Title: nadetsukeru
Author: akisawana
Genre: Final Fantasy XII, BalthierxFran UST
Disclaimer: Not my sexy bunny girl or metrosexual air pirate.
Warnings: Have I finished the game? No. Do I know what I'm doing? No.
Notes: This is how Fran's hair always looks so perfect.
Balthier carefully arranged Vaan on the ground of the prison, checking his pupils in passing. The boy would be fine, as soon as he woke up. He sat down on a rock nearby, just in case. "Come here," Balthier patted the ground between his legs.
"Why?" Fran asked, not mistrusting him but not seeing his purpose, a rare thing for their partnership.
"Those churls seem to have mussed your hair, my dear," he said, the endearment a liberty he was not entirely sure he was allowed.
"It does not bother me," Fran replied, an untellable emotion coloring her voice.
"It's bothering me." Fran sat down then and allowed him to start untangling her hair. He combed through it gently, unpicking the fine web of snarls and smoothing out the curls into order. Anyone else that touched her hair would receive one of those glares the Viera were legendary for, the one that stung worse than a slap.
Fran sat very still, stiller than any human could have. "For an outlaw, you certainly like things to be in order," she remarked.
Balthier didn't answer, lifting up a particularly nasty tangle and pulling white hair out of it, all but one strand at a time. Vaan made a tiny noise and Fran started to get up, but Balthier stopped her. "He dreams," he said. "Leave him be." Fran allowed herself to be persuaded to sit back down and let Balthier finish his task.
When all the knots were out, he ran his fingers through the thick mass a few more times, reluctant to stop. Her hair slipped through his fingers like silk fit for an emperor; heavy by sheer volume, each individual one finer than a hume baby's hair. "I should go find us a way out," Fran said finally, some minutes later. Balthier let her go, reluctantly. He watched her leave, wishing he dared to touch more than her hair, wishing he knew if she would allow him.
Short, I know, but won't you tell me what you think?