Song of the Stars

Theme 7: Smile

Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers, sorry. Or Super Sentai. Or Bandai. Or . . . okay, I'll stop before this gets too depressing.

Author's Note: This was written for the Ars Amatoria challenge found at arsamatoria./themes.html. This is theme seven - smile - and the couple is Kira/Trent.

He was doodling again, his brow furrowed slightly as he sketched out lines and patterns on the margins of the paper Dr. O had assigned yesterday. But most of his face was relaxed in a smile, that sort of half-smile, half-frown that only Trent Fernandez could pull off.

"Hey, Kira?"

"Mm-hm?"

"Is something wrong?"

Hmm, let's think, she thought sarcastically. We're sitting here, doing homework underneath a tree, my heart is going twelve thousand miles a minute because you're so close, and, weird as it sounds, I love the way you smell. It's nothing like the romance novels Mother reads . . . it's not strawberries or musk or anything fancy. I've never smelled musk, so I wouldn't know even if it was there. It's my shampoo and sweat and something that's undeniably like Trent there, and, well, like nothing else in the world.

"Kira?"

She blinked, half-frightened, half-desperate. "No, nothing's wrong. Why would you think that?"

He didn't look up. "'Cause that's the fourth time I caught you staring at me with that look on your face."

Kira swallowed, trying to keep her voice steady. "What look?"

"That look. The one on your face right now."

"Look? There's no look on my face."

"Sure, Kira. Whatever you say.

He gave her a teasing smile and went back to his work, not noticing the way she shuddered when he did so. She was safe. For the time being.

He was drawing again, and she was just watching him, fascinated; even when she knew he'd noticed, she just couldn't stop staring at him. Just like she couldn't get the image of his teasing grin out of her mind. The way his eyes scrunched up as he smiled as if the sun were in them, the way the corners of his mouth turned up ever so slightly, the little gleam of light in his eyes as he looked at her.

"Kira?"

"Yeah, Trent?"

"You're staring at me again."

"You've got something in your hair," she lied quickly. If there was one good thing about being a Ranger, it was the faster excuse-making capabilities. Okay, there are other things that are good, too, like saving lives, but right now, sitting under a tree with Trent, lying skills sound really good right now.

Trent absently brushed his hair off before returning to his work, closing his eyes every so often as if trying to picture something he'd seen a long time ago. Kira found herself staring at the little smile that would dart across his face every time he did so, another completely unique Trent-brand smile.

No one else smiles like that.

Reluctantly, she turned back to her Trigonometry, keeping an eye on Trent out of the corner of her eye. He didn't look up again, preferring instead to keep shading the sketch he'd drawn off to the side of his homework.

Four Pi divided by the square root of the quadratic formula of x squared plus two-x plus fourteen is equal to . . .

She rolled her eyes and tossed her notebook aside, causing Trent to look, up, startled. "That's it. Who gets this stuff, anyway? I mean, the square root of the quadratic formula of x squared plus twenty . . . something . . . whatever. I can't do this junk."

Trent laughed and let his pencil drop into the grass as well. "Took you long enough. I gave up twenty minutes ago. I've just been waiting to see how long it took you to crack, too."

"So what have you been doing for twenty minutes?" Other than torturing me with that smile of yours?

"Take a look." He held out the paper to her, which she took and glanced down at, smiling reflexively before she took in the drawing. Her breath caught.

It was her, her blond hair loose and tumbling around her shoulders and her eyes wide and laughing. She marveled at the work Trent had done to get the shading of her clothes and dinogem completely right to make them look yellow, not gray, and she felt her heart pulse at the sentiment that had obviously gone into the sketch. But what drew her attention the most was the smile on her face, a gentle, soft, completely unKira smile.

And yet, somehow, it looked so right on her.

"Why'd you draw that?" Kira demanded, surprised. "We're in a beautiful spot, sun and trees and water all around. Why'd you draw me?" It was true - green-leafed trees stretched overhead and bright sun beat down on the pair of them, the light reflecting off the water in an almost-dazzling way. She hardly thought she was the most beautiful thing there.

Trent laughed, and she felt shivers go down her spine again. That smile. "You want to know the truth, or the version that won't embarrass me?"

"Truth, please."

His bright grin shifted into another classic Trent smile, soft and sweet and gentle . . . Trent all at once. "I love the way you smile."

Author's Note: I like the way this turned out. It was really hard to get started, but once I did, everything . . . well, except for this tiny spot in the middle . . . just flowed. The next one, I expect, will be harder. I've chosen Theme 10: Green-Eyed Monster.

Thanks to Kathryn Tarnay, for letting me post this on her account. She is, of course, as always, generous and giving and (insert more sappy stuff here). That's all for now . . . cu next chapter!