Chapter Seven

…Where the date continues...

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist.

Ushio was having trouble seeing. She felt Ling's lips against hers but her vision was so blurry that she could hardly make out his face, only several inches in front of her. The initial feeling of a racing heart had dulled within her, leaving her chest almost as lifeless as her eyes were shocked.

The prince pulled away, a devious smile slapped across his lips. His normally narrow eyes were wide, gleaming proudly at her. Ushio was unsure what to make of his expression. Hell, she was unsure why he would have done that in the first place. Ling glanced over his shoulder towards the door, as if to check for Lan Fan. His shoulders fell with a sigh when he did not see her standing there.

"I am sorry that I startled you," he apologized. "But I was only trying to get your attention, really."

In her head, Ushio tried to make sense of that; there were so many possible scenarios that could lead to and he was not being specific in the least. Was he trying to distract her from the fact that he had hurt people like Lan Fan had just done or just Lan Fan in general? Could it be that the kiss was actually displaying some sort of affection towards her? He could even be mocking her! What if he knew that she liked him?

Ushio asked a final question of herself. …How in the hell was she thinking so clearly, let alone logically?

Without realizing she was doing so, Ushio began drumming her fingers against the wooden countertop, almost as if she was impatient. Her other hand was clenched into a fist with her nails digging sharply into her palm as it rested in her lap, firmly pressed against her leg. She was not strong at all, but anyone else would have given themselves a bruise while doing so. As much as she wanted to avoid the prince's eyes, theirs were locked. She had no idea how she was supposed to react from there.

Just as she was about to address him, the chef returned from the kitchen beyond the counter. In his blatantly aged hands were two plates of food, which she saw Ling marveling at. The prince's jaw had dropped to the floor, his tongue nearly spilling out, and his eyes could only be described as hungry. As the plates were placed before them, Ushio was the one to thank the chef quietly while Ling had already begun shoveling food into his mouth.

The pair of chopsticks that were on the side of her plate felt unnatural in Ushio's trembling fingers, she could not manage to sit them against her skin properly. As she finally began to attempt picking at the colorful vegetables before her, Ling interrupted her, causing her to drop the chopsticks into her lap. Ushio sighed.

The prince gulped. "Please excuse how straightforward I was. I don't want this to jeopardize anything," Ling told her. "But, before you ask, I could have found other ways to get your attention aside from kissing you, yes. Since I was given the opportunity to do so, I took advantage of it."

Though she was unsure that was what he intended it to come across as, to Ushio it had sounded as though Ling had wanted to kiss her because he did like her. She tried to think of other things that statement could have meant, especially since she could not believe the only legitimate meaning that first came to mind.

"I'm sorry…" muttered Ushio, almost inaudibly, under her breath, "but…what?"

"Nothing!" chirped Ling with a happy smile slathered across his lips. He was suddenly asking as if nothing had happened. Ushio was confused. "Just forget about it. Ahh-nom!" The prince wrapped his lips around the end of his chopsticks, swallowing whatever he had picked off of his plate.

"And how, exactly, am I supposed to do that?" she asked lowly, under her breath. Besides, if Ushio did forget about the kiss, then she would be left with this image of Ling being some terribly awful person that she did not want. The kiss was what she had to distract herself. "I am sorry but I really don't think that is possible for me."

Ling nodded understandingly. He was radiating this cheerful, childlike aura that she had never sensed about him before; Ushio was wondering what could have caused him to have such a drastic change in mood so quickly after recovery. "Well, if you don't think that you can erase it then we make it something you won't ever forget," he grinned.

Ushio knew better, at this point, than to ask him what he planned to do. She tried to keep an open mind about what he was going to do, but her thoughts kept growing narrower and narrower until they eventually reached a conclusion. And until his lips once again rested upon hers.

Only this time, she could feel Ling's hand slithering around her back, gently pulling her towards him. Her heart was fluttering nervously inside of her chest, pulsing through her entire body until it reached her fingertips and toes, warning her to back away. She took the time to wonder why she could possibly want to back away from him, especially since she was falling for him. Ushio was inches away from scooting off of the stool and landing at his feet, her body was already tense to brace itself.

Just as she lost her footing and began to slip, Ling pressed his hand over her shoulder blades, giving her one last shove forward. Ushio's lips were ripped away from his as she sank onto the floor, landing with her feet tucked under her butt. She was staring directly at Ling's knees, tears swelling along the rims of her eyes. She was angry with herself; she could feel the frustration stiffening her muscles.

Ling extended a hand down for her. "Are you alright?" he asked, his playful attitude slowly fading. Concern was gleaming in his eyes. When she did not take his hand, he reached down even further and grabbed her pale hand himself, yanking her back onto her feet forcefully. He placed his hands firmly on her trembling shoulders. "I…am confused."

Before she even opened her mouth, Ushio promised herself that she was not going to start bawling the moment she did. She had no reason to be crying, she was just overwhelmed. "Why would you do that?" she asked, wiping the miniscule tears from her eyes with her sleeve.

She was honestly surprised by how much more collected and calm her voice sounded than she actually felt, Ushio was truly shaking of nerves internally.

"That one was because I like you," answered Ling.

Though they stayed several more minutes after the kiss – mostly for Ling to finish his meal and then insist to the chef that he did not have to pay because he was Ling Yao, twelfth son of the emperor of Xing, something he flaunted shamelessly to strangers – it was rather uneventful for Ushio, who sat quietly after losing her appetite. The pair walked back to the caravan together, taking only the back roads until they reached the outskirts of the city.

Ling told stories throughout the trip back, which took longer than expected because of their misguided senses of direction, mostly of his time spent in Amestris. He told of alchemy, the country's equivalent of alkahestry and the dangers it brought upon him, Fu, and Lan Fan – that seemed to be the focus of his tales, mostly because he could go into however much detail he wanted with her and not have Ushio suspect anything. Also appearing several times in his stories were Edward and Alphonse Elric, two brothers and one was also the youngest State Alchemist in Amestrian history. Ushio liked to hear more about Alphonse and what Ling had thought of him, especially since he had called them similar earlier. He explained how the Fuhrer was hunting down him and Lan Fan, leading her to slice her own arm off, and that he was also the one to kill Fu when he tried to avenge his granddaughter. No matter how Ling so carefully worded it, Ushio knew that he was leaving specific details out of his stories, not everything fit together like puzzle pieces.

By the time he was done telling stories and asked her to share something of interest, Ushio was staring up at a star-dotted sky that was a color nearly darker than pitch. They were nowhere near returning to the caravan any time soon. At first Ushio did not know what he could say that would even compare to what he talked about, she would have had to lie about something. He assured her that there was no need for it to be so glamorous. Eventually, Ushio told of the time she had dreamt about days before, the time that she had seen him and Lan Fan sparring in the courtyard and how her mother would not let her go outside.

"So that's why you wanted me to take you there when we go to the palace," Ling realized, his voice whispery. When he spoke, Ushio felt like she was listening to water running smoothly, it was relaxing. "And if I have not already said so, that is something that I am more than happy to do for you."

"If you actually wanted to kiss me, then I think you would be alright with doing anything for me," shrugged Ushio, not realizing what she had said until after it left her lips. She gaped at herself, but could not find it within her to apologize.

Ling chuckled. "Sure," he said in between laughs.

She supposed that it was better he was always laughing and in a good mood and not saying a word about her slip-ups than it was for him to be so serious all the time and scold her for them. From there, she began fall behind Ling, following at his heels instead of walking with him. Overall, Ushio felt more comfortable around him, but she wondered if kissing him had to change that.

"Ushio." Ling stopped, spinning on his heels to face her instead of just looking over his shoulder. She skidded to a stop, surprised by his sudden action. She had almost run into him. "What are you doing?"

She blinked, cocking her head to the side. What did it like she was doing? "Huh?"

"Why are you slowing down?" asked the prince, not curiously, but concerned. "Are you alright?" A certain expression had settled into his features, one that she had never seen Ling where before. Ushio liked it, it was something new – not that she didn't like to see him smiling.

"I, uh, what?" asked Ushio. She had preoccupied – distracted – herself with his expression, giving herself no time to think of an intelligent answer. "I'm fine. What would be wrong?"

Ling shook his head, causing his dark bangs to fall over half of his face. "I was just wondering. Lan Fan usually starts trailing behind me when something is bothering her," he explained, "so I thought maybe something was getting at you."

What confused Ushio the most was that Lan Fan allowed things to break her solid-as-cement composure. But it was also a nice reminder that Ling genuinely cared about others since he picked up on things like that. "Oh, not at all," she assured with a false smile. "I just, um, I mean I…"

"You just mean that you don't want to trouble me with anything," decided the prince. "If you don't want to tell me anything, just say so."

Ushio nodded. She contently continued behind him, thoughts jumping from topic to topic – most of them somehow relating back to Ling. She thought about what he had told her of Amestris, and how happy he was to be returning to Xing. Assuming that she was never going to experience such excitement, Ushio settled on the fact that meeting Ling was as amazing as her life was going to get. Then again, the kiss was exhilarating in its own right and she did not see that coming.

They reached the campsite after few minutes of walking. Ushio noticed how obvious it was that when they arrived at the outskirts of the city, the air was much clearer, easier to breathe. She found their tent set up near the middle of the pack, something Lan Fan had already taken upon herself to do. Ushio reminded herself to thank the woman, since she had not done so before. It was too bad that they did not find her inside; the thanks would have to wait until later.

Ling almost automatically crashed onto his sleeping mat, burying his face against the thin pillow. He released a muffled noise, something that could only be described as tired mewl.

Ushio, too, dropped onto her sleeping mat, but first to her knees just to break the fall. She slowly lowered herself onto her back, not realizing how tired and overwhelmed she really was until she lied down. Stiff muscles and a pulse that she could feel thumping in her fingertips were only two of the side effects that she was feeling after such a long day. A heavy weight was pinning her to the floor. She also knew to try not to close her eyes; she knew that if she did, she would be sleeping all too soon.

"Ushio," drawled out Ling. She could still hardly hear him since his face was pressed against his pillow.

"Yes, y–" she cut herself off before she could finish with your highness. Ushio wondered where that had even come from; she did not think that she had ever called him that before. And now that she was thinking about it, she really should be addressing him as royalty…

Ling had never told her this – or he did not think that he had; he did not remember much of anything from his days of heat delirium – but he was glad that he had met her. After everything that had happened while in the desert and in Amestris was behind him, Ushio was returning some form of normality to his life. Not boring normal, but the refreshing normal that kept him on his toes since he expected the abnormal now.

Ushio waited for him to start speaking, start telling what he was going to say. She could almost see the thoughts turning inside of his head, the words swelling in his eyes. He just could not seem to fit them to his tongue. The longer she waited, the heavier her eyelids became. They slowly began to slide closed and the longer they stayed that way, the closer she inched to sleep. She tried to stay awake; for the sake of hearing Ling talk – even if she could not process what he was saying – but found it was a harder plan to carry through with.

He rolled over onto his side, facing her. The lantern sitting in the corner of the tent cast a golden glow over his face, reflecting off of his eyes. "I am really happy to be back in Xing," Ling sighed. "It's even better than before. Know why?"

All that reached Ushio's ears was a jumble of slurred words, though they were clearly spoken in Ling's voice.

"Because you're here, too."

I FINALLY FINISHED! Please, please, pretty please forgive me for updating two days late – it was eating me alive that I had no time to write, really.

On a better note, I really liked this chapter. It was not very much of a productive chapter plot-wise, but it got a hell of a lot done relationship-wise. I hope that all of my readers liked it, so let me know what you all thought. I think that's all I have to say. YAY for fluff!