Disclaimer: If I owned Power Rangers, I would not waste my time writing fanfiction; I'd be putting this stuff in the show every week. Clearly, I don't own it. So don't sue.

A/N: Some Conner/Kira fluff I was working on. Set prior to the White Thunder saga.

Wonderwall

Kira was in the middle of a song when Conner got to the Cyberspace. She was still wearing the yellow dress, but had slipped on a pair of black pants underneath it for a funky look, and had let her hair down in a set of messy curls. There was a small crowd; most of the usual patrons were at the dance. So she noticed immediately when Conner entered the room, and her playing faltered. She recovered in the span of a second, though, and finished the song perfectly. There was scattered applause, and when she didn't immediately launch into another song, Conner made his way up to the stage. "Kira, can we talk?"

He waited for a biting retort, but she just stared at him for a beat. "Yeah. Talk. Okay. You've got a lot to explain, for starters." She signaled to the band, put down her guitar, and followed him to sit down on the couch. She sat as far away from him on the small couch as she could. "Explain."

"I don't know what happened," he said. She glared at him. "I mean, I know what happened, I just don't know…I don't know why. I mean…I'm sorry, okay? It just happened, I don't know what on earth I was thinking, and I'm just really sorry, is all."

"Did you see the look on David Wingate's face?" Kira said, smiling. "He was on the verge of a major meltdown."

"Yeah," Conner said, and allowed himself the briefest of laughs. "You're not mad at me, are you?"

"Yes. No. I…don't know. Maybe."

"Just maybe?" he found himself asking hopefully.

"Well…I mean…I just…you didn't exactly mean anything by it, it was just to prove a point, right?" Conner didn't say anything. "Right?" Kira said again. "I mean, it's not like you like me or anything…" Conner looked down at his shoes.

"Oh my…" Kira said.

"Look, I didn't mean for this to happen," Conner said.

"So you do like me."

"…Yeah," he admitted with a sigh, leaning back on the couch and raising his eyes skyward. "I'm sorry, okay? It just…happened, out of nowhere, and I know that it's, like, wrong, 'cause you're my teammate, and that you like Trent and all that."

Kira had her hands folded in her lap, and she was staring at them. "I don't know what to say."

"I should go," he said, standing up. "You have a set to finish. I just wanted to apologize."

"Conner, don't go, I--"

"See ya," he said.
In the confines of his room, Conner lay back on his bed, staring at his ceiling in the dark, and allowing himself to dwell on what he'd ignored until now.

He had kissed Kira. After what seemed like ages of having more-than-friendly feelings towards her, and about a week now of fully actualized crush, he had done what had previously seemed impossible. And somehow, he'd survived.

It hadn't been a real kiss. It had been impromptu, ostentatious, and he'd given her virtually no window in which to respond --if she'd even wanted to respond. He highly doubted that, but he let his mind retrace the soft, warm curves of her lips anyway. He had vague memories of her light scent --something flowery that had completely surprised him-- because unfortunately, scents could only be remembered when smelled again. All too well he felt the slight crick in his neck that came from stooping to kiss her, because she was a head shorter than he was.

He replayed the moment in his mind for what seemed like an eternity, because he had decided that after tonight, he was letting it become the most distant of memories. He was going to revoke his crush on Kira, for the sake of the team. Maybe he could find a soccer groupie to date for awhile.

The Dino Gem implanted in his bracelet began to flash, the red light a beacon in his dark room. With a sigh, he answered the call. "Yo."

"Conner, we've got a problem downtown," Dr. O. said.

"Figures. What sort?"

"The bad sort that likes to stomp on things and scare the living daylights out of the populace," Dr. O. answered dryly. "Care to come help?"

Though he knew it was sarcastic and rhetorical, Conner had to fight the urge to answer the question honestly. Instead, he sat up. "I'm on my way," he said.

When he arrived on the scene in morph, Conner found Dr. O. surrounded by Tyrannodrones and just barely holding them at bay. "Where is everyone?" Conner asked, calling out his staff while he ran into the melee. He began to whip it around, making connections with body parts left and right, letting out all of his pent-up hormones in one fierce fight until they finally backed off Dr. O. enough that the teacher could breathe. "You're the first one here," Dr. O. said, moving in so they were back to back, both brandishing staffs, just barely keeping the circle of drones at bay.

"And your little friend Zeltrax hasn't made an appearance yet?"

"I think he's waiting for me to have a heart attack first."

"At your age, that should be any second now," Conner cracked, and was fortunate enough to have the drones, having caught their second wind, rush in and save him from Dr. O.'s rebuke.

As Conner found himself hip-deep in drones, he heard from somewhere outside his personal battle the cry of "Tricera Shield!" The cavalry had arrived, and not a moment too soon. Conner's earlier adrenaline was waning, and since he'd already been tired that day and that adrenaline had been emotionally produced, it wasn't lapsing into nothing, but segueing straight into an aching exhaustion. He was doing pretty well all things considered, but the drones were landing more blows on him than he was on them.

"Is it just me, or are there more than I remember?" Ethan queried as he used his shield to bodily throw a drone from Conner.

"Maybe it's their mating season," Conner said. The drones were finally backing off a little, and the two teenagers joined their teacher, breathing heavily.

"They don't mate," Dr. O. informed them.

"Says you," Ethan said. "That Jurassic Park guy was convinced that all of his dinos were female, and that there was zero threat…look how well that turned out."

"I hate to admit it, Dr. O.," Conner said, "but the sci-fi geek here is right."

"Oh, no, I think they're ready to go again," Ethan observed glumly as the drones started to move in.

An invisoportal opened right on top of them, and the three Rangers scrambled to get out of the way of Zeltrax and Elsa as they appeared. "Miss us, Rangers?" Elsa said.

"Like a hole in the head," Conner said, trying to keep the exhaustion out of his voice.

"I can have that arranged," she answered, and lunged at him, just as Zeltrax went for Dr. O., and the drones launched themselves en masse at Ethan. Concerned as he was for his swamped teammates, Conner was in no position to assist them, as he was having issues just staying upright. Elsa had gotten a lot tougher from the last time they'd faced, although Conner seemed to recall going head-on against her and Zeltrax --and kicking tail. But that was another time, and he was a very weary boy.

"Sorry I'm late!" he heard Kira calling. "Ptera Grips!" The sound of her voice seemed to infuse him with a second bout of energy, and he matched Elsa move for move. He heard whoops of accomplishment as the Blue and Yellow Rangers triumphed over the cache of drones, and he heard Zeltrax groan as Dr. O. landed a particularly painful blow. Distracted somewhat by their victory, Conner was caught off guard, and Elsa swept him. He went down hard, harder than he should have, and could feel pain coursing through his body. She stood over him, lifting up her foot as if to squash a bug. Until he realized that his throat was the bug. But there was a burst of light and sound, and she stumbled over him, tipping and falling a few feet away. Conner realized through a bit of a haze that Ethan and Kira had lasered Elsa. "I'm not done with you, Rangers," she threatened for what seemed like the millionth time, as she and the others went off in an invisoportal.

Conner very slowly got to his feet as Ethan and Kira rushed over to help him up. "You okay?" Kira asked.

Conner pressed a hand to the small of his back, and felt a fresh jolt of pain. "Define 'okay,'" he moaned. "I should be fine in a little while. A few hours. Or years. I'll get back to you on that." The quartet demorphed, and the pain intensified somewhat. But he pretended not to notice. Kira was gazing at him with concern in her eyes, but he ignored her gaze.

"It's late, you guys, you'd better get home," Dr. O. said.

"Right," they chorused halfheartedly, and split up. Conner's first instinct was to offer Kira a ride, but remembered his resolution and refrained.

"Conner, man, wait up!" Ethan called, jogging to catch up with Conner. "So, you talk to Kira?"

"Yeah."

"And?" Ethan said impatiently. Conner didn't really want to talk about this, but if he was to talk, Ethan would be the only one that he could talk to. David had been right; Conner really had cut himself off from his old crowd.

"And, well, I let it slip that I liked her."

"And?"

"And that's it. I went home. Dr. O. called me out here. That's all."

"Worst story ever."

"Yeah, well, too bad for you. I've already decided that it's over between me and Kira."

"How can it be over? It never was," Ethan pointed out.

"You know what I mean. Look, I really don't want to talk about this, okay?"

"Fine, bro, I'll catch you tomorrow." With an eye roll, Ethan went off.

Conner didn't quite make it home. He'd spent plenty of time earlier sitting in his room, and it wasn't late enough yet that he'd get into trouble if he wasn't home. So instead he drove around Reefside aimlessly, trying to get a hold of himself.

Until he spotted a figure walking that looked very familiar. He slowed the car and pulled to the curb. He rolled down the window, wondering if he was overstepping boundaries. He had no idea anymore. "Hey, Kira!"

She stopped and looked over. "Conner?"

"Do you need a ride somewhere or something?"

"I'm just out for a walk."

"It's dark."

"I can take care of myself, Conner," she said, then added, "duh."

"I know you can. I'm just saying that dark implies late, and late could mean that you're in trouble. Wouldn't want you to get grounded."

"That's my prerogative, wouldn't you say?"

"Fine, you know what, walk, whatever, I don't care," he said, and revved the engine.

Her hand was on the passenger side door, her fingers just barely inside the car. "Conner, wait." She sighed and got in the car. Conner pulled away from the curb. "How's your back?" she asked.

"It's fine now." Satisfied with this, she queried no more, and they drove in silence for a little while before Conner blurted, "Can I just say something?" She didn't respond, so he assumed it was a yes. "Look. I've gone out with a bunch of girls, and I liked them, but I've never really…well, uh," he wanted to phrase this as best he could without making himself out to be an enormous idiot, but realized that in order to do that, he'd have to go back in time. "I've never really had a crush on a girl before. So I'm not really sure what I was or wasn't supposed to do, but I think I screwed it up, and I'm really sorry about that."

"Yeah, well, I never really had anyone have a crush on me before," she said, and as he glanced at her, she flashed him a self-conscious grin. He blushed, he couldn't help it. "I'm not mad," she said. "I'm a little weirded out, yeah, but I'm also kind of flattered…I mean, you are the most eligible bachelor in the school, according to the stalls of the girls' bathroom."

That was nice to hear and all, but what he really wanted was an answer out of this. He would accept just about any kind of answer at this point, no matter how extreme, so long as his problems were solved and he could get back to normal. Or at least, what passed for normal these days.

"Just tell me what I should do," he said.

"I…god. You think I know?" she said. "I'm trying to wrap my brain around this just as much as you are, you know."

"What's there to wrap around?" Conner said, feeling anger getting the better of him, though he kept it out of his voice exceptionally well. "I like you. There, I said it, no hinting, no vagueness, it's out there and it's done. Now you have two choices. Either you like me back, or you don't. This isn't an end-of-the-world dilemma."

"Why are you mad at me?" she asked, the anger in her voice where it was absent from his. "I didn't ask for this, Conner, you're the one who made it my problem. This isn't exactly easy for me, you know, you just springing something like that on me. Out of frigging nowhere, and now I have to…I mean, you're a Power Ranger, and we work together, and we…we've gone to school together for three years now, Conner, why me, why now? Why not in freshman year, when I wouldn't have minded?"

"Wait…what?"

Kira shrugged, slightly embarrassed, but acknowledging that it was the past. "Conner, you were cute and friendly and popular, not to mention the only underclassman in history to make the varsity team. Every girl had a crush on you in ninth grade."

Conner could not keep the grin off his face. "You had a crush on me!" he teased. "I can't believe it! Kira Ford, Reefside's own answer to Alanis Morissette, and you had a crush on a jock. What, did you write my name on your notebook, circle it in little hearts?"

"Shut up, would you?" she said.

"Aw, c'mon, like I'm ever going to let you live this down."

"You are absolutely insufferable," she said, rolling her eyes. "Turn here."

"What?"

"Turn here. This is my street."

"Oh." He flicked the signal and turned.

"Anyway, that was two years ago, and you wouldn't give me the time of day."

"You never spoke to me once."

"Oh, and you would have talked to me if I had? This is my house, up here on the right," she said.

"I might have." Conner pulled to the curb.

"You would not have," she countered, not getting out of the car. "I wasn't popular."

"C'mon, Kira, I'm a lot of things, but I'm not that shallow. And what are you even talking about, you don't care what people think about you. That's one of the things I like about you," he added, and realized that all things considered, that probably wasn't the road that he should be going back down.

"I don't. I just…god, Conner, this isn't easy."

"You said that already." A thought struck him. "Why isn't it easy? Maybe because you think you might like me after all?"

"I should go," she said, clamoring to unbuckle her seat belt.

"We're not done talking about this," Conner huffed, as Kira all but leapt out of the car and stalked across her front lawn. Conner cursed under his breath and chased after her. "Kira, for the love of--would you just stop?"

She stopped, turned, and glared at him. "I don't want to talk about this."

"What, ever?"

"No, not ever, not if I can help it. God, Conner, you know what this is all about? This is all about the stupid Rangers! You didn't even know I existed for the past two years --whether I wanted you to or not-- and now suddenly you have a thing for me because you're forced into hanging out with me every day. And I'm supposed to fall head over heels for that? I don't think so, Conner. Just…just go home, okay?" She ran the rest of the way up to her house and slammed the front door behind her.

He sighed and got back in his car. Girls sucked.