Title: An Unexpected Encounter
Author: tsukinobotan
Pairing: Ryuhou/Sherise Adjani
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: I do not own S-Cry-Ed or any of the characters mentioned
Note: This is my first fic for the 30kisses challenge. For those familiar with the chalenge, this is #18: Say Ahh. This will be the first in a series of 30 fics that traces the development of the relationship between Ryuhou and Sherise.




There were certain undeniable truths in life and one of them was that when anyone asked if you would mind if a student performed a medical procedure, you should run. The speed and desperation of the escape should be proportional to the invasiveness of the procedure. After several years in HOLY and countless visits to the infirmary, Ryuhou not only understood these truths, he lived by them. Somehow, though, he was sitting on an exam table with a broken arm while a student flipped through a stack of papers, apparently trying to figure out where to start.

The student was petite and cute, with a nice body and looked vaguely familiar. Had Cougar been the one with the injury, there would be no question as to why he was willing to be a lab rat for a pretty girl. Ryuhou, on the other hand, had been ready to refuse when he noticed the pleading look in the girl’s eyes. He finally grunted an assent and settled on the table, scowling at her all the time.

Just as he was about to demand a real medic, the student closed the folder and smiled brightly. “Okay. I’m ready now. First, I need to do a physical examination to assess your injuries.” She withdrew a tongue depressor from a large glass jar. “So, open your mouth and say ah, please.”

Ryuhou gave her an icy glare. Student or not, it was reasonable to expect that anyone in HOLY who was authorized to have contact with patients would at least know how to assess the various injuries that officers might sustain in the course of their duties. This one, however, didn’t seem to understand the difference between a broken arm and tonsillitis. He took a deep breath, but before he could order her to get away from him and find her supervisor, the girl laughed.

“Oh, come on, Ryuhou. Everyone says that you have no sense of humor. If you keep taking everything so seriously, I might start believing them.” She smiled once again and he was torn. Her behavior was clearly inappropriate for someone who would be treating life and death injuries, but there was something about her that Ryuhou found soothing.

“Have we met?” He didn’t recall being introduced to her.

Her smile faltered a bit, but her voice was cheerful. “Do you meet so many girls that you have trouble keeping track?”

She laid the tongue depressor aside and moved to his side, her face betraying its first hint of seriousness. “I need to examine your arm and your sleeve is in the way. I hope you aren’t attached to this shirt.”

“No, but I am rather fond of the arm.” The words slipped out before he could stop them and he was rewarded with a bright smile. He felt his own lips curve in response.

“See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?” A pair of trauma shears made short work of the sleeve, revealing an arm that was already swelling. She placed a gentle hand on his forearm and closed her eyes, moving it down until she reached his fingers. “Wow. You broke the radius and ulna, plus some smaller bones in your hand. It must be pretty painful.” She leaned forward to study his face. The softness in her eyes that surprised him.

“It’s fine,” he said, shortly.

“It will be in a cast for six weeks. After that you’ll probably have to have physical therapy to make sure you get full use of your hand. It’ll be painful. Unless…” she trailed off.

Between her efficiency and her obvious compassion, Ryuhou was starting to reconsider her qualifications as a medic. When he met her eyes again, something in her expression caused his initial wariness to double. “Unless?”

“I can fix it now, if you’ll trust me.”

“How?”

“I have an Alter power, too. Not a very combat-effective one, but it works pretty nicely in a situation like this, I think.” She took a deep breath. “Your choice.”

He sighed, grimacing as he tried to gesture with his injured arm. “Do it.”

“Okay. But might seem a little unusual to you…” Her first hint of nervousness.

“Do what you have to do.”

She moved directly in front of him, nudging his knees apart so he could stand between his legs. Her left hand touched his injured arm, her right hand slid into his hair to pull his face down to hers. Ryuhou stiffened when their lips touched, but relaxed as a feeling of well-being rushed over him. The kiss was soothing. Involuntarily, his good hand came up to touch her cheek. Her mouth was warm, soft, and sweet. The kiss ended much too soon.

When she pulled away, she swayed slightly. Ryuhou jumped up, grabbing her to steady her, noticing that his left arm had full use and no pain. In fact, the aches that usually followed such an intense training session weren’t even there. His hands slid to her waist to steady her.

“Are you okay?”

She nodded. “It’s just that I’ve never done that before and I might have given you too much energy.”

He didn’t know how to respond to that. “So your Alter power is kissing?”

Smiling, she shook her head. She was leaning against him, but he didn’t mind. “It’s called Eternal Devotion. Basically, I can use my Alter power to heal others…at least, other Alter users. They haven’t studied it a lot yet, so they probably wouldn’t have approved me using it now. It takes a lot out of me.”

“Then why did you do it?”

“You wouldn’t understand.” Her smile never faltered, but there was that wistful tone again.

He wanted to continue questioning her, but Commander Zigmar was standing just inside the door of the infirmary. Ryuhou rose and started to cross the room, but halfway across, he stopped and turned to the young alter user. “What’s your name?”

“Sherise Adjani.” She smiled brightly and winked. “Don’t forget it this time.”

Cross-posted to eternal_devote, _s_cry_ed_, scryed_works, and sherisadjanifan.