from the other end of the small town and she knew that it could only be Bow and Niro being at it again over some kind of food.

Well that or pervy Sten was hitting on a girl he wasn't supposed to hit on. Wouldn't be the first time.

Stretching herself she got up from the floor and left her room, rubbing her stomach as she did so. She could really use a bite right now. She walked along the hallway and stopped at the door of one Ryu Bateson. Butterflies started to flutter inside her stomach. She wondered, was he still sleeping?

It was no secret that the Woren had taken a liking to him after he had beaten her in the Colosseum. He was pretty cute after all, even though his name had been pretty weird at the time. Who would name oneself Bunyan?

Though Ryu was a weird name too in her book, though names didn't matter when it came to feelings. But it wasn't until he stood up for her against Tiga that she realized that her feelings were much more. No one had ever done something like that before, and while Tiga was a nice enough man she just couldn't bring herself to love him.

Not that it had mattered in the end anyway. Those had been dark times and many people died so meaninglessly. And she nearly would have lost Ryu too if it hadn't been for his father's intervention. Faced with the prospect of losing him forever she realized that she loved Ryu.

She just didn't know how to confess to him. She tried to read a book on the subject, but those were always so boring, so she flung them across the room rather than reading them.

Advice didn't help either since back when Nina was still here, something nagging inside her head had warned her of competition. Same went for Deis, who was always teasing her like mad when she was in her room, passed out from drinking, making fun of her 'undeveloped body'.

Katt looked down herself. Really how could she compare to girls like Deis and Nina in that regard?

But then she overheard two girls from town talking with each other about boys. "Don't you know, boys like it when the girl is forward." one of them said.

So she tried doing things like she always did. Head on.

Yet whenever she tried to act, something was always getting in the way. Not this time though. Without hesitation or, you know, thinking about it she almost kicked in the door.

"Wakey wakey Ryu!" she shouted and jumped onto his bed.

Where no one was lying. She realized mid-air that no one was in the room and twisted around a little, causing her to tumble down the other side.

Figures.

Grumbling to herself she left the room and walked down into the kitchen. And there he was, just getting up from the table where he had his breakfast.

"Hey." he greeted her and gave her his usual kind smile.

"Heya Ryu, whatcha doing?"

Ryu chuckled. "Breakfast."

Katt didn't say anything, just looked at him. Thinking of something. Which to him it kind of looked like a goldfish trying to get the gist of algebra. This was her chance, wasn't it?

Boys like girl that are forward. She thought and, as her tail started to sway from side to side, a cat-like smile formed on her lips. And she already knew what she would do. "Hey Ryuuuuu~?"

"Yes?" he asked her.

"Remember when we were in the magic academy?"

"Sure, but to be honest I'm surprised you did." he grinned at her. Katt just blinked in puzzlement and leaned her head to the side.

"Huh?"

"Ah forget it." he waved her off. Ryu wouldn't just tell her that a lot of people thought that she was pretty dumb. In his opinion it was one of her more likeable features. She wasn't book smart, true, but she knew how to get around.

Even if it meant using a head on approach. He chuckled to himself.

"Okie dokie! So, I wanted to learn some magic, but my magical energy isn't high enough. But there is a way to raise it temporarily. Need a magic user for it though."

"So why don't you ask Deis then?"

Yuck Katt thought and had to banish some weird images out of her mind.

"Wait, scratch that." Ryu said and shook his head as if he realized what a horrible idea that was. "Sure I'll help you."

Hehehe the Woren laughed internally, not leaving him out of sight. There was only one way to do that whole magic energy thing. And that was kissing!

And she would even get something else out of it as well.

Katt poised herself, closed her eyes and prepared to jump at him puckering her lips up as she did so.

"Hey, Ryu." came from outside just as she was about to jump.

"Hold on a second." Ryu told her and walked towards the voice, causing Katt to fall forward and plant her lips against the wooden wall.

Hmm strange. Ryu's kinda stiff. Opening her eyes she came face to face with said wooden wall and stumbled backwards, landing directly onto her butt.

"Ah sorry." Ryu said as he returned. "Huh, everything alright?" he asked when he saw her sitting on the floor.

"Meh." she grumbled and crossed her arms in front of her chest pouting, her tail swaying across the floor. Ryu just rubbed the back of his head in confusion.

"I gotta head out for a while, why don't we talk about this later?" he asked.

"Meh."

"Ok, later then." he said, having already left the room when she 'answered'.

A snicker made her look up the stairs where Sten was sitting. The highlander had a huge grin on his face. "My my, I never knew you loved this place so much." he said.

"Sod off." Katt grumbled, still pouting like a little child.

"You really think the boss'll like it if you just jumped his bones? Now me on the other hand would love me some jumping. But him? Nah not the type." he told her and went over to the cabinets, pulling out a sausage and a loaf of bread.

"Boys like girls that are forward." she said.

"Yeah, well I know you and subtlety don't go hand in hand." he said while working on the would be breakfast. Or cleverness. "Or non-aggressive behavior."

"You wanna get beaten up again?" she asked. She didn't have her staff with her right now, but it wouldn't be the first time she kicked his ass unarmed.

"See?" he asked and with a charming smile handed her a slice of bread with sausage on it. She took it and almost devoured it in one bite, making him shake his head. "Now the boss? He's a quiet type, not the I don't wanna talk to anyone kind of quiet, but still quiet. And just because you heard some girls, which I might've tried to woo, talk about this doesn't mean it's guaranteed to work."

Katt blinked. "It doesn't?"

"Well not on the boss it won't. But hey, he isn't that good a catch anyway. Now me? That's the best deal you could make." he said and presented himself like he was doing one of his scam shows. "Consider it."

Katt took an empty cup and threw it at him, knocking him flat out. Stupid monkey.

She walked outside and wandered the streets. While she found Sten irritating most of the time she couldn't help but feel that he was right on this one. After all being forward only worked so much. Like most of the time she solved stuff with violence. Hmm maybe I should beat Ryu up?

While she mulled over that thought she caught eye of the statue dedicated to her. Her eyes traveled down her own body again. Couldn't have Salvador given her bigger breasts?

Looking over to the one dedicated to Nina she felt herself growing jealous. Was there some magic trick involved? She could totally picture Deis doing something like that.

With a sigh she wandered onward towards Gate, the neighboring town. Really if they built a few more houses they would become one big town, so close were they to one another.

She missed Nina. The Princess had been the first to leave, which had come to Katt as a surprise, saying that she wanted to return home to research a way of returning her sister back to her normal self.

Katt wasn't the smartest person – but hardly dumb! - but deep inside she knew that Nina had feelings for Ryu as well and a small part of her was glad she was away. She always felt bad when she thought about it since Nina was a good friend to her who always took some time to explain things she didn't understand.

As she entered Gate she could already hear two voices coming from the house that had once been an orphanage. And it was pretty clear they were arguing.

"Like hell I'm wearing a dress." said a young woman as she walked out, clad in a leather leotard that clearly was made to show off every single good part of her body. The dragon wings on her back twitched in annoyance. It was Patty, or Yua. Katt wasn't so sure what she was called. She knew she was Ryu's sister though.

Patty's eyes found Katt approaching just when Ganer walked out of the house holding a simple, pink dress in his hands.

"Hello, Katt." he greeted her as she walked over, her arms crossed behind her head and her lower lip jutting out a bit.

Patty narrowed her eyes. "Now why the hell should I wear a dress when she's wearing even less? At least my butt's covered."

"Katt isn't my daughter. But you are, young lady, and I say you are dressing in way too revealing clothes."

"And I ain't gonna wear a dress. Next thing I know you want to me to wear pigtails again. That's it I'm out!" and with that Patty ran off, fuming.

Ganer released a sigh. It sure wasn't easy being father of a teenage daughter. If he didn't have grey hair already he would be starting to get them now. Maybe he'd start losing hair instead.

He looked at Katt, who had watched that exchange back and forth. "Can I help you?"

"Nope, just taking a stroll." she said. Then something that everyone would have thought impossible happened. She had an epiphany. "Oh wait, there's something you can help me with!"

"Hmm?" Ganer uttered and looked at the dress in his hand, holding it out in front of him. Now that he thought about it it was way too pink.

"It's something about Ryu."

Ganer stopped looking at the dress and directed his attention towards the Woren. She was clearly blushing.

He blinked once. "Oh."

After a moment of confusion he had ushered her inside, putting the dress somewhere so that he didn't have to look at it again. He really should apologize to Yua for that one.

"Alright, what is it?" he asked Katt after he made them some tea. They sat opposite from each other, the Woren fingering her teacup for a moment before she simply shrugged.

"I like Ryu." she said. "As in like like."

Luckily Ganer hadn't taken a sip from the tea, else he might have spat it out again. "That was forward."

"And I'm trying to kinda confess to him. But I didn't have much success thus far." Of course she hadn't.

"Have you tried talking to him? Sit down with him and talk?" he asked. He didn't know Katt for very long, but he could already figure out that her attempts at a confession didn't involve much words. Sadly she wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed as they say. She could be rather clueless.

"Oh." she said and stared at him. Why hadn't she thought of that? "That sounds like a good idea! Can you give me more tips?"

Ganer sighed and shook his head, but smiled good naturally. Underneath it all she was a nice girl. And everyone deserved some happiness, especially his son. "Well why don't you try something he likes? Maybe you'll enjoy it too. If not, then at least you spend some time together."

"Spending time together." Katt repeated and nodded. "Got it."

"Hmm. Tell me how did you meet my son?" he asked her.

"Eh?" Katt looked confused for a second. "Oh! We met at Cousair. I was the champ of the Colosseum when we met. He entered because he was mistaking me with Pat-uh Yua at the time. Said his name was Bunyan, stupid name right?, and told me that the fight was rigged and that I was going to be killed with poison darts when it was over."

She drew the sharp claw of her index finger along the edge of the tea-cup "Didn't believe him at the time. He managed to beat me, only by a hair's breadth though, and when the darts came he jumped in front of me."

Ganer could see how the look in her eyes changed as she told him that and he knew that the young girl was truly in love. His sweet Valerie had always looked at him that way.

"He saved my life and as a way to repay him I helped him take down the guy in charge. And after that I just stayed around, since I had nowhere else to go. Then we got mixed up in all that crazy stuff." she got quiet after she said that. A moment passed between them. They all had suffered back then.

"But speaking of stupid names. What kinda stupid name is Ryu?" she asked and the tension that had been in the room quickly dissipated.

Ganer chuckled and decided to indulge her. "Well it was my idea. Ryu means dragon."

"Really?" she asked and leaned back a little in her seat. "That's really stupid."

With that said Katt grabbed the cup and swallowed the tea in a single gulp. And regretted it immediately as she jumped up from her seat. "HOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOT!"

At least, Ganer thought as Katt ran in circles, it's not going to be boring.

After having bid Ganer goodbye she headed back to Township.

Sit down and talk. She nodded. Doing something with him.

Now she only needed to find him. Her eyes cast to the sky she bumped straight into someone.

"Yikes! Watch where you're going." It was Bow.

"Heya, whatcha doing?" she asked.

"I was going to find some game, keeping my skills sharp and all." he told her and shouldered his crossbow. "Gotta impress the ladies."

"Ok, have fun." she said and walked past him.

"Oh hey, if you meet the old coot you didn't see me, 'kay?"

"Okie dokie. Hey have you seen Ryu?" she asked in return.

"Hmm." Bow rubbed his chin, then scratched himself behind one of his dog ears. "I think I saw him heading off towards the river. He's probably fishing like usual."

"Thanks!" she chirped and headed towards the river, leaving Bow to his hunt.

It didn't take long getting there and once she entered the clearing she could already see the familiar fishing rod. Walking closer she saw Ryu sitting against a tree. He had taken off his boots and was resting his feet inside the stream.

"Hey Katt." he said before she entered his view.

"How did you know it was me?"

"I can read minds." he said.

"Really!?"

Ryu chuckled. "Nope, I saw your tail through the thicket a moment ago."

Katt looked at the traitorous appendage and sat down besides the young man, resting her back against the tree as well. "Caught something?"

"No. But that can always take some time."

"Want some company?" At that Ryu looked at her for a second, then shrugged and smiled softly.

"Sure, why not?"

Katt then curiously looked at Ryu's feet, then unbound her cloth boots and put her own feet into the stream as well.

"You know. More than once I had to go through the rain with Bow and both of us got soaking wet." he told her.

"And?" she asked and wondered where this was going.

"I came to realize, there's nothing worse than the smell of wet fur." he laughed when he had to dodge a punch. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding."

"You better be!"

Chuckling he stabbed the end of the fishing rod into the soil to rest his arms a little. "So what did you want me to help you with?"

"It's-It's not important anymore. It's stupid anyway."

"Hmm, alright. If you say so."

Silence set in as they sat against the tree, just looking at the stream ahead of them. Glancing over to Ryu she could see him smiling. Sten wasn't completely right when he said that Ryu was quiet. It was more that he enjoyed the quiet.

A small smile formed on her own lips and unconsciously she rested one of her hands just above her heart. This felt nice. Just being here with him.

She turned her head to look at him directly and suddenly felt a pair of lips being pressed against hers in a chaste kiss.

Her eyes widened for a moment, then closed as she started to enjoy it. But it was over way too soon for her liking.

"For...for earlier. You wanted to kiss for some energy right? I remember that lecture from the academy." he said and looked at anything but her, blushing. His fishing rod was very interesting right now.

Katt felt her heart beat like a drum. He..he had kissed her.

"W-well I'm glad I could help you and-" Before he could say anything else the Woren placed both hands on either side of his face and looked at him, an expression on her face that he never saw before.

"That's not why I wanted it." she said in a tone so unlike her.

And pulled him into another kiss. Now it was his turn to be surprised, but quickly gave into the sensation and wrapped his arms around her waist. Pulling her feet out of the water she circled her arms around his neck and pulled him with her to lie on the grass, her tail wrapping around his waist in turn.

And as they laid there, completely in their own little world, they didn't notice that the fishing rod was twitching, nor did they notice it being pulled out of the ground and into the water.

A shout through the woods made them abruptly pull apart, looking at each other in surprise.

"Come back here, you damn mutt!" Niro shouted.

"Dammit, I nearly had it, you geezer!" Bow shouted back.

Katt and Ryu blinked at one another, then burst into laughter.

Just another day in Township.

Their eyes met and Katt closed hers slightly, smiling at him bashfully. And their lips met for the third time that day.

Well, maybe not just another day after all.

End

Well, well. That was fun!

Gotta love how clueless Katt is all the time. And she REALLY isn't the sharpest tool in the japanese version of the game. That's basically her running gag, getting shit from people because of that AND being flatter than Nina and Deis.

Oh yeah and for those that only played the official translation: Baba was called Bunyan in the re-translation, a nice little continuity nod, and well I don't think I need to explain that Bleu = Deis. ;)

That's it. Maybe I'm going to write some other little stories about Breath of Fire down the road, but this was just a little side work to take a break from my current main fic.

See you guys around.