What do you mean I have other projects? Pfft, lies.
Shouldn't I be studying for my mid-term, not writing about random stuff that comes to me in my shower?
Herp, derp, nope! Derp, derp. :D
"Guys, where's Hope?" Lightning whipped around, staring Vanille down before the words had left her mouth. The girl jumped, bringing her hands to her mouth and looking around, but Lightning already started surveying the landscape. Lightning's passed over Snow, Fang, Sazh, and Vanille once more, Hope no longer among them. She tilted her head up to look past her companions, but she saw nothing but stretches of green, occasionally interrupted by rocks or plants.
"Stay here, I'm going back." Without waiting for an answer, she started down the field, eyes flickering back and forth, trying to catch a glimpse of silver hair. Her friends' voices called after her but she kept walking, snapping at any movement around her.
When the bodies of the others started to become odd, lumpy blobs in the distance, Lightning stopped. She neared a large, tanned rock, surrounded by odd looking flora. There were large, curled vines that inched along the rock, as well as flowers the size of dogs, with pink petals and orange spots. Other plants were far less menacing, like small, curved petaled, purple flowers, or bushes with short leaves. But Lightning walked around the rock and plants, focusing on the steady scratching sound she heard from the other side, followed by a quiet sigh.
Lightning kept herself hidden behind the edge of the rock, peering over and spotting Hope as he moved his back up and down, side to side, against the rock. Hope's eyes were closed and his brow was furrowed as he scratched himself, and Lightning bit back a snort.
This was what I was worried about?
Rolling her eyes, Lightning stepped away from the rock and put her hand on her hip, quirking and eyebrow at Hope. Hope didn't notice her – He could have gotten himself killed for wandering off like this- and continued to scratch himself against the rock.
"Hope," Lightning called.
Like that he changed, yelping before covering his mouth with his hands. He stopped scratching himself at her voice, jumping and slamming his butt to the ground. He looked up at her with wide eyes, swallowing as he slowly removed his hands.
"Oh...um, hey, Light," he tried, waving his hand a bit. Lightning just stared at him, narrowing her eyes when his face twisted and he leaned closer to the rock, moving a bit against it.
"Why are you over here?" she asked, watching for more strange behavior.
Hope didn't answer right away, humming a little before pressing himself against the rock and using it to stand up, scraping his back along the way. Once he was upright, Hope bit his lip, shrugging. "Guess I got a bit...distracted, is all. But I'm okay now so-"
"Hope..." Lightning's tone was low and Hope shrank back, glancing at the ground.
"It's really nothing," he mumbled, scraping his back against the rock again.
"What happened?" Lightning started toward him but Hope moved away from her, still pressing himself against the rock. Lightning glared at him, Hope paling, but he still moved away from her. His cheeks blared red and he shook his head harder with each step he took.
"Really, it's nothing! I just-I got into something on accident, but it will go away! All right? So let's just get to the other-" Hope's eyes bugged when Lightning closed the gap with three quick, well-timed strides. She grabbed his arm before he could hurry away, turning him around and staring at his back. Hope wriggled in her grip and she had to squeeze his arm to keep him in place, Hope trying to pull away. He dug his foot in the ground and tried to use the grounding to pull himself free, only to have Lightning yank him back.
"Please!" Hope begged, shaking his head as the back of his neck warmed. "It's really nothing! We can go back and forget this ever-ugh!" Lightning pulled off Hope's orange jacket, then grabbed the hem of Hope's shirt and pulled it up, wincing when she accidentally caught his neck.
"Sorry," she mumbled, adjusting the shirt and pulling it off. She let both the jacket and the shirt fall to the ground, using both hands to hold Hope in place as she inspected his back. He still wiggled around, but there was far less effort in his attempts to escape. Instead, he bowed his head, his entire head feeling warm and foggy.
Lightning paid it no mind though, her eyes roving his lower back. The usually pale skin was bright pink with blotches of red, some of the skin even torn from Hope's scratching. Bumps lined the skin as well and Lighting slowly touched one of them, shushing Hope when he winced and tried to jerk away. She grabbed his shoulder and squeezed before returning to his skin, following the strange rash as it disappeared down his-
...pants.
Lightning closed her eyes, taking a deep breath before speaking. "I will ask you one more time, Hope. What happened?"
She let Hope go when he pulled this time, watching him crouch to the ground and pick up his jacket and shirt. "Well...I-I mean it happened- I don't really-" Hope shook his head and Lightning caught a glimpse of his face, surprised by how red it had gotten. He let out an explosive sigh, running his hand over his face.
"Yesterday, after we stopped by that little lake to take a bath, I fell over into some plants before I could get dressed. Everyone was already getting ready to go, so I just put my clothes on, so I could catch up. Everything was fine...then I felt a little itchy, then I felt really itchy, and now it's just unbearable!"
Hope groaned, falling back onto the grass and throwing his clothes down. "I can't stand it!" He squirmed in the grass, wiggling his hips back and forth as he tried to scratch himself on the ground. Lightning loomed over him, shaking her head.
"You should have told us earlier."
"I know," he mumbled.
"How far does the rash go?" Lightning crouched down, trying to get a glance at his back again, remembering it disappearing lower down. Hope shot up, shaking his head and using his legs to push away from her.
"You don't need to see!" he cried, somehow turning redder. "We'll just leave it alone for a while. It'll go away."
"Hope, I need to know." Lightning kept her tone even and her eyes on Hope. He stared at her for a few moments before biting his lip and snapping his eyes to the ground.
"...past my butt, to my legs." Hope closed his eyes, moaning. "It's kind of worse down there."
"Then I need to see-"
"NO!" He shook his head vigorously, his eyes pleading with her. "No, no, no! I mean, it's bad enough that I even have a rash there, I don't want you to see it."
"Hope, I need to make sure that you're not in any danger. If you fell into some plants, Fang or Vanille can probably whip something up for you. But we'll all need to know the plant and the extent of the-"
"No! You can't tell them! I don't want the others to know! Fang and Snow will never let me live it down!" Hope's voice cracked and he brought his hands to his mouth again, groaning and covering his face with his hands. He started wiggling again, bouncing up and down and shaking his head. "This sucks, this sucks so bad."
Lightning's eyes softened and she moved closer to Hope, putting a hand on his shoulder. "How about I just get Sazh for now, to look at it. He can tell me how bad it is, then we can decide what to do."
Hope peeked at her through his fingers before slowly nodding at her, resting his hands on the ground. "Okay. Okay, we can tell him." Lightning nodded and stood up, heading back for the others. "But he has to swear to secrecy! Tell him he has to do that too!" Hope called after her. Lightning waved at him and walked on, relieved to see that the others had followed her somewhat. The sooner we get this over with, the better.
A few minutes later she was standing in front of Sazh, ignoring her friends' questions and clearing her throat. Sazh stared wide-eyed at her, glancing at the others and at the rock she had just come from.
"Follow me," she said simply, turning around and heading back toward the rock. Sazh didn't need telling twice, muttering something about 'demanding soldiers' but otherwise going after her. Lightning paused and looked back around, eyes lingering on Snow and Vanille as they started to come after her. "Everyone else stay here. Got it?"
"But-" Snow started.
"We want to help," Vanille chimed.
"Stay." Lightning turned without a word, leading Sazh to Hope and glancing back to make sure they weren't being followed.
"Why are you bringing me-oh." Sazh tilted his head to the side when they reached Hope, who had gone back to trying to scratch himself on the ground. Hope stopped, staring at Sazh for several seconds before groaning and rolling over, burying his face in his arms.
"This really, really sucks."
"What's going on here?" Sazh asked, shaking his head and looking at Lightning.
"He has a rash. I need to know how bad it is, but Hope doesn't want to show me the rest of it. Oh, and you can't tell the others...yet." She mumbled the last part, glancing at Hope to make sure he hadn't heard. Sazh lifted an eyebrow at her, shaking his head again and heading for Hope.
"Well, I swear to secrecy and whatnot. So let me see..." Sazh trailed off, glancing at Hope's back and spotting the inflamed, bumpy skin. "Boy, what did you get yourself into?"
Hope groaned again, lifting his head and glancing at Lightning. "Please look away." Lightning nodded, turning around and crossing her arms. She heard Hope grunt, then complain about the itchiness again. Then there was the soft tink of metal and Sazh whistling under his breath.
"Boy, you did a number on yourself. It's way worse down here, soldier girl." Lightning almost looked back at Sazh's voice, barely managing to keep her head from turning.
"How bad?" she asked, tapping her foot.
"All the skin is red and there are a lot more bumps. He even managed to open some of them." She heard Sazh groan and pictured him shaking his head. "You don't itch like that! You don't itch till the skin breaks! It can get infected. You're a medic, you should know this."
"I'm sorry, but when my ass itches, I scratch!" Hope snapped. Lightning's eyes widened but Sazh was already on it.
"Not till your ass bleeds though. Get your pants back on while I talk to Light. 'When it itches I scratch' my ass." Sazh came up to her, shaking his head. He sighed, shrugging. "I don't see how we can avoid it. We gotta tell one of em, otherwise it'll just get worse. I don't like the look of some of them bumps."
Hope came bouncing toward them, hands twitching and reaching for his back and bottom. "No! I mean, I'm sure it'll stop if I just stop itching it. We don't have to tell them."
"Do you really think you can?" Lightning asked, tilting her head to the side.
Hope snapped his mouth shut, looking away, but Sazh chimed in, "Boy, you scratched till you bled. I don't think you'll be able to stop yourself."
"But it's really not that bad!" Hope moaned again, grabbing his hair and yanking at it. "I can't believe this. I don't want-I mean, how would we even. This sucks so much right now."
"Hope...I know you don't-" Lightning stopped, glancing down at the her leg when she felt an odd, tingling sensation. She stepped away, looking down to see several purple flowers, flecks of purple and red pollen showering down on her skin. "Hope," she said, crouching down to look at the flowers. "do these look like the ones you fell on?" Her leg was already starting to itch, but she had to be sure.
Hope came up to her, falling on his hands and knees to look at the flower. He squinted at it before pulling away, nodding his head and snarling. "Are these things everywhere? They're worse than poison ivy and they're not even pretty! And because of them-Light!"
Lightning had sat her knees on the flowers, holding back a shudder when the pollen sprinkled all over her legs. Hope's mouth fell open and Sazh rolled his eyes, but Lightning just stood back up, brushing some of the pollen off. "Whoops," Lightning said, shrugging. "Guess I'll have to talk to Vanille now." She stood up, pausing to ruffle Hope's hair before heading to the others, lightly scratching one leg with the other.
Hope stared after her, glancing at the ground as his face lit up for what had to be the hundredth time that day. "She didn't have to do that," he mumbled, swallowing and kicking at the ground. He jumped when Sazh patted his shoulder, shaking his head.
"Maybe. But the girl is soft on you. You're her favorite, kid. Nothing wrong with that."
Hope nodded, the red spreading to his entire face. He looked back at Lightning, watching as she started to speak to Vanille, Fang hovering nearby.
"Still..." Hope said, "it means a lot."
Sazh snorted though. "Don't get too excited. We still have to find a way to put whatever treatment they got on you without them noticing. I'll wind up doing your back, but you can handle your butt right?"
"Sazh!" Hope groaned, hiding his face in his hands.
"Yeah, I think you can handle your butt."