Chapter Four: Sinful Legs

*"Never…?" He followed.

"No one's ever made me coffee before." She sputtered in shock.

"Ma never made you coffee?"

"She died when I was three of cholera; never had the chance to make it for me."

"No wonder you can't sew." Hiiro said gruffly.

"Watch your mouth gun boy. I'm paying you to work for me after all." She warned and took a sip of the coffee. "You make it real strong; it tastes better than usual. Thanks I suppose."

"Hnn." He grunted before handing her his empty cup. Then he took the ax from her. "No way to protect yourself."

"Well now. If I done had myself a knife I would have faired much better, that much is true. But I can make due with what I have when need be. How well can you improvise without those guns of yours?"

"You've seen me with knives."

"Yes, I saw all right. I saw you making my sharp kitchen knives dull while you threw them into the tree stump!"

"What else could I have used?"

"I have a good set of throwing knives if you'd just asked. And I'm sure you have one of two knives of your own." Hiiro had to smirk. He knew she had seen the knife he always kept in his boot.

"Always carry a weapon that you can use," he paused. Then he wound his arm back and threw the ax. As it soared through the air, it landed in the dead center of an old tree across from them. "Otherwise you're as good as dead." Serena just stood gaping. She had seen him with knives- he was better than she was, and that was saying a lot. But she had never seen anyone handle an ax that way- not even he could throw that well.

"How did you learn to do that?" She asked. But he never answered her. Instead he simply walked back over to the ax and pulled it from the tree. "Hiiro, how did you do that?" She asked again, getting frustrated.

"Wrist." He finally dignified her with a response.

"Well now." Serena paused. "Think you can put that wrist to better work on this here fence?"

"Sure." Hiiro answered her.

"Then I'm going to get to work in the fields. I'll be back around noon to check on you."

"Fine." He answered. She sighed, wiped the sweat from her brow, and walked off. As Hiiro watched her go, he had a revelation. Something wasn't right. Serena was living alone in the middle of the wild west on a farm built for a family. She had a good sense of work ethic, strong mind and will, and wasn't half bad to look at once in a while.

But she could only throw a knife. She had never done more with a gun than hold it. And her threat with the ax… Serena didn't know how to defend herself. Living on the open frontier like she was wasn't the smartest move she could have made. He frowned at the knowledge he had just gained. What would happen to her when he left? What if some outlaw such as Wild Shields did happen to come through this town? What if he stopped here, at her home? With her left alone and undefended, who knew what might happen.

Lifting a new piece of wood, Hiiro began to hammer it to the fence. Why should he care anyway? She was just some little girl, just like every other little girl he had met in his travels. He had no reason to care what happened to her or any other girl. Damn. This was why he should have slept in the barn. Attachments were not wanted for the bounty hunter lifestyle he led. Well, he would break this habit, this attachment, when he left. Then he could go on his way and forget all about this house, this farm, this month of his life, and this woman. Girl. Woman, he decided.

Serena crawled to another row of corn on her hands and knees. Her hands were covered in dark mud, as were her knees. She had rolled her breeches up to her thighs and her shirtsleeves up to her elbows, trying to prevent them from getting any dirtier than they already were. Now, instead of her pants and shirt being covered in mud, her legs were streaked with it, and her arms were completely covered in the sheet of dirt. Her sun kissed blonde hair was tied back in a tight bun, but her bangs kept flopping into her face.

She was supposed to be weeding the garden, but as she crawled to the next row of corn, she collapsed face first into the dirt. Relaxing for a moment, she let her mind wander to the day's events. It was so strange to have a man around the house again. Since her father, Serena had only had one other man in her everyday life, and even then, he had stayed away, only a vague memory that had to be obeyed.

But Hiiro. He had a mind of his own. Even when following her strictest orders he added an air of arrogance, an attitude that she almost found funny. He did things efficiently and he did them correctly. He didn't need to be told a thousand separate times to do something, he did it the first time and quickly.

After they had settled in, he had even begun to just… do things out of the blue for her. If she couldn't reach something, he would get it for her. If she couldn't lift something, he would wait for her to give up before then taking the object and lifting it himself. It had taken a while to get used to this, but once she figured it out, she began to ask him first.

It was pleasant to have someone to eat with again, even if he didn't speak much. And he was always appreciative of her cooking and hard work; she could see it in his eyes every time he took the time to savor a meal, or to give her a surprised look when she completed a task he would have thought impossible for her to do.

Hiiro finished with his section of the fence and looked around. He wasn't sure if Serena wanted him to continue, or to stop for the day, so he paused. Perhaps the best idea would be to find her and ask her himself. Picking up his hat, he walked off in the direction of the cornfields. As he reached the fields, he couldn't see any of the corn moving. Where was she? Walking around the outside of the field, he came across the most unusual sight he had ever seen, and had the decency to flush.

Serena was lying on her stomach; face down in the dirt, her chin resting on her folded arms. Her bare legs were in the air swinging carelessly, her shimmering golden hair was piled atop her head, and she was covered in mud from head to toe. Slowly at first, his face began to hurt. He realized why- he was smiling. In fact, watching Serena in her carefree moment, he felt a light-hearted goodness fill him, and suddenly he found himself laughing.

Serena flipped around on the ground when she heard the foreign noise. Before her, in all his glory, stood Hiiro Yui. The once stern and impossibly stoic man had his thin lips pulled back into a wild grin, and he was laughing good and hard. Her heart stopped. Before now she had never realized how truly handsome he was.

His dark, chocolate hair stuck out in a hundred different angles, framing his tan face. His azure blue eyes sparked with mirth, and his well built form could easily be seen. He had un-tucked his shirt and unbuttoned it, leaving his undershirt visible beneath it, and it was obvious he wasn't used to laughing. He moved in a stiff fashion, but she could see years of practiced refinement in his muscles. The man wasn't simply handsome; there were no words that could describe him.

"What are you laughing at? She breathed. Hiiro immediately straightened his position and wiped the smile from his face.

"I'm sorry." He said, almost forcefully.

"For laughing? Hiiro, it's a human thing to do. I'll have to thank the Lord for answering my prayers."

"Prayers?"

"I asked him to send me a sign that you were human." She too, began to laugh. Hiiro cleared his throat loudly to get her attention. When she finally stopped laughing, she noticed his blush for the first time.

"Well now. Can I help you gun boy? Or did you just break into a random bout of laughter for nothing?"

"I'm sorry." He repeated, his blush deepened.

"What for?"

"Your legs, mame." He replied softly. Serena looked down at herself, and then her own face matched Hiiro's.

"Well now! You turn around." She scolded him. It was unthinkable for a lady to show her bare legs to a man before they were married, that was what! She waited for Hiiro to do as he was told, and then looked down for a way to solve her problem. She began to roll her pant legs down, only to realize that if she did that, it would destroy all of the hard work she had gone through to keep them remotely clean. She really didn't want to have to do any wash… "Oh bother. Hiiro, never you mind my legs. Turn around and try to ignore them. I'm not going to dirty my pants any more than I need to simply for society's sake, especially when there's no society anywhere in a ten mile radius." Hiiro turned around and did his best to ignore her legs.

"I finished that fence portion and wasn't sure if you wanted me to go on or stop." He muttered. But his eyes fell and landed on her legs. They were so slim and… sinful… damn he was going to hell for the rest of his life for this one day. He rethought his last thought. Screw this. He was already going to hell for all the men he'd murdered on the job, he might as well get a little out of life.

"Well now. What time is it? Noon yet?" Serena wanted to know. She saw his eyes, and only blushed deeper. In all truth, she didn't mind. They were, after all, just legs.

"About that." Hiiro answered, finally pulling his eyes away from her legs to stare at the sky.

"Well then, maybe… yes. No more fence today." She announced. "We'll get to work on that new chicken coop."

"The old one not good enough?" Hiiro smirked. Since his laughing bout, he suddenly felt more at ease with Serena, leaving him at comfort to converse much more smoothly than before.

"No. Those coyotes were in it last night. Didn't you hear all that ruckus I made?"

"No. Never listen to coyotes. I heard too many of them on the open range to think anything of them."

"Well then, let me tell me. Those were the nastiest set I've seen in a while."

"You fended them off?"

"I let my hound loose on them. He fended them off pretty well, but they still got a hen and ripped a good-sized hole in the coop."

"Serena…"

"Come on then, let's go gun boy. Lunch awaits." Hiiro started off towards the house. "Hold up there!" He stopped when Serena's command reached his ears. "Hiiro Yui, you're supposed to help a lady up, not leave her down in the mud!" He shrugged, then turned around. Ignoring her hand that was out in the air, he swooped down on her. Picking her up, he slung her over his shoulder and began his walk again.

"Hiiro! You put me down!"

"You said…"

"Put. Me. Down!"

"No." And he refused all the way to the house. But what he didn't refuse was looking at her long legs as they kicked back and forth in front of him as she tried to wiggle out of his grasp. Smiling doggishly, he realized he had just broken his first rule: no attachments. Well, maybe it was time for a break… *

~~~I think I might have been crazy while writing this ch… but I laughed the whole way through it! Legs… and I know this sounds vain, but I just love my ch title! Goodness, I've finally cracked! –Vixen ~~~