Repost fic: Shade and Sweet Water

[rainsometimes]

Posting the longer version of a ficlet I just posted on onepiece_300. First attempt to write this pairing.

edit: Changed the rating.
edit 2: Forgot to say that as usual, nitpicks and other concrit is much encouraged.

Title: Shade and Sweet Water
Rating: G PG
Media: fic
Pairing/Characters: Vivi/Kohza
Word Count: 491
Prompt: Summer
Spoilers/setting: Set at least a month after the fall of Crocodile, and quite possibly a lot longer. (I’m not sure what season the Strawhats were in Alabasta, given that their drought was unnatural.) Title stolen from old fandom, Elfquest, where the phrase is a greeting among the Sun Elves.



By now, the shift in the weather was clear. The warm, humid days of spring, bearable even in the noon hours, were giving way to the dry, scorching hot of an Alabastan summer. But though the subsoil water levels were still a lot lower than they used to be, there was still a lot of rain water saved; there were spots of green around waterholes, and people were facing the dry season with hope and a resolute good cheer rather than dread.

“How are your wounds?” Dressed in ordinary traveller clothes, Vivi sat down on the fallen palm tree next to Kohza.

“Tch. I think I’m officially well by now,” he said, spreading out his fingers. “Worked all day digging wells yesterday and was just fine by evening.” He smiled crookedly, but there was a real tone of contentment in his voice.

Vivi chuckled. “Those new hot springs of your uncle’s made the trick, I bet.”

Kohza shrugged. “Heh. Maybe.” He handed her the flask of cold tea by this side; she took it with a nod.

They were silent for a while, the air trembling with heat around them.

He wondered if he should ask how her pirates were doing, but decided against it. The last time she’d had news of them, it wasn’t good. Maybe the World Government’s information couldn’t be trusted when it came to outlaws, but he still didn’t want to bring it up if she didn’t.

Kohza felt there were some things a former rebel leader could say, which had a greater weight coming from him. But there were also things he shouldn’t say, lest he re-open old wounds of his war-torn country. Things like insisting royalty and commoners should be on a more equal footing, for instance. His motivations were suspect, too: maybe he only had those views because he’d like to tuck a strand of blue hair behind Vivi’s ear, to trace the line of her cheek, lean in close and kiss her neck, without feeling like an opportunistic and power-hungry social climber.

“Leader...” she said slowly.

“Mmhm?”

“It’s getting too hot,” she said matter-of-factly. “I’m dizzy.”

He blinked. “Oh. Yeah. Really is summer now, huh?” It was true, even this spot, the shade of the northern hillside, was getting too warm for comfort. “Want to go home?” To the old man’s watchful eyes, alas.

“That might be good, or...” Vivi looked down, twiddling her thumbs. “...My tent’s cool enough,” she said quietly, almost under her breath. Maybe there was a flush of red on her cheeks.

Someday, he thought, he’d like to tell her that she’s like the rain to him. Someday – not now. Not yet.

But summer was coming, and maybe you should take your shade where you could get it – accept it gratefully, like drinking fresh water out of cupped hands. So he followed her through the noon heat, then ducking under the flap of the tent to step into the lovely, cool darkness.

Comments

[dethorats]

Awww, lovely and tentative, the way it has to be, I think, because Kohza is nothing if not very self-aware. I liked the hesitant and yet slightly heavy atmosphere of it, felt just like those evenings in June that are right on the cusp of summer.

And a typo for you:
blue hair behind Vivi’s air, I suspect you want ear rather than air.

[serrende.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I was tentative myself when I wrote it, part of me wondering if I should keep the romance out or make it one-sided. But in the end, I wanted to use the image of seductive shade. ;)

*corrects* Thanks! Guess the rhyme led me astray. (Well, it could be worse - could have been "Vivi's heir".^_^)

[hetalllia.livejournal.com]

it was not gauche at all to link to this! Not when it's so pretty and happy-making!