Disclaimer: The usual. Don't own anything you recognize.

OF YOU

By Etcetera Kit

Scars

"Sky, what is that?"

He inwardly sighed. Once they decided to become lovers, it was only a matter of time before she discovered that, before she got a good look at his back. He wasn't entirely sure what the whole scar looked like—he had never taken the time to study it. The jagged part on his shoulder he knew about, but… he had hoped that it was fading. At least it was no longer the angry red that it had been.

"A scar," he replied.

"I know that," Syd said. "But how did you get it?"

Sky let out a long breath. They were in her room—the others had decided to go on a picnic since the day was so nice, crisp and clear. He was sitting on her bed, shirtless, waiting for her to get out of the bathroom. Of course, she had been the one to take his shirt off in the first place… she was wearing a short pink silk bathrobe. He felt her come up behind him, her weight pressing into the mattress. Her hands were tracing the scar.

"Sky, babe?" she asked. Her lips grazed his shoulder.

"You remember Icthior?" he questioned softly.

"How could I forget? He damn near broke my leg." She was silent before she scooted around him on the bed, facing him. "He gave you that?"

He nodded. "I got that during the initial battle—after I was powered down, he messed up my neck, the injury everyone else saw."

"God," Syd murmured. "He must have used his saber."

"He did."

"And it penetrated your suit?"

"Yes." His voice was soft, hoarse. It was just a scar—what was he afraid of? Why didn't he want Syd to see it? What was the stigma? But he knew what it really was… weakness. He didn't want to show weakness and a scar like that—indicating he had been hit unprepared and unaware—made him feel weak.

"And you're still alive?" Syd looked towards him, her blue eyes glistening with unshed tears. "That's a miracle," she breathed, throwing her arms around his neck.

Her reaction surprised him, took his breath away. Why was she hugging him and talking about how it was a miracle he was alive? Shouldn't she be… less than pleased with his not-so masculine attack from behind, his lack of foresight and preparation? Her body was pressed to his, chest heaving against his. Her breath was hot on his neck and her fingers came up to run through his hair. He was really confused. Syd seemed to sense that, because she leaned back, frowning up at him. Her hair was in riotous golden waves and her robe was open enough to give him a spine-tingling preview of her chest.

"What's the matter?" she asked.

"I… don't like to talk about that," he replied lamely.

"At least you have a decent story to go with your scar—all my scars came from me being stupid or clumsy or… something like that." She gave him a tiny smile, her shoulders hunched as the confession came out. Almost as soon as the storm came, it passed. She brightened, pulling back the sleeve of her robe and showing him a faded white scar on the inside of her upper arm. "I got that roller-skating when I was five," she said with a grin.

He didn't smile or reply, just leaned forward, pressing a light kiss to the offending spot. Syd shook her head, her gaze penetrating to his soul.

"You're still in an 'I want to sit around and brood' type of mood," she said with liberal amounts of exasperation. "If you think that a scar from Icthior is supposed to make me think you're a coward or weak or something, then, not only are you stupid, you're wrong." He opened his mouth to reply, but she cut him off. "Besides, this is not the kind of mood I want you in," she continued, pouting. "But I bet I can get you in the right mood."

Sky swallowed as she leaned closer to him, her hands going to the tie on her bathrobe—all thoughts of being weak or horror at her discovering that scar were pushed out. "Besides," she whispered in his ear. "I've got some lemon massage oil I want to try out."

A few hours later and smelling distinctly of lemon, Sky stared down at Syd as she curled against him, using his shoulder as a pillow. He hadn't realized before that she loved him wholly, accepted everything about him and didn't see things from his past as faults. Instead, she looked at the here and now—the man she had to love, dominate, make love to… He should have known that Syd wouldn't see a scar as weak, since her idea of him being weak was entirely regulated to the realm of the bedroom and it mainly had to do with his inability to last through a ridiculous number of sessions at a time.

She loved him…

"Sky?"

"Hmmm?"

"You look really funny when you whimper."

… scars and all.

To Be Continued...

Author's Note: I'm hard at work on some new pieces (mainly, my blue ranger story that is forthcoming) and, in the interim while I'm writing like a fiend and preparing for my advanced fiction workshop next semester, I'm offering updates to this! (I'm also madly backlogged on the reviews for pieces and authors I usually review... I'll be right on that.) And I'm still taking requests for drabbles to be tackled. You all know you have something you want to request so go ahead and do it! With that, I hope everyone had a great holiday season (and a happy twenty-first to me!) Thank you for the continuing support with this piece!