When I said faster, I meant faster, :D
Kyle avoided looking at her, even when he was tasked with cleaning the cut on her face. Fuu flinched every time he touched her wound, making him wince as well. "Can't you just heal it now?" He muttered to Van.
"No, clean it a bit more." Van said offhandedly, handing him another soaked towel. Then the little blonde boy hid a secretive smile.
"That said..." Kyle felt the slightest bit of irritation creep into his voice. "Why are all of you here?"
Marie looked up from behind Frederica, and grinned sheepishly before going back to braiding Frederica's hair. Shao leaned against a cabinet in the corner behind Kyle, and shrugged innocently before looking pointedly at Marie. That's right, wherever Marie was, Shao was.
But still, Kyle had never felt so awkward in the midst of his siblings before. It didn't help that Frederica was completely quiet, looking down at the floor with a brooding stare, flinching every time he touched the welt on her face.
"Now could you hold still?" As he tried to keep her head from moving, his thumb accidentally traced her jaw line and the rest of his fingers rested directly over the pounding pulse on her neck. In an instant, he was aware that he was staring into an electrifying set of blue eyes. For a moment, he couldn't remember what he was doing. There was only the faintly startled look in her eyes, the soft skin beneath her fingers and the wild tempo that beat beneath it.
Then he caught sight of Marie smirking at Shao, and instantly dropped his hand. "Let's get this done with, okay?" He said this more than a little impatiently, and finally managed to get most of the black stuff out of Frederica's face. They had stopped looking at each other again. "Van, heal her already."
"Sure thing, sir!" Kyle got up and took a few steps back. Van skipped cheerily over to Frederica and placed both hands over her cheek, where the wound was. A healing glow instantly surrounded his hands, as his psy abilities set to work.
If he was caught staring at Fuu again, Shao was sure to tease him for it endlessly. Damn it, why did Fuu have to look so different, now that he actually paid attention? She was actually gorgeous, with her curves and long legs, hair that he longed to touch, lips that he longed to kiss...
"I'm going," he said abruptly, and was out the door before the others could respond.
"Did something happen between the two of you?" He heard Van ask before the door closed.
.
Kyle met them in the canteen, scowling fiercely. "What did you tell her?" He demanded first, giving Shao a very hard stare before turning it on Van.
Van shrugged innocently, "I asked her if she liked you, and said that you were nice to her, and she got really quiet. Then Marie and Shao told me to not to interfere and carried me out of the room. I didn't even get an answer for you."
"Why you - " Kyle facepalmed and then bent down to speak with Van. The kid meant well, but honestly! The blunt end of a hammer had more sense! "Could you please stay out of this? It's a problem between Fuu and me, so it's better if we resolve it by ourselves."
"Does that mean I can't eavesdrop behind doors when you two are alone in a room?"
To Kyle's credit, he didn't blush fiercely. "No," he said with a tone of finality.
"Then what about outside?"
"No."
"In public?"
"No!"
"I can't watch?"
"I said no, Van."
Marie tapped Van's shoulder, and then whispered a yes into his ear. Van's face lit up instantly, and he did a little half skip. "Okay then! That way I'll make sure you two don't fight too much!"
This time Kyle glared at Marie, but she beamed at him with the air of someone experienced with this kind of behavior. He decided to trust her judgement, and let the matter go. In any case, his attention was quickly removed from Van altogether.
Frederica was back, walking a bit stiffly and perhaps with a more subdued demeanor, but she was back. Instantly, she was surrounding by others who had been concerned about her. Women and men of all ages, all crowding around her and asking her if she was alright. Kyle felt slightly cheated when she beamed at all of them and declared that there was no way the Pyro Queen would be hurt by something like that.
Then what was with the terrified face you showed me when we were alone? He wanted to ask. You were hurt, stop denying it.
But she caught his eye, and a vulnerable look flashed across her face. Kyle made his way through the crowd, stopped before her and held out his hand. "Come with me," he said. "We need to talk."
Okay, I just reread the manga and realized that Fuu-chan is really mean! *cries
But I'll try to rationalize everything I can. My impression is that she is a lot like Kyle in that she hides her painful past with an overly confident and energetic demeanor, which sometimes comes off as arrogant and condescending. I'm thinking that she probably had trouble with guys in the past, maybe a drunk father and a terrified, quiet mother. So in order to prevent that from ever happening to her again, she became this brash young girl strong enough to take down anything or anyone that threatened her or her precious family.
And yeah, maybe it's too much to say that Kyle and Frederica loved each other like Shao and Marie did. They're not the silently pining type. If anything happens between them, it would be more like a sudden realization and bam! They're in love.
Plus they have that forbidden thing going on - they've always treated each other like siblings before now. Aaah, this needs to happen!
