Love Through Flame and Gun Fire

1: Caught? It's the First Chapter!

"I'm telling you, Riza, it's not paranoia!" Roy hissed, letting Riza wrap her coat around him. He was shivering from the cold, his own wet clothes strewn on the hardwood floor of her small house. Riza just shook her head and gently removed his gloves from his hands. Roy tried to get over the fact that he was naked in Riza Hawkeye's house, wrapped in nothing but her military uniform. Let's not forget that he was suffering from cold chills and sneezing, and that she thought he was extremely paranoid. Anything else?

No, there's nothing else, he thought sourly. She brought a towel from her bathroom and handed it to him, then got another one, sat on her knees behind him, and started to dry his hair. He was surprised for a moment, no, more than a moment. He must have been surprised for a bit longer than a moment because she tapped his shoulder and asked if he was alright, besides the fact that he was freezing, of course.

He murmured a yes and buried his face in the towel. He realized, as the towel fibers were tickling his nose, that he didn't have anything to wear. She just continued to dry his hair and when that job was finished, whipped out a comb and started to brush it. She stopped halfway when he started to shiver again and called to her pup, Black Hayate. "Go get a blanket, Hayate. A big, thick one if you can." The pup yipped and scampered away, and Riza lit a fire in the fireplace. She put a hand on his forehead gently and his eyes slowly found their way to hers. This alarmed her, because he was usually much more alert and active, not sluggish. Then again, on most nights she assumed he was warm like other human beings, not freezing cold. He sneezed again and sniffed, and she resumed combing his hair. "That's the best I can do for right now... we'll just get your clothes dry and everything will be fine." Roy shook his head slowly and winced from the pain.

"It won't... they're after me, Riza..."

"Who?" she asked, thinking that the cold was causing him to become delusional. Black Hayate came back with the blanketand she took it from his mouth. "Good boy, Buraha." Roy's teeth chattered, even though he was sitting right next to the fire, and she wrapped the blanket around him as well. He put up no resistance and she leaned him against the wall. "Now who's after you?" She asked.

"Homunculi..."

"What?" She held his face in her hands and his cheeks reddened. Black Hayate whined and pawed at the blanket, climbing up into Roy's lap so he could lick his face. Roy's mouth twitched into a smile before resuming to chatter. "Have you eaten yet?" Riza asked, getting up from her position on her knees and heading for the kitchen. She stopped at the kitchen door and looked back for an answer. Roy shook his head, no he hadn't, and Riza went in. Roy reached a shivering hand out from the blanket and petted Black Hayate, who yipped and tried to lick it. Black Hayate climbed into his lap and curled up against him, and Roy felt slightly warmer. He leaned his head back into the wall and winced again. He had just been minding his own business and walking down the street, thinking about whether or not he should head for a bar and get a few drinks, when he had heard something behind him. At first he had thought it was nothing, perhaps a stray cat, and kept walking, but then he heard it again, and again. And again. This time when he turned there was a thing, it looked like a palm tree with a wide grin, hurtling straight for him. He backed up quickly and whipped his hands out of his pockets, hands in snapping position.

Then it turned into Maes.

He couldn't do anything. Even though his mind was screaming Maes is dead, his body refused to move, his heart refused to let him snap. His mind won after 'Maes' had come up behind him and stabbed him in his back. Maes would never have done that, and he turned and set the thing on fire, fighting for his life until... until...

His back throbbed and he cried out in pain, causing Black Hayate to jump and his mistress to bolt out of the kitchen. "What is it?" she asked. "M-my back..." he had remembered only when he remembered the incident on the street. Riza lifted him from against the wall and shooed Hayate from his lap. She laid him on his stomach on the floor and removed the uniform and blanket from his upper body, though somewhat hesitantly. He was still her superior, and for her to be 'undressing' him in this manner... He has a nice body though... What? What am I thinking? Get those thoughts out of your head, Riza, he's your superior officer! Then why am I staring at him like this? Because he has a wound, that's why. Sure, just keep believing that. You know you just want to kiss him! She shook her head vigorously and checked Roy's face, but his eyes were tightly shut and his teeth clenched. She worked faster, trying to locate what was ailing him. Then she saw it.

It was a horrible wound, like someone had stabbed him violently with a blunted object until it had broken the skin. She traced the edges of it and he moaned in pain. She came back to earth and told Hayate to fetch the medicine kit in the bathroom, which he obeyed immediately. He's amazing... if I had a wound like this, I'd be crying... and he's just taking it, just lying there taking it so I won't panic, or overreact or... get... worried? Is he taking it so I won't worry about him? Is that what he's been doing all these years?

She thought as she cleaned out the wound with alcohol and inspected it for any debris left behind. It wasn't very big, thank God, but it would definitely leave a scar, she thought regretfully, and she stopped again, reddening. Why regretfully? She wrapped the bandage around him and tied it off, letting Buraha cut it with his teeth. She looked at Roy's face again and found that he was asleep. Asleep or passed out, anyway. She stroked his soft black hair and hesitantly kissed his cheek, knowing that she shouldn't have. She shouldn't have, but she did. Why? She usually obeyed the rules, every single one. But this...

She touched his face and found that he was still cold, but just a little bit. He must have been hungry too... she went back to the kitchen, retrieving a bowl of spaghetti, even if it was leftovers, from the oven. She had left it in there so it could warm up a bit; she had remembered Maes Hughes saying once that he could almost swear that, if left by himself, Roy wouldn eat nothing but spaghetti. She had asked why and Maes shrugged. " 'Just one of Roy's little quirks,' " he had said, which had earned her another piece of information. " 'Roy really isn't as much of a womanizer as everyone thinks he is. He's a good guy, but he's had a rough life. Rumors don't help his situation either. ' " Maes's death had been another bump in Roy's 'rough life'. He had taken it the worst out of everyone, possibly just as bad as Gracia and Elysia. She realized that she knew very little about Roy other than Maes's occasional insights, and she couldn't count on Roy other childhood friend, Jean Havoc, to let much slip about Roy either. She wished she could just ask him.

Roy shivered under the blanket again and she asked Buraha to wake him up. He licked Roy's face and Roy cringed for a second before opening his eyes again slowly. "I thought you said you were hungry?" Riza asked, and Roy's stomach growled for confirmation. Roy eyed the food from the floor but seemed unable to get up from it. Riza sighed and picked up the fork. It looked like she'd have to spoon feed him too. Once she pulled him into a sitting position, he didn't seem eager to eat, even though she could tell he was hungry. After a few failed attempts she put her fists on her hips.

"Don't you want to eat?"

"You wouldn't understand," he replied, turning his head away from her again. She frowned. This must be the dreaded 'dignity and pride' she had heard other women bemoan about. Roy wouldn't let her feed him because he felt it beneath his dignity to be fed by someone else.

"I do understand, now open up!"

"No!"

"Your mother spoon fed you, didn't she? Now you can open up by yourself..." she cocked a gun and held it near his ear. "Or this can go off near your ear and possibly ricochet into your head, your choice."

Roy was being adamant. "Curse your stupid pride! Can't you just eat? You need it!"

Roy turned his face away again. "You're acting like a child, you know," she muttered darkly. Then an idea popped into her head. She put the fork down into the bowl again and he turned his face in her direction. She grabbed his face quickly and kissed him hard on the lips, and his eyes widened. She pulled away and was satisfied to see that his mouth had dropped open. She stuffed the forkful of food in his mouth and took it back out again, minus the food. He shot her a look. "Cheater," he muttered through the mouthful of food. She looked pleased with herself and got up to go to her room. She brought out several articles of his clothing, most of them thick and warm, and tossed them to him. "Where did these come from?" he asked.

"Whenever we go on missions together, you have a habit of putting your clothes in my suitcase and forgetting to take them out. These are from our last mission up north." She took the blanket off of his again, careful to make sure they covered his waist and below, and pulled the thick shirt over his head, appreciating his feeble attempts to get his arms through the sleeves. After that was done she gave him the pants and his boxers. "I'm not putting these on you," she said, whistling to Black Hayate to leave the room.

Roy pulled on the last articles of clothing with difficulty and Riza knocked on the door to see if he was ready. He said that he was and she came in again with Buraha. "Feeling better?" she asked, and he nodded slowly. She picked up the bowl again to resume feeding him and he gave her a sly smirk. "Only if I get another kiss." She raised her eyebrow at him and put the bowl down with a sigh, crossing her arms underneath her breasts. "And why should I feed you?"

"Because you care," Roy wheedled, giving her his most pleading look. It didn't work, so he gave her the look she could never resist. Puppy dog eyes. Riza showed no emotions outward, but she was just screaming AWWWWWWWW! on the inside. "Fine," she sighed. "Just a little one." She leaned forward to kiss him again, heart thundering in her chest, but this time he was ready. His arms circled her waist and pulled her closer, his mouth pressing against hers. She pulled away at first, but he kissed her neck and cheek and she leaned forward again, letting him push his tongue into her mouth. Before she realized what was happening she was on her back underneath him, Roy's hands feeling her body through the fabric of her shirt, still pushing hard into her mouth. His ears pickedup the sound of a gun cocking and he released his hold on her mouth, looking at her hands quickly. There was nothing there and he looked back at her face. She was red and gasping for air, her hands on his shoulders. He suddenly felt drained, like he couldn't work up enough energy to lift his eyelid, and, still straddling Riza, turned his head slightly to look behind him. "Get off of her." The man's voice thundered through the room, cold and full of indignation. In his hands, which was what Roy was taking the most interestin, was the nastiest looking high power rifle he had ever seen in his life. The man was blonde and tall, with piercing green eyes and a murderous frown on his face, though anything else would have suggested, other than the frown and the rifle, that he was talking to an acquaintance in the park. His eyes betrayed no emotion.

"Get off my daughter or I'll shoot you here and now."