And we're officially past the first quarter of chapters! =D I had no idea I could actually concentrate on this thing for so long! Maybe I should be doing more of these things…

26: Cureless

"Is love a disease?" Roy asked, his voice vibrating oddly through his stomach to her head.

"You have as much experience with it as I do, probably more, even," Riza replied, rubbing her forehead.

"Exactly why I ask you. You have probably spent more time and energy in analyzing it."

"I? But I am just a soldier. How could I ever have analyzed anything, much less such a fascinating and abstract concept as love, more than an accomplished scientist such as yourself?" she sat up, turning only slightly to smile at him.

"Oh, I have thought on it. But for some reason you always end up distracting me, even when you're not there." He reached out to run a hand through her hair, smile widening as the sunlight caught in it and made the strands shimmer.

"Now, how is that possible?" she asked, draping herself across his chest, resting her chin on her hands.

"Oh, by having such memorable eyes and such prettyful hair…" He kept toying with her hair, rubbing strands between his fingers and caressing locks.

"Prettyful isn't a word."

"Well, just see what you do to me! Making me forget what is and isn't words."

"Hmm… Yes, maybe love is a disease. A mental disease like dementia, and you're obviously infected. I ought to stay away from you or I might catch it!"

"You mean you haven't already? Damn, and here I thought I'd tried my hardest to infect you with my loving!"

Riza smiled, lifting herself off of him. "Sorry, sweetie, you didn't quite manage." She leans over to kiss him on the chin, before pulling back with the lightning reactions of a soldier to evade his arms before they can close around her.

He sits up quickly, hoping to follow her in time to catch her before she's standing fully. He's too late, though, and by the time he's fully upright, she's taken two steps away from him. She sends him a wicked grin.

"Love is definitely an illness, a cureless one at that, but it's not all that bad, you can learn to live with it." She started backing up. "But that doesn't mean you should let it catch you so easily." With that she spun and started running from him, just as he got to his feet and began chasing after her.

He would eventually catch her, of course, he was bigger and more enduring even if she was nimbler and quicker to move, but even so he knew she would let him catch her in the end, often times through trickery, by hiding behind a tree and waiting for him to come barrelling by before shouting some nonsense to get his attention. She would make a shallow attempt at escaping, but he would be close enough to catch her time, trapping her between him and the tree.

He loved being lovesick. Even if there was a cure for it, he wouldn't take it but would likely transmute it into something utterly bizarre.

Love makes a fool of every man and woman, but those struck can hardly care… Or something else equally cheesy. I love cheese. And the "word" prettyful.

Please review and tell me what you liked/disliked. ^_^