A/N: This is just a drabble grafted to fit Mal/Inara from a series of real-life 100-word pieces I'd written. Chances are good that I'll have another drabble or two from the same sort of perspective before long.
Disclaimer: Still don't own Mal or Inara. I don't even have my own copies of the dvds, though I plan to remedy that before long.
Stubborn Fools
She should not be bought. She wasn't an object, an ornament to hang on some houzi de pigu's arm. It rankled him every time she left for another client. He wanted to take her into his arms and teach her what real love felt like. He doubted that she really knew the feeling of a lover's embrace. He wanted to prove to her once and for all that she was beautiful, that she didn't need all that training and refinement to be accepted, that she deserved a better life than the one she knew.
It was his only desire – to make it through a job to come back and find her waiting for him, her arms open and welcoming as she kissed his wounds away. It would never happen, he knew. She was too stubborn, and so was he.
He should not be thieving. He wasn't a criminal, a thug to send on some houzi de pigu's dirty job. It rankled her every time he left for another client. She wanted to take him into her arms and teach him what wholeness felt like. She doubted that he really knew the feeling of a whole spirit. She wanted to repair him, to fix him and patch him up, to make the scars fade, to show him that he deserved a better life than the one he knew.
It was her only desire – to return from a client to find him waiting for her, his arms crossed and jealousy clouding his features as he told her never to take another client. It would never happen, she knew. He was too stubborn, and so was she.