Warming Hearts

Learning More About the Beast

Warming Hearts

A/N: Here we are, with Chapter 13! Here we go! And roll it!

Chapter 13

Learning More About the Beast

Meanwhile, back at the castle, over at the west wing, Ash was trying to clean the beast's wounds, but she was making it pretty difficult, even for a first timer like himself. Leona, Kenny, Zoey, and MJ were all watching the scene nervously. Their hearts had nearly stopped when they saw their mistress gravely injured upon their return, and then they were filled with immense gratitude and relief at the sight of Ash leading his Talonflame inside with the beast carefully draped on his back.

The beast roared loudly in pain and quickly jerked away from the wet cloth that Ash was using to clean up the wound on her shoulder. The servants were all startled by her roar and they quickly hid somewhere in the room, along with Pikachu, while Ash just covered his ears, though he did back away slightly due to the volume.

"Watch it, will ya?!" She shouted at him.

Ash glared at her. "If you'd hold still, it wouldn't hurt as much!" He answered back. "You're just going to make it worse."

"None of this would have happened if you hadn't ran away." The beast said.

"Well, if you hadn't scared the heck out of me, then I wouldn't have run away!" Ash retorted.

"Well, then you shouldn't have been in the west wing!" The beast snapped back at him. "My personal chambers!"

"And you'd better learn how to control that temper!" Ash shouted back. This was out of character for him, but he was too frustrated to care about that at the moment. Usually, when he was in a fight, either his mother or one of his friends would hold him back until he would calm down. Otherwise, he could keep this up all day or until he finds a way to resolve it himself.

The beast knew then that she had lost the fight when Ash's chocolate brown eyes turned searing hot with anger, turning up like flames; and that it would only cause more pointless arguments if they kept this up. She huffed with disdain and turned away.

Taking a couple of deep breaths to calm himself, Ash turned his attention back to the reddening wound on her shoulder as the servants came out of their hiding places. "Now please hold still." He said, holding up the wet cloth again. "This will still sting." As he carefully pressed the cloth on the wound to clean up the infected area, the beast flinched, but thankfully didn't overreact this time.

"I'm actually kind of new at this." Ash admitted, trying to lighten up the mood as he gently cleaned up the wound. "I usually know how to deal with Pokémon injuries, not humans. Or anything else, for that matter." The beast didn't respond to his remark, still having her back turned to him. Sighing, Ash put away the cloth upon seeing that the wound was now clean.

He then grabbed a roll of gauze and slowly came over to her so that he could look her in the eye. "Now, I still need you to stay still."

The beast still didn't answer him. She was trying her best to not look too deeply into his chocolate brown eyes that, just a few seconds ago, were like glowing balls of fire aimed at her. But now, they were calm pools of concern. Ash then began to wrap the bandage around her shoulder.

Soon, he had carefully tied the bandage around her shoulder, making sure that it wasn't adding pressure to the sensitive wound. Ash opened his mouth to say something, but he stopped when he saw that the beast still had her back to him. Not wanting to start another fight, he stood up from the bed.

"Get some rest." He said. Then, he quietly walked away, leaving her to close her eyes. Ash went over to Pikachu, who was watching the encounter with Leona, Kenny, Zoey and MJ. The Electric type then jumped onto his Trainer's shoulder.