It was hot in the kitchen. Shimmering waves rose and floated off of the oven, aided by the already scorching mid afternoon sun. Outside, it was lethargic with not even the sounds of children playing, reveling in their summer vacation. Everyone was in their house, or at the lake, desperately seeking relief. A few even ventured outside the town limits to go to the sea shore. Sweat collected on the side of Sheena's forehead, eventually growing heavy enough to slither down her cheek like some cold snake her body had produced, trying to fend off the heat of the summer day. Stepping back, something snagged at her foot. Tripping over the kitchen rug, her eyes shot open and she stumbled with a small cry, almost toppling over and bringing Raine down with her. In retrospect, that was actually a good idea, but the thought of cracking her skull against the tiles was enough of a deterrent that she caught herself and Raine before they fell, hauling her upright easily with her ninja strength.

They looked at each other before laughing. "Are you all right?" Raine asked, reaching up to tuck Sheena's ebony hair behind her ears.

"Yeah, just tripped." She pulled Raine's hands down to her hips, silencing further conversation with a kiss.

Salt reached her questing tongue, though it wasn't the sweat from her own body that she tasted.

Ding.

Sheena almost missed the sound of the oven timer, which was understandable since she was currently otherwise occupied. Taking a few more wobbly steps back, she had to let go of Raine's orange coat to feel behind herself so that she didn't run into anything again. They were in Genis and Raine's newly rebuilt house in Iselia. Sheena thought it was a cozy place, though since she hadn't seen the original she really couldn't appreciate the change. The two women had the house to themselves today, since Sheena had decided today would be the day Raine Sage finally cooked something edible. Statements like these were a sure-fire way to get Genis out of their way for the next twelve hours, since he knew if he stayed he'd be singled out as the taste tester.

And no one, half-elfin or not, could survive the rejects of Raine's cooking attempts.

He had fled to the ocean with Lloyd, Colette, and a few other classmates, intent on staying there until it grew too dark to see the path back. He might even have to stay over at Dirk's house with Lloyd tonight, a blessing if there ever was one. Of course she loved Genis, he was a great kid, but it had been a while since she'd been able to be alone with Raine.

But since they didn't get days like this- alone- often, somehow their cooking sessions wound up a little shorter than Sheena had planned them. First they were talking about the weather to pass the time as they waited for the cookies to bake, and the next thing you know... sheesh. Now as she was being pressed against the counter with Raine's mouth on hers, feeling those soft breasts waiting for her under that baggy orange coat, she remembered why these cooking sessions ended up short.

"Sheena..." Raine sighed against her neck, turning her face sideways to nip at Sheena's jawline. "I think I heard the oven go off."

Sheena uttered something unintelligible, managing to open her glazed eyes and blink back to reality.

Raine cleared her throat, pulling back. "The oven. Didn't it...?"

Ding.

They heard it again, unmistakable. Sheena grit her teeth, frustrated at the interruption. Forcing herself to get over it, she smiled winningly and pried herself free from Raine's grasping hands, straightening her ruffled clothing and wiping the sweat from her forehead. "Well," she said, snatching up a nearby oven mitt. "Time for tasting!"

"Well, it would have been," Raine muttered, also upset but too level-headed for anyone to visibly notice it... except someone who knew her. Crossing her arms and leaning against the counter, Raine sighed at the waste of time. She didn't bother re-arranging the mess Sheena had made of her clothes, which made her all the more attractive to the ninja who couldn't wait to start back where she had left off.

Sheena pulled a sarcastic sneer at Raine's comment, though silently she agreed. Pulling the cookies out of the oven and lying them down onto another tray to cool, she talked to Raine. "OK, so, you used Genis's recipe, right?"

"Right." Raine walked over, drawn to the cookies in spite of herself. She was honestly curious to see how they had turned out.

"And you didn't make any of your... modifications?"

Raine huffed. "I didn't stray from the recipe, though I still think it would have been worthwhile to see how they reacted when mixed with-"

"Raine, honey..." Sheena shook her head, pressing a finger against Raine's lips. "Let's concentrate on making them taste good. Once you have that down, then you can start fooling around and diverge from the recipe. But you know..." She pulled a cookie from the tray, holding it up as if it were a diamond ready to be examined for its value. It was perfectly circular, crumbly golden brown with soft brown chocolate chips. "It looks great! And all you had to do was not put some totally random ingredient in it..."

She looked over her shoulder at her lover, face smug. "Told ya so."

"Save it for when you actually taste it," Raine said in response. "Then we'll see if you were right or not."

Sheena lounged about, feigning boredom while putting the cookie away to inspect her nails. "Oh, now you're interested in the outcome, because the stakes are different. Now it's not-" she clasped her hands together, batting her eyelashes and looking up innocently at the ceiling in what she fondly imagined was an impersonation of Raine. "Oh dearie me! Can I cook without mixing poisons with potions? Am I going to make cookies or flying saucers?" Firmly planting her hands on her hips, she fixed Raine with a cool gaze. "Now its, 'Am I right or is Sheena right?'"

"Sheena, if you don't want to try them just say so. Quit stalling."

Sheena grimaced. "Was I that obvious?"

Raine only sighed, snatching up the cookie she had discarded and venturing a nibble. Her eyebrows shot up in surprise as she swallowed and turned to Sheena, a rare, genuine smile lighting up her face. "It tastes good!" she said, taking a larger bite.

"Told ya so!"

Now it was Raine's turn to sneer... right after taking another bite of her cookie. "There is something a little off about them," she admitted, "Though I can't put my finger on it. Still, they're palatable."

"I'll be the judge of that," Sheena said, reaching for another cookie.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Raine slapped her hand away lightly, grabbing the ninja's wrists with both hands while grinning around the remainder of the cookie clenched between her teeth. She pinned Sheena against the counter again. Though she could have easily broken free the ninja had to remind herself that this was just playful teasing, the way lovers were supposed to do. In the months after they had first gotten together, Sheena realized she was woefully inept at this sort of thing. But Raine more than made up for it, and this soft naivety was one of the things Raine seemed to like about her. Sheena cocked one eyebrow up, wondering what game the Professor was up to now.

Raine leaned forward, kissing Sheena and pressing the last of the cookie in with her tongue, languorously letting it slide along the inner lining of Sheena's mouth to taste her, the soft scent of Sheena mixing with the buttery, sweet taste of cookies and chocolate. Again her tongue flickered out, running along Sheena's lips to catch the last few crumbs. She moved her hands, releasing Sheena's wrists to let their fingers intertwine.

"Well?" Raine said, pausing to catch her breath as she grinned against Sheena's lips.

Sheena took a moment to snap out of it again. "Well what?" she asked, letting her fingertips dance across Raine's orange overcoat, suddenly ready for the cooking lesson to be over.

"The cookie, Sheena." Raine smiled, exasperated. "That thing I just shoved down your throat?"

"Yeah, well, you try concentrating on some cookie when Raine Sage's tongue is in your mouth."

"I'd be worried if my tongue wasn't in my mouth."

"Maybe you should try again," Sheena suggested. "Maybe I'll taste it better the second time around."

Snorting in amusement, Raine reached around Sheena and grabbed a cookie. "Here," she said, feeding it to her in a relatively more normal way. Sheena rolled her eyes and obeyed, letting her eyelids drop and tilting her head back. She reached up for it, fitting her mouth around the entire cookie, downing it in three quick gulps and nipping at Raine's fingers once she was done. Raine found her throat oddly constricted, but managed to compose herself at the end. "N-.. n- now, oh Countess of Culinary, can you give me the final verdict?"

"Gimme a sec," Sheena said, her voice muffled by cookie as she chewed, her expression thoughtful. Raine impatiently waited, holding onto Sheena's shoulder with one hand while stroking her cheek with the other. Grinning ruefully, Sheena placed her hand over Raine's. "I think you added a bit too much salt," she said. "But they're good. No, really!" she added at the dubious expression on her lover's face. Hugging her around the waist and pulling her close, she kissed Raine. "I'm not saying that to humor you. If I thought they tasted like hell, you would have known it."

"I don't know...You probably don't like them at all and you're just being nice," Raine said slowly, drawing out the extra affection Sheena was heaping on her. "Sometimes I think you're too sweet for your own good."

Sheena yanked Raine closer, mock-growling at her. "Oh, you don't like sweet? I guess that explains those cookies, then. They suit your personality nicely, by the way."

"I thought they were salty. You should have told me they were bitter, too."

Sheena tapped her nose knowingly. "And that's your mistake, right there," she said, her voice growing softer as she trailed her hands up Raine's body, cupping her face and bringing it close to her own. "You're assuming I don't like bitter."

"So are we talking about the cookies now, or me?"

"What do you think?"

Raine grinned. "I think you have chocolate all over your mouth. Mm..." she bit Sheena's lip. "And it's sweet, like you."

Though she probably should have been used to statements like this already, Sheena always blushed when Raine spoke like that about her. She kissed Raine instead of continuing the banter, a closed-mouth peck that was admittedly more sweet than sexy. Then, seeing she had spread the chocolate onto Raine's mouth, she giggled and cleaned it off with a nearby kitchen towel before dropping it and kissing her again, more forceful this time. First she twined her arms up into Raine's hair, running her fingers through it, silver and messy and beautiful, then reached under Raine's shirt with one hand to feel her taut, smooth belly, moving up to trace the swell of her breasts. She instinctively sucked in a sharp breath as Raine ventured lower than her belly, the half elf's hot breath speaking into her ear to send happy shivers down her spine.

"How long do you think we have?" she asked, toying with Sheena's large pink bow.

"Well, Genis shouldn't be back for a good five hours..." Sheena answered. "He might even be gone all night."

"Ooh, how ambitious of you."

"Hey! I'm only saying how much time we have. What we do with it is up to us." With that, she dragged Raine back into their kiss, intent now that nothing more would interrupt them. It seemed like so long since the last time she'd had Raine alone like this, what with Raine being busy teaching and Sheena constantly having to leave on another mission. But with summer came a lull in both of their duties, and they were rapidly coming to see summers as possibly being the highlight of their future years together. They sank to the floor, forgetting everything but each other. They didn't speak anymore, the silence being broken only by sighs and giggles, soft phrases not meant to be responded to... every touch rekindling old fires. Every pause to look into each other's eyes an opportunity to remember... be lost.

OoOoOo

A/N: None for you. In the next chapter we get to have... FLASHBACK! YAY!

OK so I know what you're all saying... "GET TO WORK ON PARTNERS ALREADY, YA SLOB! YA PIG! YA LAZY POOP! And what about Sheena's Problem? Or Instinct? Or HEAT, for god's sake?"

Well, I wanted to make lesbian fluff instead of drama, action, Sheena/Regal fluff, and all-of-the-above in HEAT's case. So nyah.