It took awhile for me to start to understand her – that flaming haired, blazing eyed hunter – but now that I've spent time with her, I've come to realize… she's so special. She puts on a brave face and goes out to protect the world, but she's really just as scared as anyone else. Yeah, having supernatural powers allows her to do extraordinary things, but when it comes right down to it, she's just as scared of dying as I am. She doesn't want to face the world alone, doesn't want to be the only one who has to make sacrifices, and I completely understand.

And I think that because she knew that about me from the start, she was able to put so much faith and energy in me. She works hard to train me, a simple mystes, who in her eyes could never truly learn the art of combat. No matter how physically strong I became, having only human qualities would always limit how useful I was. Shana, Margery, Wilhelmina… they all have to use their Flame Haze abilities to win battles – brute strength isn't enough. It would be unrealistic of me to expect to be anywhere near as talented and strong as they are, but I would at least like to be able to have the ability to defend myself, or at the very least, keep myself out of trouble and out of their way.

So it makes me proud to say that I've improved rather significantly with my training. I'm finally not getting bonked on the head every two seconds because I'm not fast enough to react to Shana's blows. I can avoid them, rather skillfully, but I don't last much longer in our "battles." That's O.K., though, because my only concern is surviving as long as possible. For now, that is. She'd never admit it, but I can see how happy she is with my progress. She has this certain sparkly tint in her eyes whenever she sees me evade her that lets me know she's proud.

Alastor doesn't get too involved with us anymore, finding that he prefers the company of Wilhelmina. He says he just doesn't want to interfere with Shana's feelings and he doesn't understand why she's acting so human. She transitioned rather quickly from a glorious Flame Haze to an unusual high school girl. Oh, sure, she still acts tough, and she can kick anyone's butt, but she experiences jealousy, sorrow, happiness, anger… all that stuff. And I'm proud of her for that because before she met me, she didn't care whose torch she had to sacrifice to repair the damage done by the Denizen's. She just took what was left of their existence and was done with it. Now she does her best to make sure no one has to be sacrificed.

Maybe it's because I've gotten the chance to see her grow and develop as a human Flame Haze that I've grown to feel the way I do about her. She's so spirited, energetic, strong, graceful, outgoing, independent, and beautiful. I didn't get to tell her at the time, but she looked breathtaking at the festival in her kimono with her hair pulled up like it was. It made me wonder if that's how Yoshida feels about me. She has that essence that captivates you and draws you towards her, even if you think she's obnoxious and arrogant sometimes. Shana's not perfect by any means, but that's what I really like about her – it emphasizes just how human she really is.

It's funny how much emphasis is put on being either human or a Flame Haze. Our worlds are so different and we have completely different goals, but we co-exist so naturally together that I guess I just can't help it. Maybe I'm just trying to convince myself that just because she's not human, it doesn't mean I can't love her like one.

Yes, I'll admit, I love Shana. I love her for all the reasons anyone would love someone. But I also love her because she had the opportunity and means to kill me, but she refused. She fought to protect me, even from the people that raised her – the people she respects and trusts the most. I was such an inconvenience and a nuisance that it would have been better for her to have ended my life a long time ago, but she didn't. I think that's how she shows she loves me too. In her own weird way, she's defined love as spending time with me, yelling, being rough, and telling me to "shut up, shut up, shut up!"

And that's why we're here now, in my backyard, both armed with a wooden weapon. She won't use any of her special abilities, she'll only fight with her normal strength, and we're in a face-off to see how far I've truly come. Ten minute sessions in my backyard don't add up to a lot and don't give her the chance to see my true strength. Putting me in a more high tense situation should really highlight what I can do. So the battle begins.

She charged at me, holding nothing back – as to be expected from her – and she swung hard at me. I lifted my weapon to block her attack and was barely able to stay on my feet as she pushed herself back away from me. As soon as she landed, she ran at me again, this time with apparently more force than before. I stepped out of her way and attempted to swing at her, but she turned quickly on her heel and crashed her weapon into mine. I went flying backwards, but had to quickly recompose myself for another attack. All she was doing was running at me and swinging. Seeing as how I'm still in the game, I must be doing pretty well.

So as she kept swinging, I kept dodging and blocking. It was all repetitive, but the difference was that as my energy drained from exhaustion, hers only seemed to grow. In other words, I was dying and she wasn't tired a bit. So after a few more minutes of intense training, I lost my grip and she knocked my weapon right out of my hands, pushed me to the ground, and hovered over me with her weapon pointed right at me. It was clear as it always was – she won again.

"Oh, man, Shana! I wish I had your kind of energy. I'm completely worn out."

"Are you kidding me? That was nothing! You can't even call that a real fight."

Of course not. Even though I was covered in sweat and sore, it was nothing in her eyes. But like I said earlier, she has that sparkle in her eyes that lets me know I did a good job. I could accept that, whether she wanted to admit it or not.

"Yeah, yeah, call it what you want. You can't deny that I'm getting better."

"Baby-steps don't matter in a real fight. Just because you've improved a little bit, doesn't mean you're going to able to beat a real opponent!"

"I know, I never expected to beat anyone. I just want to able to stay alive long enough for you to come rescue me."

"That's not funny, Yuji!"

She might not have been laughing, but she knew it was true. I want to be as helpful as possible, but not at the expense that I might be getting in the way. I know how inconvenient it is for her to have to run from one battle to save me from another Denizen. It causes her way too much trouble and I'm trying to avoid that. Even though she knows all of this, she still talks to me like I'm such a pain-in-the-butt for her to deal with. I can't help but laugh at her reaction to everything.

"We'll pick up your training again tomorrow, same time, same place. I'll give you the basic skills needed to protect yourself, but that's about all I can do."

I nodded and smiled at her as she gathered her things and went in the house. She's been spending a lot of time with my mom lately and I don't quite know what they're doing. All I know is that now I have to go around front and go through the front door to get back in the house. They keep locking me out of the kitchen, but for what reason I'm still unsure of. So it's about this time that I'll go up to my room and talk with Alastor. Wilhelmina left some time ago, so he should be alone right now. I wonder if he knows…

"Hey, Alastor?"

"Yes, what is it?"

"Do you know anything about what Shana and my mom are doing downstairs?"

"Shana is trying to learn a delicate skill that only your mother can teach her."

"Oh? Well why is it so secretive?"

"That, I'm afraid, I'm not sure of."

"Well alright."

So she's even kept Alastor in the dark, huh? What could she be doing that she'd be hiding it from him as well?

"Oh, my goodness! Shana-chan!"

What was that? What the heck is going on down there?

"No, don't touch that, you'll burn yourself!"

What?

"Sakai!"

I was already running down the stairs when Alastor yelled for me. I didn't even get a chance to talk to him before this happened. Whatever it is, mom and Shana better be O.K.!

I rushed into the kitchen only to be choked out by the mass amount of smoke. I quickly pulled the front door open to let some of it out and then hurried into the kitchen to check on everyone. Mom had opened the back door and Shana turned off the stove. When the smoke cleared, I saw that half our kitchen was burnt black. Mom got a rag and immediately started washing off the walls, while asking if we were all O.K. I told her I was fine, but when I looked at Shana, she didn't look so good. Her fists were balled up tight and she was hiding her eyes with her hair. I went to put my hand on her shoulder, but she jerked away from me and ran outside. I knew where she was headed.

"Shana-chan!"

"Relax mom, I know where she's going. I'll take care of this."

I ran out the back door and went around to the side of the house. The ladder was still where I left it, so I climbed up and saw her sitting on the edge of the other side of the house. I carefully made my way over to her and took a seat right beside her. She wouldn't look at me and she didn't look like she wanted to talk, but I had to get some answers out of her.

"So… do you want to tell me what happened?"

"Not really."

"C'mon, Shana. What were you and my mom doing in there? How'd the kitchen catch fire?"

"I said I don't want to talk about it."

"I know, but I want to know. If you won't tell me, I'll just go and ask her."

When she didn't give me a response, I stood up to go back inside and talk to my mother. Before I could take two steps, though, Shana grabbed my wrist and refused to let me walk away. Whatever happened has apparently made her ashamed or embarrassed, but I don't have the slightest idea as to why.

"Shana, it's O.K. You know you can talk to me about anything, right?"

"Yuji…"

I sat back down and waited. I knew that I wanted to hear this from her and that means being patient and waiting for her to talk. So we sat up on the roof for about an hour and watched the sun float across the sky and head for the horizon. And just when it looked like she wasn't going to say anything at all, she opened her mouth and sighed. I knew she was going to say something at any moment now.

"About what happened down there… it was my fault your kitchen caught fire."

"What happened?"

"Well, I… I was trying to… something and then before I knew it, it got too hot and the fire started to take over everything.

"Wait, what were you trying to do?"

"Does it matter?"

"Shana."

She looked up at the sky, finally revealing her blazing eyes – which were rather dull at the moment – and sighed again before admitting defeat.

"I was having your mother teach me to cook. She was showing me how to make an omelet."

Well that explains everything. The countless times she's been locked away in the kitchen, the reason she always smells like burnt food at the end of the night, and the reason the kitchen caught fire. She's been having cooking lessons right under my nose. I kind of feel like an idiot for not piecing that all together sooner. It seems so obvious now.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because it was supposed to be a surprise…"

Her face was turning red and I could tell she was extremely embarrassed. Here she was, a powerful and mighty Flame Haze, slayer of the Denizen's of the Crimson World, and she was taking cooking lessons from a human woman to surprise me. That's also why she didn't tell Alastor, because he would mock her and tell her how unnecessary it was. Or maybe he really did know, but she didn't want to have him with her when she did it because he's already done that. I'm not quite sure.

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about, you know. Cooking is fun and it's a good skill to have. But why did you want to learn it to surprise me?"

The shade of red on her cheeks darkened and she re-hid her eyes. I hate it when she does that. She curled her legs up against her chest and hugged them. I knew she wasn't crying, but she looked very small compared the woman I usually get to see. I wasn't going to sit here and let her feel this way, so I did the only thing I could think of – I put one arm around her and hugged her and then when she came out of her little ball, I kissed her right on the cheek.

"Thank you, Shana. Even if you didn't learn to cook, I'm surprised anyway."

I saw the light return to her eyes and knew I did good. That was another one of the many ways she expressed that she loved me. We haven't really had a proper kiss, yet, but I know it'll happen soon. And when it does, I have a feeling that sparks are going to fly.

"Aw, Shana, you're blushing!"

I set myself up for this. I knew exactly how she was going to react and I knew that it meant things had returned to normal. Her eyes lit up and her nostrils flared. She stood up abruptly, fists balled, and temper hot.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!"

"A/N: Well, this is my first Shakugan no Shana fanfic. I hope you all enjoyed it. I just recently finished the series because my friend Bethany lent it to me. I tried my best to keep everyone in character and I apologize if I goofed up somewhere. I hope to write more for this anime and hopefully I'll get better with time. For now, I leave you with this little one-shot. Until next time. :)"