“Well, if you had just listened to me the first time, maybe you wouldn’t have gotten hurt,” a disgruntled Summer stated blandly as she wrapped the burn on Kyuhyun’s hand attentively.

                “And I’m supposed to know what you flailing and shouting is supposed to mean?” Kyuhyun asked sarcastically, wincing at the pain of his injured limb.

                “Yes.  Especially when I’m being completely understandable.”  She paused to place one hand on her hip and glare at him briefly.  “Don’t even pretend this is my fault,” she warned in annoyance.

                “It was your idea to go find the wildcat that’s been preying on the livestock,” Kyuhyun pointed out caustically.

                “And you agreed!” Summer retorted swiftly.

                The two continued to glare at each other, unbending.  They had set out early, a time that Kyuhyun generally disagreed with anyway, and had headed out to see if they could find the local menace, reasonably confident they would be more than enough for it.  The area around Fairmeadow was mostly plains but if you went far enough, there were plenty of small forest copses and rock formations to provide ample cover for a skilled predator.

                It was that type of creature they had set off to find, hoping to catch it unawares.  They had not learned to ride on horses in the time since they had fought Enrhyll so they still traveled everywhere on foot.  Near early afternoon, they had found a likely spot that had the remains of previous hunts littered around the area.  Cautiously, they had split up to cover more ground; Summer with her sais and Kyuhyun with his fire, though he kept his short sword on hand just in case.  Neither had become proficient in any sort of ranged weapon in the three years since they had come here and so were stuck with close range tactics.

                The location had been a nearly perfect area for the creature too.  The large rock formation provided a perfect launching pad for it and the small copse of trees nearby would have been a great hiding place.  Nearly half-way around the structure, a flicker of movement had caught Summer’s attention and she had seen it then; a large, tawny colored wildcat creeping stealthily over the top of the rocks towards an utterly oblivious Kyuhyun.

                “Kyu!” she shouted, startling him so that he looked at her in confusion as she flailed wildly, trying to draw his attention.  “There!  Watch out!  Look up!” she cried, frantically gesturing before she started to hurry in his direction, her gaze locked on the predator.

                After the last warning, which had been the only useful one, Kyuhyun looked up in time to see the wildcat getting ready to launch itself at him.  He shouted in surprised fear and backpedaled as it leapt from the top.  Flames billowed up in the space between them and they engulfed the wildcat swiftly.  The fire was not enough to stop the forward momentum, however, and the cat’s flaming body hurtled into Kyuhyun.  Awkwardly, he deflected it with his hand, feeling his palm burn from the intense heat, while the resulting backlash of the force he could not deflect knocked him to the ground.

                “Kyu!” Summer shouted again, staring at the burning wildcat to make sure it was dead before sheathing her sais and kneeling next to Kyuhyun.  “Are you okay?” she asked as she reached down to look at his injured hand, which he pulled back immediately.

                “Of course I’m not,” he cringed, cradling his right hand and kicking ineffectively at the now smoldering body of the wildcat, the smell of which was starting to make his stomach turn.  It was a far too familiar scent that always called up bad memories…

                Summer was scared by the answer but after a moment she concluded he had only managed to burn his hand and had not suffered anything more grievous.  “Here,” she offered, using one of sais to start a tear in her shirt so she could at least rip a piece out to wrap his hand tentatively.

                “Ow!” he grumbled when he finally relented and allowed her to treat the wound.  Under his breath, he continued to complain some more before finally getting to his feet with her assistance.  “Why did we decide to do this again?” he demanded crossly when he started to head back to the village without another glance at Summer.

                “Because you wanted something else to do,” she retorted next to him, keeping pace easily.

                Quietly, because it was true, he fumed beside her until they made it home near the later part of the afternoon.  Fortunately, their patrol had only taken them in a circle around the perimeter of the village and while they had walked a lot, their distance from home was not that far.

                So here they were, back home and treating Kyuhyun’s wound more successfully.  An awkward silence descended on them as neither was ready to apologize.  Summer applied the burn salve she had acquired from Eun Mi for just such occasions, and finished dressing the wound.  It wasn’t as bad as some she had looked after but it certainly wasn’t nothing either.  She was only glad that her skills in treatment had improved greatly over the past three years as Eleanara was not always on hand to heal him.  And goodness knew he wasn’t going to take care of himself like he should…

                When she was finished, Kyuhyun pulled his hand close and looked away, not sure what to say, as usual.  It was not the first time she had patched him up and he always felt awkward about it.  Obviously, he was annoyed by the results of the day, but he wasn’t actually mad at Summer like he pretended otherwise.  He figured she knew as much but it was always hard to tell.  In truth, it had been a fun excursion overall, getting out and doing something new.  It had been a bit more exciting than either had anticipated but that had been part of the fun too.  His injury aside, Kyuhyun considered it to be time well spent.

                He heard her step away as she headed for the small kitchen they shared.  It wasn’t much but it was comfortable and since he had been abysmal at learning anything new in the kitchen, Summer did most of the cooking.  And she had that look to her too…  She was upset but it was obvious she wasn’t going to admit it.  Begrudgingly, he could admit she was right…a little bit.

                “What are you making?” he finally asked as she refused to look back at him, no matter how long he watched her, knowing she was well aware he was doing so.

                “Stuffed rolls,” she answered casually as she continued to knead the dough she was going to use.

                Curiously, he drifted closer and peered over her shoulder.  “What are you going to put in them?” he asked curiously.

                “Stuff,” she responded tersely.

                “Well that’s a given,” he stated blandly while he looked around to see what she might use.

                “Would you just go sit down so I can finish these?” Summer asked resignedly.

                “Okay, okay,” Kyuhyun muttered, miffed.  He took a step back and slightly glared at the back of her head, watching her as she focused on her task.  At last, he took himself back to the table where he lingered for a moment before he turned around and smirked, “Why do you always pretend that you don’t like taking care of me?”  Before she could turn around to look at him, he focused on his injured hand, appearing bored.

            Summer stopped what she was doing.  Pointedly, she pushed the unfinished rolls away and wiped her hands off on the towel nearby before turning around and placing her hands on her hips.  “Why would I like taking care of you after you’ve gotten hurt?” she demanded crossly.

            “You have to admit you have gotten pretty good at it,” he remarked, holding up the wrapped hand, acknowledging her handiwork.

            Annoyed, Summer started to walk towards him, “Only because you’re so good at getting into trouble.  Why does trouble always find you?”  She paused and crossed one arm in front of her body before bringing the other hand to her temple and shaking her head.  “And what are you smirking for?” she demanded, noticing the smirk was still there, as it had been almost as soon as she had looked back at him.

            Kyuhyun’s smirk softened slightly as he took a step forward, closing the distance between them.  “You talk too much,” he smiled mischievously as he reached out and pulled her close, leaning down to press his lips against hers in a warm and grateful kiss.

            Summer stiffened in surprise, briefly struggling to hold onto her annoyance, which quickly faded as she melted into his embrace.  With her eyes still closed and faces close together, she whispered, “I hate it when you do that.”  Her lips were curled into a smile though and she tightened her arms around him, simply glad that he was alright.

            “I know,” he chuckled before he placed another light kiss against her forehead.  It had taken him a little while, but Kyuhyun had come to realize the only reason she got mad at him when he was injured was because she was worried about him.  He held her close for a moment more and finally stepped back with a different mischievous smile this time as she looked up at him.  “Now what was that about dinner?” he asked with a wry grin.

            Summer mock-scowled and laughed, “You are terrible.”  Playfully, she pushed him back and shook her head at him, still laughing.  “Just…stay there,” she finally stated, shaking her finger at him.  “If you even think about trying to help, you’ll likely just burn dinner.”

            Kyuhyun winced and then shrugged.  “I guess I can wait.”  He smirked at the glare she threw him before he sat down in the chair on the opposite side of the house in the living room and pulled out a small deck of handmade cards to pass the time.  As he played, he sang quietly to himself and when he glanced over again, he could see her nodding along to the sound of his voice.  He smiled to himself.  No, she couldn’t stay mad at him for long at all.