Once returning to her room, Leona changed into her night clothes before lying down to sleep. For the first time in nearly a month, she slept for almost the entire night, a full six hours before her nightmares, as usual, woke her up. Body covered in sweat, the soldier stared up at the metal ceiling above her, waiting for her breathing and heart to calm. Tilting her head to the side, her blue eyes moved to look at her alarm clock. Eight a.m. How long had it been since she had slept so late? That, between her nightmares and her missions, she was -allowed- to sleep that late? Normal women would have smiled, but Leona merely nodded in approval and sat up, running her fingers through her sweat-drenched hair.

The first thing Leona would have normally done was to get up and take a shower, but instead, she curled her legs in front of her, sitting Indian-style on her bed, and stared down at her hands. It had seemed so simple at first, but as she began to realize otherwise, her brow furrowed - how was she supposed to get angry? or afraid? If those were the two emotions that were supposed to trigger the flames, then things were going to be a lot more complicated than she thought they would be last night.

Overall, as a trained soldier, Leona very, very rarely let her emotions get the better of her, and because of that, she was very rarely angry. Last night had been quite the exception, though. As she thought about the previous night, she became more confused. Sure, Yagami Iori was the type of person who could easily annoy -any-one, but how had he caused her to be so angry so -easily-? Even thinking back to it, she didn't understand why she -had- become so angry. The more she thought about it, the more she quietly berated herself. She was a soldier. Her emotions could -not- control her like that. It was the whole reason she went to see Yagami in the first place.

But, if she didn't -let- them control her, then... no flames. No control. No sleep. Danger, for herself and her comrades. So, as she began to realize the course of events, Leona would have to first let her emotions free, let herself become angry or afraid, then learn to control those emotions and then channel them through her powers. With a sigh, she realized that the entire affair was going to be complicated. Anger was not a common thing in her life, and as for last night, well, it must have been a fluke of some sort. Fear, however, she -might- be able to use. There was only one real thing she feared in her life and that was her own blood, her curse. Perhaps, if she focused on -that- so intently, actually -allowed- herself to become afraid, then maybe the flames would come to her.

A knock at her door stopped her before she could even try. "Come in," she called out, finally tearing her eyes away from her hands to watch as Ralf entered her room.

After closing the door behind him, the American moved further into the room before stopping a few feet in front of her bed, his hands slipping into his pants pockets. "Hey, Leo."

Nodding in greeting, Leona sat up just a little bit straighter. "Is there a mission?" It was the first thing that had popped into her head, because, honestly, why else would anyone go out of their way to find Leona in her room. Although a soldier, Leona was fairly bad at reading people. She failed to notice the sadness in Ralf's eyes, the slight frown of his lips, how his hair was just slightly messier than normal.

"Uh, no," he shook his head. For a moment, he was silent, biting his bottom lip. "You mind if I sit?" he asked, motioning to her bed with his head.

Leona shook her head and watched as her team-mate walked over and plopped down on the corner of her bed with a sigh.

"Are you alright?" he finally asked, looking up and locking his brown eyes with her blue.

"I'm fine," she frowned, the question, in and of itself, fairly strange to her. It was true that Ralf and Clark very often asked her how she was doing, but it was always in some sort of public setting. Neither of them had ever come to her room at a fairly early time in the morning to ask her. Although she wasn't piecing things together, she was beginning to understand that something was bothering Ralf.

Nodding and muttering "good, good" under his breath, he sighed and looked about the unfurnished room, a hand moving up to the back of his head, fingers lightly scratching his scalp. "Well, uh, the Commander, Clark and myself have been worried, ya'know?"

Leona just stared at him, waiting for some sort of explanation.

"Well, you've been.. a lot more stoic lately. You're almost constantly in your room or the training room, and honestly, you haven't been looking too good lately." He finally turned to look at her again. "We all thought you might be getting sick or something, but then when you went out last night and didn't come back 'till nearly two in the morning, well, we didn't know what to think. We knew you weren't on a mission, and, well, I thought something might be wrong."

Although she failed to notice his change in pronouns, Leona -did- begin to realize where he was going. She never realized going out on her own would set off any alarms, but apparently, it had. Like a guilty child, she folded her hands tightly between her legs and shook her head. "I'm fine. There's nothing wrong." An all out lie, of course, but she didn't want to involve anyone with her own problems. They were -her- problems, and -she- would take care of them.

Ralf may not have been able to tell she was lying just from her speech, but, apparently, he saw the movements of her hands. A frown came to his lips and he stared down at her hands before quickly reaching out and grabbing her right wrist, turning her hand over and staring down at the burnt and discolored flesh. Brow furrowing, he grabbed her other wrist and turned it over to look at her other hand, brown eyes tracing over the various bumps and swollen flesh. "Leo, what the hell happened?"

"It's nothing," she shook her head, staring down at her hands and refusing to meet his gaze.

With a sigh, Ralf stared at her for a few moments. He brought her hands together, then cupped them between his own before looking up at her. "I know you're not the type of person to explain how you're feeling, or ask for help, or just -talk-, and I respect that, so I won't push the subject. I mean, heh, we all have our own secrets." He shrugged. "But, please, I hope you know that you can talk to me. I would -never- judge you."

All Leona could do was continue to stare at her hands, or his hands, as her's were currently hidden from view, nodding every so often while Ralf spoke. She heard him sigh, felt the bed move as he got up, but she wasn't prepared for when he leaned down over her and kissed her forehead. Her eyes widened at such an intimate expression, and for a while, she had no idea what to think or do. She also couldn't understand why her cheeks felt so warm, as blushing was not something Leona did often, if at all. Her ears registered the sound of Ralf's weight moving across the room towards the door, and when she heard the doorknob squeak, she finally looked up and spoke: "Trust me."

Ralf nodded, meeting Leona's gaze for the briefest of moments before leaving her room.

After her encounter with Ralf earlier in the day, Leona quickly showered and left her room, deciding that perhaps she should force herself to spend time with her team mates. If she did that, then maybe all worry for her would cease, and she would be able to quietly return to her room later in the day where she would have time to focus on her emotions. However, Ralf and Clark took advantage of how unusually sociable she was and forced her to go out with them, out to eat, for a movie, even some shopping, as Ralf kept going on and on about a James Black/Musso pattern S-guard Bowie knife he wanted to pick up. By the time Leona had actually returned to her room, fairly exhausted because she had actually had -fun- during the day, it was nearing midnight.

In some strange way, she felt bad, simply because she had agreed to Yagami's order of returning to his hotel room to show him her new powers, but she hadn't had a single moment to even practice calling the fire to her hands. He was not, of course, her commanding officer, but she felt as though she had failed a mission. For a few moments, she thought of staying in her room for another hour or two, to try and practice. But she knew it would be a waste of time; she was almost one hundred percent positive that it would take -hours- for her to actually conjure up fear or anger. Preparing herself for the punishment she assumed she would receive for not following orders, she quickly washed up before leaving the barracks to make the long walk to Yagmai's hotel room.

Once knocking on the door to Iori's room, Leona wound up waiting a few moments until he finally opened the door. He stared at her for a moment, whether sizing her up or trying to figure out who she was, she wasn't sure, but after another moment, he stepped aside and let her in. Pausing a few steps into the room, she was once again amazed by the state of the room. And for the first time, she realized that he actually -lived- in the room she was currently standing in. When he moved around her, his arm brushing into her shoulder in the process, Leona was pulled out of her thoughts, and watched him make his way into the small kitchen area. The stove was lit, and a gentle steam wafted from a sizzling pan. Was he eating this late at night? It never occurred to her that he was a night owl.

Thoughts of food quickly put aside, she realized that getting the truth out now was better than waiting. She preemptively steeled herself, her chin raising slightly before she spoke: "I have not been able to do anything with the flames. I--"

"I know," he simply replied, a wooden spoon in had as he poked the contents of the pan in front of him.

Her brow furrowed. How did he know she hadn't even practiced yet? "You.. know?"

"What, did you think you'd be able to control the flames after only a few hours?" He snorted. "Gonna' take a lot longer than that, Heidern."

She nodded, her chin lowering. "Then.. why did you want me to come back so soon?"

"The whole process may seem easy, in and of itself, but all I did last night was explain shit to you. I said I'd help you, but I haven't yet, so," he trailed off with a shrug. Flicking the fire off, he lifted the pan off the stove before pouring the contents onto two plates. After grabbing a plate in both hand, he stepped around to a small table and placed both plates down, sitting in front of one and grabbing a fork. "Ya' gonna' eat or not?" he looked up at her, motioning to the second plate.

Taken aback, Leona just stared, first at the plate, and then at him. 'Did he.. cook food for me?'

As though reading her mind, he smirked. "I may be an asshole, but I -do- have manners."

Nodding slowly, the soldier made her way into the kitchen and took a seat at the table, her eyes looking down at the plate of chicken and vegetables, a simply little stir-fry. Her fingers slipped around the fork beside her plate, but rather than eat, she just continued to stare at the food.

"Promise it's not poisoned," he spoke between bites, watching her while eating.

With another nod, Leona realized that -she- was the one being rude and quickly stabbed her fork into a carrot before bringing it up and popping it into her mouth. Her eyes widened ever so slightly because she was surprised; he cooked well. Apparently, he had noticed, because she heard him laugh, and when she looked up, he was watching her. Once swallowing the carrot, she lowered her fork before asking: "Why do you always stare at me?"

"Thought I already explained that." He finished his food quickly before saying anything else. "You, by all rights, should not have the power of flame. It doesn't make any sense, no matter how I try to reason or explain it. Think of yourself as a Rubix cube - annoying as fuck to figure out, but once it is, it's gratifying," he grinned, quite content with his simile.

Leona stared at him, blinking a few times. "So I gratify you?" she asked slowly, not understanding a word he said about Rubix cubes.

With a sigh, Iori shook his head, grabbed his empty plate and stood up. "Not exactly what I meant, Heirden," he spoke over his shoulder as he place his plate in the sink before turning around and leaning back against the counter, arms crossing over his chest. "You really don't get out much, do you?"

Once finishing her own food, she placed her fork back down and shook her head. All of her problems sprung from the curse of her blood. She was afraid to go out and meet people, afraid that they would not understand her or shun her because of her blood, and honestly, she wouldn't blame them. She was just downright terrified of what might happen if she -did- go out and the Riot was triggered.

"Aren't you supposed to be a soldier?"

Startled, Leona quickly looked up towards Iori, her brow raised in question. "Of course I am."

"Then why the hell are you acting like such a woman? Getting all upset and depressed over shit when it's mentioned."

Out of all the rude comments he had flung at her over the past two nights, what he had just commented on angered her profusely; not only was he badmouthing her as a woman, but he was questioning her as a soldier. Eyes narrowed dangerously, Leona stood up from her seat before turning to face him, feeling the anger bubbling in her chest and throat. For once, she was actually conscious of it, and rather than suppress it or push it back, she let it out, reminding herself that with anger would come the flames. Playing on his words, she snarled: "If being upset and depressed makes one a woman, than I guess you're more of a woman than me, crying and moaning over your lost powers."

Her words had more of an effect than she had assumed. Within the blink of an eye, Iori was on her, both hands clamping around her throat as he shoved her past the table and into the wall, Leona's chair falling over with a clatter. Leona grunted from the impact of her back on the wall, her hands immediately moving up to grasp his wrists. Blue flames began to spark at both her hands, but neither Orochi-blooded warrior even looked at them. Instead, they stared at each other, both snarling like the animals they became when under the Riot.

"I thought you hated violence?" Leona growled, pushing his arms back enough to prevent him from fully strangling her.

"And I thought you couldn't say more than two words," came his response.

For a few moments, the two fighters stayed put, Iori trying to strangle Leona, Leona trying to prevent Iori from doing so. Red eyes glaring into blue, the two just stared at each other, panting slightly from the adrenaline rush coursing through their systems. Eventually, although it seemed the two of them wanted to rip each other's throats out, they let go of one another, realizing that fighting would accomplish nothing. Iori promptly turned his back to her before stalking off towards his mini fridge, leaving Leona to rub her sore neck, the skin a bright red from his hands, the flames having extinguished some moments before.

After pouring a dark brown liquid and quickly downing it, Iori turned to face Leona, who moved out of the kitchen to stand a few feet away from him. "I wasn't exactly planning on that," he muttered, looking her over before pouring another shot.

"Neither was I. I apologize for the comment," she spoke quietly, watching him, her hands resting comfortably at her sides.

Once throwing back the second shot, he shook his head and dropped the glass on top of the fridge. "I meant the comment, though, just not exactly in the way you took it," he spoke, moving closer to her and reaching out to lift her chin up. He moved her head back and forth, getting a good look at her neck before nodding curtly. "Didn't do any damage."

For the second time that day, Leona felt her face turn warm, blood rushing to her cheeks and tinting them just slightly. It was strange having someone that was neither Ralf nor Clark so close to her that she could smell both his cologne and the trace of alcohol he had just consumed. When her heart momentarily beat irregularly, she worried that there might be something wrong, but when it didn't occur a second time, she dismissed the thought, blaming it on the rush her body had been in just moments ago. "Then what exactly did you mean?" she finally asked, still watching him.

Dropping his hand, he shrugged and turned away from her to cross the room and flop down into a chair. "Any time I mention something remotely connected to the blood curse, you get all upset and broody. You're a soldier. I didn't think soldiers were supposed to get all emotional."

It was Leona's turn to shrug. Following him, she sat down on the corner of his bed, her hands folding in her lap. "I have been conditioned to ignore most thoughts and emotions, but at the core of it, I am still a human. Were I on duty, I would not have acted in such a manner."

"You realize that if you want to control those flames, you can't ignore your emotions."

"Yes," she nodded. She had realized that this morning, before Ralf had visited her. The way she saw things, once she learned how to control the flames, she would be able to control her powers, her emotions and the Riot, and never again would she put her comrades in danger. "I'm willing to do anything and everything possible to ensure I learn how to control the flames."

As he stared at her, a feral grin spread out over his lips, and for a moment, Leona felt uncomfortable, unnerved. While she may not be an experienced person, she wasn't exactly naive; she had seen other men look at her the same way, and when Ralf threatened them, she had found out -why- they were looking at her in such a way. She fidgeted a bit, straightening her back, hands tightening their hold on one another, chin raising up slightly, head shaking to move her bangs away from her eyes.

With a short laugh, Iori shook his head: "Relax, woman, I'm not gonna' eat you."

And immediately, the discomfort disappeared as she frowned. "I told you my name is not 'woman'."

Another laugh emitted from his throat, but this time, it was good-natured and actually hearty, as though this laugh, unlike every other one that had ever left his lips, was his -real- laugh. "Alright, alright, Leona. Now let's see what we can do about those flames."

Leona nodded, for the first time actually feeling comfortable in Iori's presence. Whether it was from his laugh or from his usage of her actual name, she wasn't certain, but either way, the comfort she felt eventually lead to her being off her guard for the first time ever. She was calm, she was comfortable, and she wasn't steeling herself for an unexpected attack.

The second time her heart beat irregularly, she barely noticed it.

"Leo"
I dunno'... I've always thought Ralf would use a cute nickname for Leona when it was either just the two of them (or three of them, when Clark was around). It's known he has feelings for her, and that he doesn't -want- those feelings known, so I figure he probably treats her like a younger sister more than anything else.

A note about Iori. I realize he seems a bit OOC on and off throughout the fic, but as I've told a few other readers, this -is- explained further on in the fic. Also realize, this story is done from Leona's PoV and not Iori's, so no one really knows what -he's- thinking.

One thing I do want to point out, however, is how he checks Leona's neck to make sure he didn't really hurt her. I pretty much played on his hatred of violence here, that he really -does- hate it and thus wanted to make sure he didn't go too far. (Then again, despite his "hatred of violent", he did give Soiree a nice little slug in Another Day snort)