Sometime ago... make that a long time ago, I participated in the FF Valentine Kiss Challenge over at LJ and I answered to sarasacat's prompt. While I was highly unproductive, others weren't and I received four mini-fics for the prompts that I submitted. The lucky stars must have looked my way for a change. At any rate, this will probably be the last one-shot that I'll upload for a while as I have too many multi-chaps fic obligations.

Still, read on and I hope you enjoy this little fic offering. And thanks to all the wonderful ladies (you know who you are) who encouraged me to submit this fic here.

Penelo/Basch: Sting Bite

"Ouch!" Penelo hissed as she drew her hand away from the Cactuar, the party's recent catch, and their supposing dinner. Every day, the party drew lots to decide upon the chores which were to be assigned to each party member, and that evening, Basch was to cook dinner while Penelo was to help him prepare. The sun was bearing down perfunctorily; drawing elongated shadows behind her, and that gave Penelo a sense of urgency to finish preparing the meal as quickly as possible, not wanting Basch to think her an incompetent and bothersome brat. But, in her hurry to remove the needles, she had speared herself.

"What's wrong?" Basch turned his head towards her, and his eyes traveled to her hand.

"Oh no, nothing, it's just me being clumsy," said Penelo, mustering a nervous smile, as she quickly hid her injured finger behind her, shaking it softly to ease the sting. Damn Cactuar, she thought to herself, heatedly.

Basch eyed her curiously for a while, and then, turned around to face her completely. His face was stern but not menacing; he held out his hand and said in voice that left no room for argument, "Let me see your hand."

Reluctantly, and with much embarrassment, she showed him her palm, like a child who had been asked to reveal her dirty hands after stealing from a jar of cookies. Taking her small hand into his own, he hunched down and examined her slightly swollen index finger with care. A line of blood was streaming from the tiny dot on her fingertip; while she wasn't bleeding profusely, it didn't show signs of stopping soon.

Then, without notice, Basch lowered his head, and put her finger into his mouth and began to suck it gently. After what felt like forever (which was actually only a couple of seconds), he finally lifted his head and spat the blood to the ground. Turning back to her again, he blew softly against her puncture wound, and was pleased to see the bleeding had finally stopped.

"That should do it," he said, not releasing her hand and making sure to keep it leveled with her heart. With one hand, he unclasped the cap of the water pouch and he took a mouthful of water and gargled. "Some of the Cactuar needles may be poisonous," he added, somewhat incoherently.

At that moment, the only thing that Penelo was capable of was to nod at his every word, and stare at him blankly while he washed the cut. The shade of her cheeks rivaled the puddle of blood, causing her to look slightly feverish. After a few moments, she steered her gaze away from him bashfully, and chewed her lower lip in an anxious manner.

Basch looked at her worriedly when he felt her trembled, and he thought that perhaps the injury was worse than he expected. Releasing the grasp on her hand, he stood up and dusted the sand from his pants, "Keep your hand above heart level and stay right here. I'll get some disinfectant." And he left her, racing off to where he presumed the party was seated.

Alone, Penelo turned to stare at the stupid lifeless Cactuar beside her, and she muttered shyly under her breathe, "Damn Cactuar."