A/N: I never planned on writing from Iori's point of view, but when I got to the end of the previous chapter, I found myself more and more interested in trying it out. So, here it goes. Also, for those of you that kept worrying about him being too OOC, well, here begins the explanations.

Iori was, for lack of a better term, confused. No matter how long he paced around his room, no matter how long he lied in bed, no matter how long he showered, every time he started to think, started to try and find a logical reason, he couldn't.

Why was he helping Leona with her powers?

Why was he helping Leona learn how to cook?

Why did he find himself so attracted to her, sexually?

Why had he put up with her for so long?

Why did the mere thought of another man putting a hand on Leona anger him beyond belief?

He wouldn't exactly say he cared for her, but at the same time, if he was willing to kill another man that touched her, did that mean he -did- care for her? Truthfully, there was no way he could really answer that because, simply, he had never, ever cared for another human being. He had never known his mother, his father had been a cruel bastard, any woman he slept with was just for a quick lay, and on top of it all, he didn't have any friends.

-Why- Leona?

Every time he was alone, which was how he spent almost all of his time, he would ask himself the same questions over and over, and every time, he couldn't come up with an answer. After being confused, he was annoyed, annoyed because he didn't understand anything. For some reason, when Leona was around him, he felt different. The one thing that he had actually figured out, which, to him, didn't count because it wasn't that big of a deal, was that the more he was around her, the more he felt.. different.

At first, when she had approached him in the bar, he had just been annoyed with her for bothering him, but her flames had intrigued him enough to the point he felt compelled to agree to help her. Before she even approached him, however, she had been nothing more than a stupid soldier who would sometimes get in his way during the King of Fighters Tournaments. That was it. Nothing more. Honestly enough, he had never taken much notice of her at all with the exception of the time she had also fallen into the Riot. But the more she was around him, the longer she was near him, he felt himself begin to notice more about her - the way she always stood or sat so straight, the way she'd raised her chin just slightly when she was trying to defy him, the way she would watch him with such intensity when he explained things to her, be it cooking or about the flames, and then there was her scent, the smell of her skin.

He wasn't sure what it was, but there was a sort of fragrance that lingered around her. Sure, every person has a smell all of his own, and most times no one notices it unless it's really foul, but there was just something about the way Leona smelled that made him feel the slightest bit light-headed. On top of it, while she didn't wear perfume, he could also smell the scent of her shampoo (some kind of apple, he was pretty certain) as well as a flowery body wash, or lotion. He'd also begun to notice lately that the more he took notice of her scent, the more he wanted to both screw her senseless and just down right dominate her.

At one point he had thought it was like some type of sexual pheromone, that he could detect something in her scent (and vice-versa for Leona, he supposed) that caused his systems to go out of whack. Iori was a learned enough man to know it's something that happens in almost all species, but he also knew the way it affected him, to such a large degree, was not something that happened to humans, so he quickly dismissed the thought.

Once returning to his hotel room, Iori paced in front of his bed, once more asking himself the same questions, but this time he had a new one to ask: would Ash try to steal Leona's powers? He wanted to say no, simply because Ash had only gone for the Three Sacred Treasures, but at the same time, he wondered if he was also interested in the descendants of Orochi. Like Iori had told Leona earlier, she and Yamazaki were the only two left alive, and, originally, neither had any outward powers except for extreme strength, but now that Leona had an actual power, things might change. "Especially since she can wield flames.." he reminded himself, muttering quietly.

He quickly lost track of time, trying to figure out answers or find some clues, but as usual, nothing came to him. Eventually, he lied down to sleep, oblivious to what time it was, and didn't wake up until he felt something touching his shoulder. With a grunt, he rolled onto his back and opened his eyes to find Leona staring down at him.

"You didn't answer the door, so I thought something was wrong," she explained before he even asked.

"How'd you get in?" he asked after clearing his throat and sitting up. "I didn't exactly give you a copy of my room key." For some reason, he knew he should be angry, but he wasn't.

With a shrug, Leona sat down on the corner of his bed. "I told the person at the desk I was your sister and that you were sick, so I came here to take care of you. Apparently, the woman at the desk had seen me often enough to believe me."

Iori wasn't sure why, but he found the whole thing comical, and he laughed, short and low, his lips pulling back into a smirk. "I didn't take you for the type of person who lies."

"I prefer to call it bending the truth."

Again, he laughed. The longer Leona was around him, the less she acted like the anti-social Ice Queen he had originally labeled her as, and he was pretty certain it was all because of him. His eyes left her face and traveled down to her neck, gazing over the bite mark he had given her the night before. The grin on his lips widened, partially because it was there and partially because she was wearing her hair up and back in it's normal pony tail instead of trying to use her hair to hide the mark. He was quite.. happy? content? No matter. Either way, he was glad she wasn't shy about it. In fact, he was quickly learning that she wasn't very shy at all.

Rather than do or say anything else, Iori just stared at Leona, his eyes tracing over every piece of her body as though memorizing it, and he quickly realized that he wanted her naked and underneath him while he mindlessly pounded into her. But before he could reach out and grab her, she quickly stood up and walked over to the kitchen to grab a small pile of papers.

"I brought your mail up," she commented, moving back over to him, but staying out of his reach. Apparently, she could tell what he wanted, but tried to avoid him. "The one on top might interest you."

At that moment, he didn't really give two shits about the mail, because he was quickly getting hard and impatient, but when his eyes glanced over the top piece she pointed out, he noticed the King of Fighters emblem on the upper left corner. "I didn't think the Tournament would take place until later in the year."

"It shouldn't, and this isn't exactly an invitation to the KoF," she shook her head, sitting back down and offering him the top item, placing the rest on the floor beside her.

Taking the invitation from her, he quickly read it over, muttering what he read under his breath: "I cordially invite you... tournament... normal participants... signed Ash.." Iori's eyes promptly narrowed, and a soft growl left his lips. So, the little shit was going to make a move, huh? Iori was certainly going to go...

"I received the same invitation, but read the bottom," Leona murmured.

Raising an eyebrow, he did so: "Rather than the normal King of Fighters Tournaments where contestants are free to team up with whomever they choose, in -my- little game, your teammates have already been chosen for you: Chizuru Kagura and Leona Heidern. Should one or more of your team mates not show up, then you will have to compete without them."

"I can only assume someone's been watching us, otherwise why would they put the two of us on a team?"

"He's stolen my powers as well as the seal from Chizuru, so maybe he's just putting you with us because you don't have any powers? As far as he's concerned anyway.." Iori replied, crumbling up the piece of paper and chucking it over his shoulder. Truth be told, he was furious, but at the same time, he wondered if Leona was right, and Ash was planning on stealing her new powers.

Leona shook her head. "If that's the case, then why not Yamazaki? I have always entered with the Ikari Warriors, and Ralf, Clark and my father have all received invitations as well.." she trailed off with a shrug.

"Then don't go? It's the only way to assure Ash doesn't try anything."

Raising an eyebrow, Leona just stared at him, and Iori was pretty certain his suggestion was a stupid one. "I will not run and hide. Besides, if I join this tournament as part of your team, then I will be safer in your presence, will I not?"

Despite the red haze beginning to cover his vision, Iori grinned. Sure, he didn't have his flames anymore, but he could still rip a person to shreds with his own hands, and if anyone attempted to steal Leona's powers, then he would rip -that- person to shreds before they could do anything. For lack of a better term, Leona was his woman, and any man that tried something with her would be killed by him. "I guess so."

Leona nodded and looked away, her eyes half lidded and glazed over as though lost in her own thoughts.

Iori watched her, his eyes once more tracing over her body, and he quickly remembered the pain growing between his legs. With a soft growl, he reached out and grasped her arm, moving forward as he pulled her towards him, and quickly caught her lips between his for a hard kiss. She didn't try to pull away, she didn't tense up, in fact, she let him pull her towards him, and the moment their lips met, she returned his kiss just as hungrily, her body moving until her legs were straddling him and she was sitting on his lap. Groaning against her lips, Iori automatically ground his hips against her, and his hands quickly went to work at ridding them of their clothing. While he was the type that liked to be in control, when Leona tried to push him off of her and to the side so that she could slip on top of him, he let her, actually quite surprised that she seemed to like being on top as much as she did. He would let her have her way, but only for a short while before his hands would grip her hips and force her to move faster.

When they were finished, Leona curled up against his side, her head resting on his chest. Iori pulled the blankets over them and possessively wrapped his arm around her, inwardly grinning. He had come to notice that despite her lack of experience (as he was almost positive that he had been her first) she was easily matching him in bed, something that no other woman had been able to; the whores he had slept with in the past were tiny, weak little things, and more often than not afraid of him. Leona hadn't lied - she wasn't afraid of him, and Iori actually admired her for it.

For the briefest of moments, he looked down at her already sleeping form and tried to wonder, yet again, why she had such a strange effect on him. But her scent licked his nose, and he let the light-headedness consume him and push him to sleep.

Before even opening her eyes, consciousness returned to Leona, and the first thing she realized was that she was warm, comfortable and just generally content. The second thing she noticed was that she was still in bed with Iori, because she could both smell him and feel his skin beneath her hand and cheek. It was an odd feeling, being light-headed and drowsy, curled up in bed next to a man she should honestly be disgusted by, but at the same time, it just felt -right-. After a few moments, when her body was fully awake, she slowly and carefully sat up, so as not to wake Iori, and tilted her head to peer down at him. Contrary to the intimidation he generally exuded, Iori looked fairly peaceful when he slept. The general scowl he kept upon his lips smoothed out, his eyebrows no longer creased, and she almost laughed at how his mouth hung open, just slightly, while he slept. She couldn't help but just.. -watch- him for a good ten minutes. The sound of her military issued cell phone ringing was what took her attention away from him.

With a cringe, she slipped off the bed and began rummaging around for her pants, finding them and quickly grabbing the small device, flicking it open and standing back up as she stared towards Iori to see if it had wakened him. As he was staring up at her, she knew it had. Frowning, she placed the phone to her ear, sitting back down on the corner of the bed.

"Leona here."

"Leona, where the hell are you?" It was Ralf's voice, loud enough so that she had to move the phone a good inch away from her ear.

Rather than answer his question, she took a page from Iori's book and countered it with one of her own: "Ralf, why are you using this phone? We were told it was only to be used to inform people of missions."

"Because we -have- a mission, Leona! Didn't you get an invitation to Ash's little competition?"

Well, yes, she did.. but she didn't exactly wish to tell Ralf, sooner than she needed to, who her teammates were. "Ralf, I saw the invitations you and the Commander received. You know as well as I do that I am not a part of your team."

"Yeah, but.." he paused. "You -did- get one, didn't you?"

"Whether or not I received one does not concern anyone. Now is there an actual mission that involves me, or not?"

"I... I..." Ralf groaned, and she could very easily hear the pained notes in his voice: "No. No, as you aren't on our team, you won't be a part of the mission.."

"Then I shall see you at the base later. You shouldn't have called me for any other reason than what the phones were given to us for."

"Yeah.. sorry.." He hung up.

Frown still on her lips, Leona folded the phone closed and stared at it for a moment before tossing it back on top of her jeans. Feeling the bed shift, she turned around to watch Iori sit up and lean back against the wall.

"I didn't think you could be so -mean-," he grinned, folding his arms beneath his head.

Her brow furrowed. "What?"

"Being so rude and cold to a man that loves you. I didn't think you had it in you."

"I don't know what you're talking about." She really didn't. Ralf didn't -love- her. Shrugging, she slipped back off the bed to gather her clothes.

"The grunt was loud enough that I think my neighbors heard him. And it doesn't take a rocket scientist to hear how much you hurt him. Sounded like a wounded puppy."

With all of her clothes bunched in her arms, Leona held them to her chest and stood back up to stare at Iori. She was too confused to scold him for calling Ralf a grunt, too caught up in what he was saying. Ralf.. -loved- her? Is that why..? There were some times Leona cursed her naivete, and with a soft groan, she sat back down on the bed, letting the clothes tumble out of her lap as she rubbed her hands against her face. Ralf had been so concerned because he had feelings for her. It made so much sense that Leona felt stupid for just believing that he was concerned for her as a friend and comrade. So.. -those- were the emotions she couldn't unravel earlier in the day when he had confronted her.

"You really didn't know, did you?" Iori spoke up.

"No," she sighed, just resting her face in her hands. What exactly was she supposed to do now? One thing was for certain - Leona did not reciprocate his feelings. At one point, she had had feelings for Clark because she viewed him to be so much like her, but she had eventually realized that nothing could occur between them. Ralf, however.. He was her commanding officer, even though she was the daughter of Heirdern. Would Ralf put himself in unnecessary danger during their missions -because- he cared so much about her? Things were certainly going to be strange and awkward, at least for a week or so. Lifting her head up, Leona stared across the room from her, realizing that she didn't want to be anywhere -near- Ralf for a while, simply because the mere -idea- of being near him felt strange and uncomfortable.

And the words left her lips before she could think of the repercussions and consequences: "Would it be possible for me to.. stay here.. until Ash's tournament is over?"

For a few moments, Iori was silent, and when Leona turned around to look at him, she could gather by the look on his face that he was trying to figure out an answer. Truthfully, she was expecting a 'no', simply because that was the kind of person he was, but at the same time, she expected a 'yes' because of how much he had changed around her, or at least that's what she thought.

Eventually, he nodded, his eyes coming back into focus and staring into hers.

Leona suddenly felt like a scared child. She didn't know love, didn't know how to deal with it, how it could affect her. She had an attraction to Iori, she had easily recognized and come to terms with that, but she didn't -love- him. Realizing that someone so close to her loved -her- just felt.. weird. Without really realizing she was doing it, she moved further onto the bed, slipped under the blankets, and curled up next to Iori, clinging to him like the scared child she felt herself as. She had always viewed herself as a hardened warrior, incapable of feelings because she didn't -need- them, even more so after she had first fallen into the Riot. But now that she was recognizing them, feeling their impact, she didn't know how to cope with it all. The thoughts and views that she had bottled up for so long were beginning to push to the surface, and she didn't know what to do.

"Why am I so different from other people?" she muttered into his chest, her eyes closed as though to fight off the thoughts.

"It's our curse," Iori murmured, an arm moving down from behind his head to curl around her, his hand resting on her head, fingers gently massaging her scalp.

Leona could feel a warmth spreading through her body, and she couldn't help but purr at feeling his fingers running through her hair. It was such a simple gesture, but she felt her worries slowly begin to disappear. Yes, it was their curse, she realized. She also realized that by leaning on each other, they could deal with it to the point of ignoring it, eventually even be able to push it out of their lives completely. Leona was beginning to realize that she didn't care about anything or anyone else in the world, that just being so close to the man that had marked her was enough for her. It was strange and even mind boggling, but it was good enough. The drowsiness and light-headedness she felt when being so close to him slowly invaded her mind, and she let it take her into the darkness of sleep.

Pheromones - a chemical that triggers a natural behavioral response in another member of the same species.

After this chapter, I don't plan on really lingering on why things happened as they did between Leona and Iori, so I figured I'd just explain it here. I took the basic concepts of pheromones, more specifically androstenol (a sex pheromone, possessing a musk-like odor, found in human sweat glands, is analogous to sex hormones and is secreted by the adrenal gland into systemic circulation in humans), and pretty much blew it up out of propotion, blaming it on Leona and Iori's blood curse. This is why I go into so much about smells and scents. Because Leona and Iori turn so animalistic when their under the Riot, it basically spawned this idea. Simply put, Iori was right, but wrong to brush the thought aside. Oh, well.