Disclaimer: Don't own Spectrobes in any way

Rating: T

Krux may be gone, but the Krawl are still around, so Rallen and Jeena are still on patrol in the Kaio system. So after a 'minor' infestation shows up, and Rallen gets hurt, what will happen next? Read and find out ;)

Rallen groaned a bit, touching a hand to head, which hurt a lot. He slowly sat up as he rubbed his head hard, holding himself up with his other hand. After he recovered enough, he made sure he was okay, which he was: no blood, no injuries... just a massive bruise on his head.

"Guess I was knocked out cold" he thought to himself, half-opening his eyes. His vision didn't come right away, but it did come back, bit by bit. What he saw surprised him.

He was back on the ship, laying (well, sitting now) on a bed. By his side, Jeena sat, leaning over the bed, her head to the side and her eyes closed. She breathed faintly at regular intervals, but that was it... she was asleep.

How long had he been out?

He looked at Jeena, still rubbing his head, then he smiled faintly. She'd been worried about him, even falling asleep at his side...

Even as he thought that, Jeena began to stir slowly.

He froze, starting to panic quietly. Luckily, his on-the-fly thinking came to the rescue, and gave him two options. One; stay awake and go from there. Two; pretend to be asleep and see what happens.

He quickly decided on the later, closing his eyes, the only thing still moving being his breathing muscles. And now that his eyes were closed, he could only rely on hearing and anything he felt.

He heard some small sounds; the results of Jeena waking up, silence for a little... then a small sound. "Still out cold... well, at least his thick head protected him"

"Hey!" he thought indignately, but he managed not to react at all.

Some movement, possibly her standing up? Footsteps... "Still, you scared the heck out of me, Rallen" he heard, only much closer this time. Did she move to the other side of the bed, where she could stand closer to him?

"So she does care about me" he thought, thinking he could use that later, somehow. He kept his face impassive, like he was asleep.

"And I don't know what I'd do without you..."

It took all of Rallen's willpower not to raise an eyebrow at that whispered comment. "Jeena?" he thought, curious.

She didn't say anything for a few seconds, then there was some pressure on the bed beside him... Jeena had sat down by him, most likely looking right at him. He kept his face 'normal', but he was VERY interested right now.

Slowly, the pressure beside him changed slightly... but he couldn't tell what she was doing exactly. Seconds passed, then the next thing he knew, he felt breathing over his face.

He started freaking out internally. Jeena had leaned forward, and now her face was inches above his! Wait... was she planning to kiss him or something?

Sure he'd joked about that (he was him after all), but was it actually about to happen?

At the same time, his on-the-fly thinking came up with more options he could do. One; lean up and kiss her there and then. Two; simply speak and startle her. Three; do nothing.

He quickly discarded the first two. They'd only seriously freak her out, then get her angry at him... and he didn't want that (Playful banter was one thing, true anger was another). So... he waited, pretending to be asleep.

Her breathing continued for a full minute, she seemingly deciding on what to do next. It was the longest minute of Rallen's life, with the effort to keep from reacting.

She leaned forward...

And kissed his cheek.

Somewhere he felt disappointment that she didn't kiss his lips, but that was quickly pushed away by the shock that she kissed him at all. Sure she'd decided at the last second not to give a first kiss, but it meant that she liked him!

She slowly withdrew from him, sighing. Then she got up, and walked out of the room, though she did pause halfway between that. The swish of the door closing reached him afterward.

His eyes snapped open, and he starting breathing heavily, though he made sure to be quiet. That was the most interesting five minutes he'd ever experienced.

But what to do about it? He looked at the closed door, trying to think.

15 minutes later

Rallen hesiatated at the door, peeking around the door at Jeena, who was at her usual seat at the controls. This was so unlike him, but for something serious like romance, even he couldn't just rush in without thinking. Not on the first steps... that was just asking for trouble.

But luckily for him, that period of hesiatation didn't last too long. So he slowly breathed in and out, stepping around the door, which closed behind him silently (he thanked it for doing so).

As he slowly stepped toward her, he looked at the back of her pink hair. He could never get enough of seeing it, though he never showed that desire outwardly. He eventually stopped just behind her chair, slowly trying to reach for her shoulder.

Just as he did, Jeena stood up and turned toward him.

Both of them freaked out at the same time: "AH!" they cried out, though only Rallen backed up a bit in his shock.

"Rallen!" she cried out, blinking several times. "When did you wake up?"

"Uh..." Rallen said, briefly at a loss of what to say. "Just now?"

She slowly relaxed, and gave him a slight smile. "Good to know, you had me worried" she said seriously.

He grinned, putting his hands behind his head. "Yeah, I guess my thick head protected me" he said cockily, with slight emphasis on 'thick head', just to see what happened.

She blinked slightly, but other than that, she appeared not to think anything was up. "Good thing you have one, Rallen" she said, smirking slightly. "Otherwise you'd be dead by now"

"More playful banter, huh?" he thought, grinning mentally. "True" he admitted, then tilted his head. "But you're the one who kissed my cheek"

Jeena instantly became flustered, her eyes wide, stammering. "What... how... how did you know that?" she breathed.

"I was only pretending to be asleep when you did so" he said, smiling at her. "It was quite interesting"

"Oh, so you scared me for nothing!" she said heatedly, looking at him, her eyes hard.

"Let me finish" he said quite seriously, which was enough to get her to blink once. "I woke up shortly before you did, and when you started waking up, I panicked a little... but I didn't know what you were gonna do"

She continued to stare at him, her arms crossed. "And?" she asked bluntly.

"And I did like it" he said simply, tilting his head. "Did you?"

Her angry act dissolved, and she went back to flustered. "Uh... well..." she stammered slightly.

He smiled, then he stepped closer, making her blink. He took that as a good sign, and pressed on. "Jeena, we've been partners for years" he said simply, and seriously. "Perhaps... all this time... we've both liked each other beyond that"

She stood there, blinking once as she looked at him, then she smirked. "Rallen, you keep going like that, you're gonna sound sappy" she said seriously. "And I've always loved how you aren't like that"

"So you do love me" he said cockily, smirking.

"Maybe" she said, then she giggled slightly. "But that's the Rallen I know"

"But I can still be serious when I need to" he said, then he tilted his head. "So Jeena... since you love me, and I love you, how about a kiss right here?" he said in his usual way, ending with a finger on his lips.

"Okay, Tomorrow" she said, stepping past him.

"I understand that you wouldn't want- wait, tomorrow!" Rallen started saying, only for Jeena's response to sink in. Did she just say they'd kiss!

"Yeah, Rallen" she said, like it was no big deal. As she said it, she ran her fingers over a computer panel. She smirked faintly at him. "Should give you plenty of time to prepare"

And with that, she turned and walked into another room on the ship.

Rallen stared after her, blinking. For once, he was at a loss for words.

Oh Jeena :D In addition to sighing at her parnter's antics, she loves to mess with him... should be an interesting day tomorrow ;)

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