Moments

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the FFXIII characters, and if I did, Serah would not be Snow's fiancée! Also, since I know very little of the actual story, I apologize for any

inaccuracies that exist, but it's fanfiction, so it's ok, right?


Bandana

It was HOT! The gang had been traveling through a sweltering desert for the past 2 days, and their water supply was running low. According to Lightning's map and navigation, they were supposed to reach a town before nightfall. They would just have to suck it up until then.

But the heat was getting to them. Most of the gang was stripping off their clothes in a desperate attempt to cool off. Even Lightning, the ice queen able to withstand any harsh environment, had unzipped her sweater down to her chest, revealing her rarely seen l'Cie mark.

Lightning was never one to bring up conversation, but perhaps the heat had finally gotten to her head. She looked back at Snow and asked, "Hey…what's up with that bandana?"

"What?" Snow was surprised at such a random question.

"You've practically stripped naked except for that thing. It's black, and you're sweating profusely, so why don't you take it off? Or are you hiding the fact that you're prematurely going bald?"

"Wha-! I am NOT going bald! I just like it where it is!" Snow exclaimed, clearly offended.

Lightning was starting to get amused, Snow rarely got defensive like this, he would usually come back with a stupid comment he thought was witty.

"But why? You have to be steaming under that thing, so take it off."

"Look, I'm not taking it off. Uh…it…it helps my body retain its moisture!"

"Do you actually expect me to believe that argument? It's hot but I'm not delirious." She then began to reach for the black bandana, determined to tear it off his head.

"Stop it! I'm not taking this off alright!"

"Why not?!" Now she was just being stubborn since she hated to lose. She continued to claw at his head in an effort to claim the headgear as her prize.

"Because this was a gift from Serah!"

Lightning's movements immediately came to a halt, and she could only come up with an "oh…" as a response.

"Yeah. It's really important to me so I don't want to take it off."

"I see…" Now Lightning was embarrassed for having acted like such a child, and before she could say anything else Vanille shouted, "Hey look! It's the town we were looking for! Yes! C'mon guys, hurry up!" Vanille started running, and Hope followed closely behind with Sazh stumbling after them.

The other two were left standing alone with each other. Lightning felt rather uneasy after her embarrassing display of childlike behavior. Then, Snow smiled and gave her a good ol' slap in the back.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Lightning shouted with confusion more than anger.

"C'mon, let's go, we can't let those idiots get too far ahead or they might get lost." And with that he started walking towards their direction.

She smiled ever so slightly, and silently followed his large footprints in the sand.


Note: Lightning was a bit OOC-ish, but understand that the heat was messing with her head. I also realize that taking your clothes off in a desert is one of the worst things you can do since you'll get burned in about 5 seconds flat, but then the story would've been really boring. And an image of a nearly nude Snow isn't a bad thing in my opinion.