I – Misdirection

There were many things about Fang that intrigued Lightning.

Much to her irritation, the Pulsian woman often invaded her thoughts. While it was usually Fang who forced her attention through playful provocation, more often than not as of late, Fang only needed to be within Lighting's line of sight to invoke a whirlpool of thoughts and emotions that the solder had found increasingly difficult to handle. The Pulsian could merely be standing as she was then, at the back of the group, during a break in their seemingly never-ending journey. Weight on one leg, her right hand on her hip, her eyes on the sky, and her hair dancing on the slight breeze that whispered through the tight ravine path.

Lightning would never admit that she was ever so slightly jealous of Fang's hair. Free, flowing, wild and untamable—perfectly fitting for the Pulsian. No single strand of Fang's hair had a set place, yet none ever seemed out of place. There was never a need for her to fuss over the dark locks after a battle. A simple run-through with her hand or gentle toss with her head was all she needed—if anything—to perhaps remove a stray bang from her eyes.

Her eyes. Lightning still hadn't decided what color Fang's eyes were. The rare occasion where she had met them long enough with her own, she had decided on a deep blue. Indigo perhaps? However, side-glances in the sun flashed glints of emerald green. Blue or green? Lightning had yet to confirm either color but refused to hold the other woman's gaze long enough to do so—if only for the fear of falling too far into the sea of mystery that lay within them.

Now that's not to say Lightning was scared of Fang, even though the Pulsian stood a few inches taller than herself. Fang's slightly larger build that was no doubt the foundation of her incredible physical strength which was equal to, if not superior to Lightning's. Yet Lightning saw a softness in the other woman that would have most likely gone unnoticed to those who didn't look carefully enough.

And Lighting was always careful when it came to Fang. Perhaps more careful than she could afford to be or care to admit. This caution was for a number of reasons—reasons that could only be generalized with the fact that every one of them irked her immensely.

Lightning trusted Fang. If she were ever in a compromising position; whether it be pinned down, her back against a wall in combat or wracked from an unwanted torrent of emotion; there was no doubt in her mind that the Pulsian would help her. No, not help, save. This feeling was firmly imprinted in the back of her mind, semi-forcibly tucked away yet always there, ironically similar to the brand on her chest. Both imprints angered her albeit different reasons. Unlike the mark burned into her skin, reminding her of the terrible path she walked, Fang made her feel safe. Safe enough to let her carefully built guard down. And is was that fact—no matter how much she tried to ignore it—which scared her.

"See something you like, Sunshine?" The low, strangely-accented voice tickled Lightning's ears, jump-started her senses and knocked her out of her semi-daze. She realized she was staring directly into the Pulsian's eyes. 'Dark green' was Lightning's first thought while she frantically collected herself, struggling to keep her broken guard hidden from the other woman. She cursed silently, she'd messed up, allowed herself to get caught up in the waves of thoughts and emotions that Fang so effortlessly seemed to cause in her. And now she would pay for it.

She met the sly, somewhat feral grin on the other woman's face with a scowl—or at least tried to but quickly found herself looking away in frustration. She was still attempting to calm the storm in her chest, which made it difficult to think of an appropriate response to the Pulsian's provocation. Countless times Fang had verbally attacked her as such: with teasing words and playful taunts. Never able to figure out how to successfully counter them, Lightning had chosen to either pretend she didn't hear them or that she didn't care—yet another thing that was getting increasingly harder to do recently.

No, this time she would not back down, she refused to lose, she would not let Fang have her way. This time she decided she would strike back. She allowed a small sigh of preparation—hopefully masked as exasperation—before locking her eyes on the beautiful Pulsian woman. She faced the swirling whirlwind she so often ran from and jumped, head first with everything she had, as she said the first thing that came to her flustered mind, hoping—praying it was enough.

A/N:
I own either Fang nor Lightning.
Nor to I claim excellence in terms of writing.
I'm not a writer, but I gave it a try and decided it could be fun heheh ^^