Kasoro had never felt quite so nervous in his life. Being the son of a goddess one might think he was as cool and confident as they came. If anyone knew his father, who was a mere lion but a cocky one, this would have been solidified even more. While the seer was quite confident in himself, he'd never faced a situation like the one he was putting himself into before. His knees were a bit shaky and his heart was beating very quickly, but he knew he had to push on if he ever wanted to find true happiness in this pride.

Taking a deep breath, the large lion plucked a few of the flowers he was standing in front of from the ground. He held them gingerly in his mouth, making sure to get as many as he could. During his time in the medic's field, he'd noticed that some of the rare flowers had been in short supply and, during one of his guarding rounds, he had spotted some of the rare plants not too far from his beat. He just had to wait for the right time to pick them and, as earlier in the day had proven, today was that day.

On his way to his post, he had spotted a very familiar tail swaying off the side of a very familiar rock. Kasoro could only pray that Soleil would stay there for a while, so he could make his rounds and still get back to her in time. His rounds were done, and now that he had his gift, he could make his way back to her friend's rock. He walked without pain despite the splint on his leg, which would hopefully be taken off today. The sprain had healed very nicely thanks to the quick action of Soleil and her apprentice.

Heart still pounding, Kasoro closed in on the large rock. Sure enough, Soleil was still there. He paused a few paces away and cleared his throat to let her know she had company, placing the flowers at his feet for the time being. Right...don't let her know you're nervous.

"Good afternoond, Soleil," he called out after his mouth was free, the small smile on his lips returning. He wasn't one to smile too often, but he couldn't help himself around the lioness. He felt like he could fly when she was nearby. It was mildly concerning.

Today had been a very slow day for the on staff medics and as a result, the lioness had been shuffled away from the area. The other nurses all the while assuring her that they would be fine without her. But also that Sua would be welcomed to observe their work, despite Soliel's lack of presence. If nothing else about their promises had calmed her nerves, the knowledge that Sua wouldn't be deterred from her lessons had done the trick.

So here she was, lying on her rock, allowing the sun's rays to heat it and ease the tension from her overworked muscles. She's always come here, for as long as she could remember. But as of late, she found herself here more and more. She had a feeling she knew why she was finding herself here more often, though she was a bit embarrassed to actually admit it. She just felt weird, everything about Kasoro made her feel all wiggly and jelly like. It was a pleasant feeling, though also very unusual.

Could this really be love?

Love ..

She'd heard the word a few times in passing, though most preferred to keep their thoughts on the subject to themselves. Which is probably why the poor girl had such terrible experience with it.

Lost in her own thoughts, the only thing she knew for sure was that she couldn't get the male out of her head. Heck! She was even hearing him in her thoughts now! Rolling over onto her belly, the lioness slowly open her eyes, enjoying the sound of his voice in he head. Until she realized, it wasn't exactly in her head after all.

Her jaw nearly hit the floor as her cheeks burned furiously with a fiery blush. "OH! KASORO! Good afternoon! Have you come to get your splint taken off?" Blurting out the first words that came to her mind, she had yet to take notice of his flowers.

'Yes Soleil, good opener there.'

The female did an irritable eye roll as she awaited his response.

Kasoro waited as Soleil took her time in rolling over to look at him. He couldn't blame her, of course. That rock was very comfortable, from the few times he'd laid on it with her. Her reaction made him laugh, though, and he quickly ducked his head in embarrassment. That had been rather loud...thankfully no one else was around to hear him.

"Ah...yes, I have," he said with a little smile as they both regained their composure. "It feels much better now. Possibly even better than it did originally," he added with a tiny grin. "Your medicine works wonders. And...I know it's not very much, considering the size of our pride, but...I um. I got you these. I noticed you were running low back at the medical area," he said, shyly pushing the flowers forward. It was a decent enough mouthful for one lion, but for many? No. Oh well..it was the thought that counted, he supposed.

"I do hope they're the right ones. They were awfully similar to another plant I saw, but that plant smelled awful, and this one was much sweeter. I remember the plant smelling sweet," he said, hoping to the gods he hadn't messed up. That would have been embarrassing.

Great!" She mused, patting a space on the rock beside her. "Think you can climb up here so I can have a look?" His smiled was extremely contagious, and soon she had a smile upon her own maw. "Well if that's the case, then I think I deserve a reward for such a good job!" She smiled again, offering the male a playful wink, all the while her tail was flicking in the background.

Again, Soleil's jaw nearly hit the floor as his next comment connected so seamlessly into her last. Her eyes grew wide as he pushed the flowers closer to her rock, and she couldn't help but jump down in her excitement. "Ooohhh! These are so beautiful aren't they?!" As excited as she was, she was already a step ahead of his explanations. Quickly burying her nose into the flowers to test their scent for herself. "YES! They're perfect! Thank you so much Kasoro, you have no idea just how low we were running! Some of us were worried the flowers were out of season already!" Excitedly prancing on her paws, she had no idea what to do with herself. She was just so excited and taken aback at the same time.

"You did a wonderful job! And it was so sweet of you!" Still prancing on her paws, the young lioness finally threw caution to the wind and leaned in close to the male. Gently laying a kiss on his cheek, before hurriedly pulling herself back to a normal standing position.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I don't know why I did that. I was just so excited. Oh dear..." She mumbled frantically, trying to hide her face from both herself and her dear friend.

Kasoro felt a bit better as Soleil reacted positively to the flowers. They passed her inspection and he was pretty sure he'd seen more of the plant a bit further out into the rouge lands, so perhaps if he took a little pouch out there he could bring back more the next time he went out.

"There's still a few patches out in my guarding area," he said with a nod. "I wouldn't mind gathering more for you and the other medics if you want. I'd probably just need a pouch or something to carry them in and-"

His words were cut off as Soleil leaned in and pressed her muzzle against his cheek. He froze, eyes wide in surprise, as the female backed up and began to apologize. Ah...what had just happened? Finally his brain registered the action and he felt his stomach start doing flips. She just...ahaha...oh boy...

"It's okay," he said with a weak laugh, glancing away to hide his embarrassment as well as his smile. "That...ah, sorry," he said, laughing again as he sat and covered his face with one large paw. "You...oh...please don't feel badly," he said quickly, peeking over the top of his paw. "It wasn't bad. I mean! I liked it. Oh....no that...well I mean I did, I just...you were excited and...ahhhh I'm just going to stop talking."

As she stood there in her own embarassment, hardly any of Kasoro's words seeped into her mind. Her brain was a giant mess right now, all jumbled in knots, trying to figure out exactly why she'd done that. Oh Kasoro probably thought she was such an idiot right now! But she wasn't an idiot! She just liked him ... like liked him, liked him. Soleil tried to swallow her pride and come up with an excuse for her actions, but still there was nothing but the truth.

It wasn't until Kasoro himself became flustered that Soleil finally began to calm down. Why was he so flustered? Shouldn't he be incredibly upset with her? Running away and demanding to never see her again? So many thoughts ran through her head, but all she could do now was grin sheepishly at the male. He was even more adorable when he was flustered!

"You liked it?"

She questioned, her ears now perked to their fullest, and her tail happily flicking in circles around her legs.

By now her grin was huge, and her innocence was gone. She'd already allowed her emotions to take over, and now she had to deal with them. Stepping along side Kasoro, she flicked her tail across his legs shyly. "Noo, don't stop talking ... I ... I like to hear you talk!" She admitted, silently thankful that her face couldn't get anymore red.

Kasoro tried hard not to flinch as Soleil repeated his words. Oh boy...he had let his mouth run away with him. Thankfully she didn't seem offended by it...in fact, she seemed very pleased to hear it! Still a bit wary, Kasoro held his ground as the lioness stepped up beside him, her tail curling around his hind leg every now and then. It brushed against his splint, reminding him of why he came.

"You like to...ha...well...I don't talk much, really," he admitted, drawing a small circle in the dirt with his claws. "I prefer to listen. But um. I can talk while you take my split off, perhaps?" He wasn't trying to avoid the subject...not completely anyway. He just wanted to get that off before they got to talking about potentially life-changing things, and then end up completely forgetting about it.

"But. I could talk while you take it off. Maybe about...um." Oh dear...flirting...this was hard now that he had sort of been called out on it. "How your eyes are the most brilliant shade of green I've ever seen?" There. That was a good stepping stone to jump off into the river of emotions, he figured.

Soleil had to hold a paw to her lips to hide her obvious giggle fit. Kasoro didn't like to talk? Well she knew that was a lie, if she'd ever heard one. This was in fact the same newbie lion who had approached her, on this very rock, and so thoroughly captured her attention. "You don't like to talk?" Soleil purred lightly as she looked down to his splint as he mentioned it.

"Hmmm I suppose I could listen to some chatter while I take off that splint of your's!" Now freely smiling, she felt around the splint, inspecting his facial expression for any warnings of soreness. If such were the case, she would be unable to remove it.

"C'mon, hop up on to the rock and we'll get to-" Her words seemed to catch in her throat as Kasoro finally agreed to talk. Though his idea of talking, was far from what she had been expecting.

"M-My eyes?" Blinking them innocently, she tried to hide her shy smile. "Are they really that lovely? I've never taken the time to admire them." Finally regaining her ability to function again, she patted the ground on the rock once more.

"Personally I love your piercing blue eyes. I've never actually seen ice ... but I imagine your eyes are very close to their color. "Have you ever seen ice Kas?" Soleil caught herself too late, and didn't add the ending to the male's name. She couldn't just add it on now! She would just have to take the consequences as they happened.

Kasoro smiled weakly and nodded as Soleil glanced away. He had seen green eyes before, but never as bright as hers. There were a few trees that had green leaves like that, but they were very rare here in the desert. He had seen them during his trip to the Firekin from his previous pride.

"They are," he said quietly, before clearing his throat. "And...no, I've never seen ice. I have heard of it, though," he said with a slight nod. There were some places that had frozen rain and frozen water year round, which was a shock to him. He couldn't imagine it being cold enough for that to happen!

He hopped up on the rock easily and laid down to let the medic take a look at his split, but just as he got comfortable the shortened name clicked and his ears pressed back against his head. Kas?

"Ha...never had a nickname before," he said weakly, turning it over in his head. He found he liked it.

Soleil couldn't be any happier that her cheeks were already as red as they could get. It made it near impossible for the male to see her fervent blush. "You're too sweet Kas, you better be careful or you might geta cavity!" Batting a paw shyly at the male, she cleared her throat and begin fiddling with the splint. Slowly and steadily removing it from his leg. With each untied rope, came a new sign of recovery.

"Well, now you've got one." She mused to him happily, as she hushed her tone and gave her full attention to his bandaging.

FIN
WC: 2418