Sunshine and Rainbows – Part I [Updated 2010.12.15]
ADDED WARNING: Any FLight or Fanille fans that are strongly adverse to the other pairing... may find this story slightly upsetting.

"Fang, are you listening to me?" The Gran Pulsian warrior in question tore her gaze away from the burning fire and found it land on eyes a lighter shade of green to her own. Before she could stop it, she found the corners of her mouth twitch upward as gradually took in the rest of her fellow Oerban's face. Vanille was always so cute when she was angry. It was only a second later when Fang noticed a strange seriousness in the smaller woman's eyes that she very rarely saw.

"I said we need to talk." Vanille repeated the question unheard by Fang the first time asked. While she was usually ready to drop anything and everything for the sake of pleasing Vanille, Fang was actually starting to feel stress and fatigue both physically and emotionally. What made it worse was that it wasn't because of the l'Cie brands they'd had burned into their skins—acting as ticking clocks, counting down to an endless abyss of pain and suffering. No, she had actually been handling that particular situation just fine. She had found Vanille and that had been all she needed. Had been. She hadn't counted on a variable in the form of a certain Cocoon ex-sergeant throwing her entire world completely off balance.

"Faaaaaang!" Vanille's whine and tugs on her arm once again snapped her out of her thoughts. With a small sigh, Fang looped her arm around the smaller woman, forcing her to spin around, lose her balance and fall more or less into Fang's lap.

"We can't just talk here, love?" Fang grinned at the pout present on Vanille's face. It never failed to amuse her when the other Oerban decided to act like a child. While she could barely stand children—spoiled and bratty or not—Fang rather enjoyed being the cause of said behavior in adults; Vanille being a particularly popular victim.

Fang had been a tad too busy playing with an orange pigtails to noticed Vanille wrap and arm around her neck and lift herself up. Fang's fingers stopped moving when she felt Vanille's breath against her ear and one of her hands slowly slide down her back.

"This is something we need to talk about somewhere more… private." The smaller woman emphasized her assertion with a graze of her teeth against Fang's earlobe and her nails along the small of her back. Tired or not, the warrior's nerves had been set on fire by the teasing, sensual and all-together out-of-character tone in Vanille's voice.

Finding herself unable to resist, she allowed the saboteur to take her hand and pull her to her feet before leading her away from the campfire. She may or may not have heard one of the other l'Cie ask where they were going but within seconds she'd dismissed the notion of processing and answering. She was far too concentrated on following the woman leading her away by her wrist. She did, however, allow herself to be mystified at how Vanille could still have her acting like a small puppy; begging—pleading to please her, just by using that tone of voice.

As she allowed herself to be led farther and father from camp, Fang continued to marvel at her Gran Pulsian companion. Vanille was a sly one. As the other l'Cie had found out, she was an excellent actress and particularly good at lying. But this wasn't just limited to her actions concerning their crystal stasis and the events after waking from it. Fang knew that Vanille wasn't always the innocent child everyone thought her to be. Vanille had a mysterious side to her; just as, if not more mischievously flirtatious than her own.

You would have thought the Gran Pulsian warrior and her own boldly confident personality would have clashed with Vanille's hidden one, but it had proven to be the total opposite. 500 some years ago it attracted Fang to her. Intensely. And what started as physical attraction eventually grew into something that couldn't be explained using—nor limited to—the word 'love'. Now, 500 some years later, that bond still remained—unbroken and unrivaled.

For who else could lead the dominant, self-assured Oerba Yun Fang away by the wrist without so much of a whisper of resistance?

Then, as if the question were asked by another party, Fang's mind answered matter-of-factly—with so much certainty that she may as well have said it aloud:

Lightning could.

At that thought—that name—the haze that clouded the warrior's mind since the moment Vanille whispered in her ear back at camp, vanished. Chased away by something of a mix between confusion and guilt. Her lips formed a frown and her legs ceased to move. Why, of all times, was Sunshine on her mind now? As if she didn't have a hard enough time keeping her mind off the damn woman while she was around.

Vanille's tightened grip on her wrist just managed grab her attention. The smaller Oerban was now standing in front of her, a look of curious concern on her face. It only proved to increase the feeling of unease that had Fang rooted to the spot.

"What's wrong Fang?" Vanille asked—innocently enough—but Fang could see through it to the solemn seriousness hidden behind her words, "You've been distracted lately, I can't say it hasn't been worrying me." Another pang of guilt struck as her eyes met harlequin-green ones. If Fang were with anyone else, her bravado would have jumped in and denied anything were wrong, but she couldn't lie to Vanille. Her eyes found and danced along the forest floor as if searching it for the right answer—any answer. How could she possibly explain-?

"Fang?" When the soft voice was followed by a small hand brushing her cheek, Fang pulled away, deciding to take a pass.

"I'm just a little tired, Vanille," She responded, hoping her voice didn't sound as shaky as it felt, "It's been a long day."

"It's been a long few days." Vanille corrected, a sharp tone in her voice now that sent a shiver up Fang's spine, "You've never been this distracted. And ever since we started traveling with Light and-"

"It's just…!" Fang spoke up abruptly, interrupting as if doing so would negate Vanille's last sentence, "…it's only just starting to get to me, Vanille." The warrior ran a hand through her unruly hair, "Can we just.. can we maybe just get some rest?" Fang motioned with her thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the camp.

"Fang-"

"We can talk about it tomorrow, yeah?" The taller Oerban added, her voice urging Vanille to drop the subject. Knowing it'd been a long shot, she searched the other woman's eyes anyway for a sign of resignation. There was none. In fact, what she saw in Vanille's eyes was something she hadn't seen before. There was no innocent playfulness, nor flirtatious teasing. There was something that almost looked like determination; as if she had reached a final decision to a long period of contemplation.

"No, this is going to be settled now." There was a finality in Vanille's voice that kept Fang from moving—from breathing even. It was a moment later that Fang noticed Vanille was looking past her. Somewhere deep in the back of her mind she knew she'd regret following the smaller Gran Pulsian's gaze. But Fang had the reputation of acting before thinking. She turned and found herself staring into cerulean orbs.

"Oh, ya gotta be kidding me…"

A/N:

EDIT 2010.12.15 | Since part 3 is turning out to be unexpectedly long, I've decided to merge parts 1 and 2 to balance them out a little. So this means there will be 2 longer parts instead of 3 (unbalanced) ones.
And because I feel oddly scared and concerned...

GRAAAAH! T_T
This was supposed to be a One-shot but it was getting MASSIVE so I decided to chop it up into parts _
...and be mean and upload them a day apart so keep everyone in suspense MWAAAHAHAHAH _
But no really, it's only because I haven't actually finished the damn thing =_=;; Well, I mean, I have... in my head just, I can't seem to get it on paper/word.
FXXKING hell I can be such a noob sometimes x_X