chapter one

"No."

"But, Lightning! I really want to take these classes!"

"I said no, Serah! Do you know how much this class costs? An arm and a leg!"

"Pleeeeeease~! I swear, I'll work off all the money owed back! Please, please, please, please, pleeeeease? My friends are taking these classes and-

"Serah. I'm not repeating myself. Get out of my face."

"But, Light-

"Serah!"

An awkward, tense silence hovered between both women.

"FINE!" the younger girl growled, stomping her foot and stormed out from the kitchen, upset. Sighing, Lightning watched as Serah slammed the door. 'Is it me, or did a hinge come out of place?' she knitted her brows, hurrying to the door, trying to screw the hinge back in place, breaking the rusted metal. "Damn it!" she kicked the door, making all the hinges break off from the moldy door frame, falling to the hard, wooden ground.

Lightning shook her head, running her slim fingers through her strawberry blond hair, agitated. 'How much will this cost me?' she pondered, picking up the door and leaning it against the wall nearest the exit. She dusted her hands, and patted down her black pencil skirt. Without knowing, she smudged a bit of rust left over from touching the hinge she tried to fix on her white blouse as she tried to adjust her skirt along her waist.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME-? Okay... Breathe. Breathe, Lightning, breathe" she sighed, trying to relax.

*bleep, bleep... bleep, bleep*

"SHIT!" Lightning screamed, running to the counter top and snatching her keys while trying to slip into her black stiletto pumps while rushing to the door.

"Late again! My boss is gonna kill me this time- AH!" her heel got caught in one of the many holes on the metal stairs from her apartment building, making her lose balance. Just as she thought she was going to go head first down the stairs, her hand felt a soft fabric... but instead of stopping fall, she ended up pulling this thing down with her, losing her left shoe in the process.

It had felt like eternity while falling down the stairs, crashing to the dirt ground.

"Ahhhhhowwwwwggggghhhh!" she growled, getting up immediately, rubbing her sides. She looked down at her attire and grunted loudly. "Damn my life!" she screamed at herself, grabbing her keys from beside her fall and ran to her small, brown mini van and revved out from the apartment parking lot and zoomed down the street.

Just as she was leaving, shocking crimson eyes watched her every movement.

9.37am...

Lightning busted through the office doors, holding her pair-less stiletto in her hand while trying to rush to her small desk at the end of the building floor she had just entered. She could feel disgusted glances from all the workers she never really took a liking to, which made her feel uncomfortable. Hanging her head low, she sped up a bit, trying to avoid each and every one's glance.

'Look at her...'

'Um... I'm sure she's going to be fired. That's inappropriate work wear.' It started to become intense, so she shot each and every one of them a pissed glare, making them get back to work.

One of the traits Lightning had that made her so... friendless. Especially with a background such as being an Ex-Soldier working in the Cocoon Army for many years of her youth. She is now 24 years old, and look where she is. A P.A in Pulse Magazines, who gets the least pay in the whole building!

"Light! Where have you been? The meeting started ten minutes ago and... Oh my god. Look at you!"

"Shut up, Fang. Where is the meeting?"

"Girl, you ain't goin' anywhere with what you're wearing. Come with me"

"I need to get to that meeting-

"Not in those clothes, you're not!"

"Argh, hurry up then!"

The tall, brunette woman grinned, grabbing Lightning's hand and dragged her to the ladies room. Lightning was confused when she saw that Fang started stripping. "F-Fang! What are you doing?"

"Swap clothes!"

"Huh?"

"Hurry up!"

Lightning sighed, unbuttoning her dusty blouse and unzipped her skirt. Fang threw her clothes at Lightning, vice versa. Fang's eyes then travelled to the large bruises on her hips and upper thigh.

"What the hell happened?"

"Nothing. C'mon, I need to get to that meeting before Raines actually chews my head off!"

Fang sighed. It took only three minutes for Lighting to change into a tight fitting, baby blue pencil dress that cut just above the knee with a white boob jacket and silver open-toe pumps. She looked at Fang who was shoving Lightning's other clothes into the waste bin.

"Fang! What're you doing? Those cost me my whole pay last week!"

"Well, you're in need of a new set of skirts and blouses from now on. After work today, you and I are going shopping. Thank your lucky stars that I had left my spare set of clothes here when we cancelled the gym spin class session yesterday. You owe me, Light. These clothes need a damn wash" Fang grunted, pulling out a white frilly t-shirt that loosened at the sleeves and a gray waist skirt that cut at mid thigh. She slipped into white strap heels decorated with creamed frills. She also grabbed out her 'dolce and gabbana' perfume, spraying twice on both herself and Lightning. Fang dusted her attire off and smiled, guiding Lightning out of the ladies room to the meeting room down the hallway.

"Your excuse is that you had your car towed away and the asshole at the info desk wouldn't give it back until he got some ass" Fang explained, dusting Lightning's shoulders off.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Lightning brushed her off and entered through the large mahogany doors that held more than twenty elders on the other side of the doors.

"You're late... Again." Lightning twitched, bowing her head at the arrogant man who clasped his hands, resting his chin on top of them, ashamed of looking at her. Lightning trotted to his side and murmured an apology.

"Thank you gentlemen for your time. My assistant here was a tad bit late, so no notes were able to be copied down. E-mail me the ideas as soon as possible, if that's okay with you all."

"Thank you, Raines." men acknowledged and took their leave. Lightning winced, sighing. She knew what she was going to get... Another lecture.

"Lightning. To my office."

The oxygen in the room felt thin. Serah sighed as she watched the magnificent body of the dance instructor twirl her best friend, ending off with a dip. Her head had bent back as far as she could with her arm extended back, nearly touching the wooden ground. Serah's heart skipped a beat when she had watched as he dipped his head toward her neck, his lips lining her neckline, yet not touching her. She could feel her stomach tingle with the sensation as if she were in Vanille's place. The music ended, causing a thunderous applaud, and standing ovation. Vanille shied away and twittered with her index fingers, blushing, rushing back to Serah who was grinning widely.

"Wow, Vanille! You were awesome!" Serah exclaimed, jumping up and down with Vanille who still needed air to seize her blushing. "Thank you, Serah!" she giggled.

"So! Did your sister give you the okay to take ballroom classes with me?" Vanille asked, grabbing her bottle, gulping down as much as she could.

"She said no. It was too expensive."

"Darn. Did you tell her that I would be glad to pay for half of the price?"

"No, Vanille. I'll pay for my own. Thank you for your offer, though. You're way too kind"

"Don't worry about it! My Aunt would be happy to help out with paying for this. She and your sister are close aren't they?"

"Yeah. Thanks so much, Vanille. I'll ask Lightning once more" she assured, giggling. Both girls looked over their shoulders to see that the instructor was limping a bit toward his bottle of water that he neglected for the past six minutes of dancing.

"Is he okay?" Serah asked, a little worried.

"Oh my gosh. I didn't realise that he was hurt! He was perfectly fine when we were dancing." Vanille trotted over to the instructor. Serah and Vanille, and the other students of the class watched as he unzipped his black hooded leather jacket, revealing a thin black singlet and silver plain, blank dog chain hanging from his neck. Before even asking a question, they drowned their minds with the handsome features the instructor held, making them swoon a bit.

"Did you both need something?" his voice was soft and husky.

Breaking their concentration, they blinked a couple of times before actually snapping back to reality. "S-sorry. Uhh, we came over to ask if your leg was okay?" Serah muttered, shying away. He looked down at his left leg that bugged him.

"Some crazy woman fell down the set of stairs outside one of my friend's apartment, pulling me down with her" he sighed, dusting the remains of neglected dust on his denim black jeans, a little pissed about talking about it. Serah had found that her brows are knitted, feeling sorry for this handsome man.

"What an idiot!"

"Yeah. She didn't even apologise, and just left." he rolled his eyes, checking his fabulous silver 'Guess' wrist watch.

"Damn it." he sneered, looking up at the girls who were ogling him. Clearing his throat, he looked away.

"I need to leave now. Lesson's over" he announced, asking for them all to leave... hopefully getting them to stop looking at him like how they were. He could hear girl moaning and saw a couple of them pouting. He smirked, shaking his head, ushering them out of the mirrored room.

"Is there another lesson tomorrow?" he turned back to see that Serah hadn't left yet, whereas her friend was skipping down the hallway. He locked the room and faintly smiled.

"Yeah. Same time." he replied, tucking the keys into his jacket pocket.

"COOL! See you tomorrow!" she exclaimed, waving at him, sprinting down the hallway to catch up with Vanille. He watched as she turned the corner toward the exit.

'She looks just like the woman who pulled me down the staircase...' he muttered.

Just as he thought he was finally at peace, his iphone had suddenly began to ring.

"Yeah?"

'Noct. Where are you? Your uncle is expecting you in ten minutes'

"I know. I'm coming now."

'How was class?'

"Good. Why?"

'You know. The girls? Were there any cute ones? Hint, hint!'

"Goodbye, Ven."

'NO! WAIT-'

Noctis sighed, cutting his line off. "Perve..."

chapter two:

Noctis strode down the small flights of stairs, wincing every time he leaned all his weight onto his left leg. Just as he reached the bottom, he walked down a couple of blocks, meeting up with one of his closest friends who waited outside the studio building, patiently. He jogged to the passenger seat and slipped in.

"Hey, Noctis."

"Hey."

"How was class?" his friend asked, smirking with glee.

"Good."

His friend took the initiative to ask a bit more, while adjusting his glasses to sit comfortably on the bridge of his nose... hopefully Noctis wouldn't mind.

"Well? Anything new?"

"You're pestering me, Jei."

"Aw, c'mon, Noct. It's not everyday you and I chat like this." Noctis rolled his eyes, smirking. He was right.

Noctis had met Jei when he was only twelve after his parents had died in a car accident caused by road rage from a running criminal. Jei was the son to his uncle's Driver who had been assigned to drive Noctis' parents around, but also had become a victim to the accident, leaving it only Jei and his mother. It was destined for Jei to be Noctis' driver when the time came. Poor Jei had felt the need to fill in for his father's spot as a loyal follower of the Caelum family for being so kind to him and his mother after the loss of his father. Both he and Jei never really conversed like the close friends they considered each other as much due to being raised professionally in business, but they understood each other like brothers.

Noctis ran a hand through his dark spikes, sighing.

"I fell down the flight of steps outside Rai's house." a snort escaped from his friend, but was quickly covered up with an impassive expression. Noctis glared at him over his shoulder, annoyed. At the same time, a small smile plastered upon his face, agreeing that it was pretty humorous himself.

"How did that happen?" he asked, keeping the jerking smile on his face while starting up the car, taking the chance to exit the parking. Noctis chuckled a bit,

"A girl had her heel caught, and she lost her balance." he explained. Jei arched a brow, a bit more interested. "And what made you fall down the flight of stairs?" he asked, curious.

"She grabbed my arm, pulling me down with her. I didn't realise she was falling" he muttered a reply. Jei's brows raised, laughing slightly. "Wow. What a gentleman" he smirked, taking the next turn at the lights.

"The witch didn't even apologise." he hissed, watching the small buildings become larger and larger, until he had realised that they were entering the city. "She just took off" was all he said after five minutes of silence.

"Well, you sound like you have a fun day." he chuckled, looking at Noctis who was quiet. He smirked once more after thinking of more to talk about while on their way to where Noctis was meant to be in another five minutes.

"What about classes? Any cute girls?" Jei smirked, taking a glance at the shy boy who had chosen not to answer such an inappropriate question. Jei only laughed loudly, seeing that he must've seen quite a few.

"There were new comers today." he finally replied. Jei was pretty much surprised that he answered one of his 'not-so-Noctis' questions.

"How many this time?"

"Twenty-two."

"How much altogether?"

"Maybe fifty-seven, now."

"Wow. How did this become so big? You weren't even aiming for tutorial classes. Ever since you danced with Stella, you've been hooked on such a da-

Jei bit his tongue, regretting he even opened his mouth. Noctis was quiet. Really quiet. Jei sighed, finally reaching the building.

"Noctis, I-

"It's fine. Let's go" he murmured, opening the door and exiting the car, making his way to the entrance of the large building. Jei sighed, shaking his head, disappointed in himself. "IDIOT!" he growled, whacking his head against the steering wheel.

Lightning sighed, slamming the door to her apartment, rubbing her eyes tiredly. She threw her keys on the small table beside the entrance door, heading toward the kitchen, only to be alerted by giggling and squealing.

"Serah? Is that you?" she called, removing Fang's pumps, yelping from the ache she had to endure for the whole day.

"Yeah. I'm in the kitchen with Vanille!"

"Hey, Lightning!" Vanille popped out from the door-less door kitchen and waved at the stressing woman. Lightning gave a faint smile and weakly waved back, bothered. Serah also popped out from the kitchen to greet Lightning who was heading toward the kitchen. Smiling, she held up a small piece of paper with black ink and pictures of dancers and heels with music notes decorating the corners of the paper.

"What is this, Serah?" Lightning asked, curious. She looked down at her sister who was grinning widely.

"The dance class!"

"Serah, I told you no, didn't I... Please, I'm not in the mood at the moment-

"No, Lightning! Listen, Vanille has offered to pay for half of the price. Please, it's only 1500 gil!"

"Serah, please. I'm tired."

"C'mon, Lightning! This is a good offer!"

"Serah-

"PLEASE!-

Lightning gritted her teeth, snatching the paper from her and ripped it up.

"L-Lightning-

"I told you, NO!"

"WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM!"

"What's my problem? WHAT'S MY PROBLEM! MY PROBLEM IS, I JUST GOT FIRED FROM MY JOB BECAUSE I HAD TO DEAL WITH YOU, THIS HOUSE AND THE DAMN BILLS AT THE SAME TIME! HAVE YOU EVER LIFTED A FINGER AROUND THE DAMN HOUSE, SERAH!" Vanille jumped, afraid of the situation between the two women.

Serah's usually serene, steady eyes changed immediately with a hard glare and a disgusted expression.

"You're blaming me for losing your job?"

"YES! You're the damn money waster in the damn family! You ask for an ipod, I buy it for you... only to find out it was broken the next day. Do you know how much that cost me, Serah?"

"SO!"

"I bought you a laptop with a deal for wireless, just to find out a large bill because of the overuse of the internet and this resulted in our power was cut for nearly three months until I paid them back! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THAT COST?"

Serah began to wince with every word coming out of Lightning's mouth.

"Finally, you ask me for a cell phone, and you go behind my back and steal money just so you could top up that damn phone of yours to text your friends! Do you know how much money you took from our savings? Nearly 10'000 gils, Serah! IT'S AS IF YOU'RE THE ONE WHO WORKS IN THIS HOUSE, YOU USELESS PEST OF A DAMN SISTER!"

Lightning's eyes widened, realising what she had just said. She looked at the bulking liquid from Serah's pale blue orbs. Her heart ached suddenly and she could feel her own eyes burn.

"Serah, I-

"N-none of what you said... was the reason I am to blame for losing your job, Lightning." Serah muttered, allowing her tears to fall. Lightning's brows furrowed, watching Serah push past her and ran out of the kitchen, "Serah!" Lightning tried to catch her, but Serah was already out of the apartment with a loud slam to the door.

"SERAH!" Vanille exclaimed, running after the strawberry blond. Lightning sighed, scratching her head, frustrated.

"Light. What happened?" Lightning looked up to see Fang standing at the door of the kitchen entrance, worried. Lightning lowered her head.

"Do you wanna grab a cup of coffee, Fang?" she asked, her voice raspy and tired. Fang gave a small smile, heaving her small handbag onto her shoulder and gave a nod. The look in Lightning eyes seemed faint and distant. Fang saddened, walking up to Lightning who looked as if she were crying... No, she wasn't. Her eyes may seem teary, but the tears would never fall.

"C'mon, Lightning. Let's go" she murmured. Lightning gave a nod.

"NOCT! There you are, buddy!" Noctis looked up at his blond friend who sprinted up to him and held him in a headlock.

"Ven! Get off!" he exclaimed, only to receive a 'noogie' from him. Noctis laughed a little, pushing his hyper active friend off. Ven grinned widely, nudging Noctis' sides.

"C'mon, Noct. Were there any cute girls in class today? C'mon, you can tell me!" he pestered, annoying Noctis.

"Why don't you come to one of them to see for yourself."

"GOOD IDEA!"

"Just make sure to keep yourself at a safe 'ten meters' away from them all. I don't want any complaints from any of their parents or caregivers."

Ven stared at Noctis incoherently. "Exactly how old are these girls, Noctis?"

"The youngest is 16. The oldest is 19."

"Pedophile!"

"How am I a pedophile?"

"You're freaking 25 years old!"

"The legal age is 16."

Ven and the recently arrived Jei gasped.

"Noctis, that's so sick! ... Are they cute?" Noctis twitched, whacking Ven across the head, annoyed.

"I didn't mean it that way you idiot! The legal age to join my classes is 16 and above." he hissed, pushing past Ven who had more questions about the girls spewing from his mouth. Noctis just sighed, ignoring it from now on. He made it to the doors of the elevator, pressing the button going up.

"Noct. Noct. Noctis. Noctis. Noct. Noct-

"SHUT UP, VEN!"

"YOU SHUT UP, JEI!"

Noctis shook his head, stepping into the elevator and pressed the last floor. It took three minutes to get to the top with a few stops for others who wanted to get to the floor higher than their own. A couple greeted Noctis with a bow and a smile, and he in return. Ven was still pestering him with annoying questions and Jei was trying to get him to shut up, threatening to attack him.

*ding*

The elevator doors opened to reveal a tall man with dark brown hair slicked back and a scar on his cheek.

"Hey, Rai!" Ven greeted, giving Rai a high five. The big guy smirked, saluting Noctis and Jei who smirked back. The four of them walked towards the large doors at the end of the building floor, entering with a bow.

"Uncle." Noctis addressed, stepping out of line from the other four. The elder man in the seat before them looked up from his paper work and smirked.

"Noctis... You made it on time, as expected. Although...," Noctis studied him as he stared at his attire.

"I had expected you to present yourself at 'business' standard." he spoke smoothly, though Noctis could feel the disappointment laced faintly in his words. Noctis sighed faintly, hoping his uncle didn't hear him, and gave a nod.

"My apologies, Uncle. I didn't mean to appear in inappropriate wear. I had things to take care of, and wearing a suit wasn't ideal." he replied quickly, yet paced. His uncle remained impassive, looking down at the papers in front of him.

It was silent for a while, until a ring interrupted their small gathering.

"Julius Caelum's office...," Noctis looked over his shoulder to see Rai had answered the phone and he seemed slightly surprised.

"I'll have a word with him right away. Hold for a moment." and with that, he trotted toward Julius. He leaned in to whisper, and Julius himself gave a slight surprised look.

"Really?"

"Yes, sir"

"Interesting. Reply to meet tomorrow at noon here in this office." Rai gave a nod, bowing and continued to talk on the phone. After a couple of seconds passed, he hung up the phone.

Noctis looked at his uncle and arched a curious brow. Julius intertwined his fingers together and leaned atop them.

"Noctis. The only reason I have called you here is indeed about business." he explained, not really interesting Noctis one bit. Just as he thought things were going to get much of a bore than it already was, he was startled by a sudden offer.

"I am putting you in charge of the company held here in Tenebrae. I will be heading over to Midgar for three months and I need someone who can handle this job here to run it." he gave a smirk, only surprising Noctis more.

"I will be hiring for you two new bodyguards who will attend to your needs outside of work, and during your personal trips to the malls, shopping markets and anywhere else." he announced. Noctis looked at Rai who cracked a grin. Ven and Jei arched curious brows, unaware of what Julius had planned.

"Tomorrow, I will be leaving in the morning. You will be meeting your new bodyguards in the afternoon here in your new office."

Lightning gulped down her fourth glass of spirits.

"Uh, take it easy, Light-

"How can I? I just stuffed up my baby sister's feelings. I deserve to hurt myself if I stumble because of my drunkenness." she slurred, making Fang sigh.

"Fang? Am I a horrible sister?"

Fang arched a brow. 'How could she say such a thing?'

"Oh, stop it, Light! Of course you're not!"

"Yes I am... I called my own sister a 'useless pest of a damn sister...' what kind of sister am I? I joined the Cocoon Army when I was her age, and ever since I came back from the Army, I didn't know anything but 'leadership' and 'being in control'... I've forgotten how to be a sister." Fang furrowed her brows. It was rare for Lightning to talk like this. Sighing, she patted the strawberry-head's back downing her own glass of whiskey.

"I can't do anything right. I have some sort of 'clumsiness' when I'm trying my hardest to be feminine and proper... I can't do it."

"You spent majority of your youth in the Army, I don't blame you."

"It was only six years" Fang smirked, shaking her head.

"I just want a job I can do. So I don't have to stress so much" she sighed, leaning onto her palm. Fang sighed, playing with a lock of her own hair.

"You know what? I think you should let her take that dance class."

"No, not you too, Fang..."

"Yes! I'll pay for it! Once she get's into this class, she's hooked and won't spend money anymore!" Lightning arched a brow.

"Hmmm... Is this what happened to Vanille?"

"Yep. She's stopped asking for the many jewelry in the world, all because of this dance class... Although, come to think of it, it's not Serah's fault you're running low on money. You just simply allow her to have what she asks for." Lightning looked at Fang for a moment before laughing, nodding her head in agreement.

"I really need to let loose. I've been stressing so much lately, I've forgotten how to have fun."

"You're absolutely right"

Lightning sighed. "I need to find a job"

"Oh, Light. Just take a break for a month. You really need it."

"Who's gonna pay for the bills?"

"I will!"

"Fang... I mean it. Thanks, though"

Fang sighed, shaking her head.

"You're so stubborn, it's annoying." she hissed, downing another cup. The two fell into a comfortable silence, until Fang shot up from her seat.

"What is it?"

"I HAVE A JOB FOR YOU!"

"Already? Are you serious?"

"Yep!" Fang grabbed out her cell and dialed a number. It took only five seconds for the other line to pick up the phone, and already Fang was getting into the conversation.

"Hello, I am interested in one of the vacant jobs of body guarding. Quick information, I've spent six years in the Cocoon army and I am capable of almost anything from combat skills to weaponry." Fang paused for a bit and smiled brightly.

"Thanks." and with that, she hung up. She looked over at Lightning who was dumbfounded. She must've been a little off her face.

"Girlfriend! You have to meet at this address at 12pm on the dot. You got the spot straight away!" Fang giggled, writing the address on a tissue using the bartender's spare pen.

"Come, I'll drop you home so you can get a good sleep." Fang smiled. Lightning gave a nod, sighing.

"Thanks, Fang. For everything."

"Don't worry, Light." the two stood up and headed for the exit to wait for their ride.

"Oh... What time does that dance class thing start tomorrow?" Lightning asked, rubbing her eye. Fang walked towards to her ride that had just arrived, looking back at Lightning, smiling.

"It starts at 10am, finishes at 11am. You have a whole hour to get ready for your first meeting. C'mon, you need to get some rest." Lightning smiled, hopping into the back seat.

chapter three:

*rrrrrrrring~ ring, ring... ring, ring...*

Lightning muffled from under her messed pillows and sheets. She blinked a couple of times just to gain her sight back, groaning a bit. Sitting up, she yawned, rubbing her aching head.

"What's that damn noise?" she muttered, rubbing her eyes. She looked over to her right to see her small cell vibrate and ring at the same time. She reached over to her small lamp stool, picking up the phone.

"Hell-

"LIGHTNING! GET YOUR ASS UP!"

"Fang? What do you want?"

"Oh my god, I've rung you more than seven times in a row! You're late for the dance class! It's starting in another seen minutes! After that, you have to meet at that place I called for!"

"What are you talking about?"

"You said you were going to take Serah to that dance class! Hurry up, I've already dropped Vanille there..."

Lightning arched a brow, looking at the time, before gasping.

"OH MY GO- I'M GOING, I'M GOING!" she exclaimed, hanging up the phone and getting ready. She shot out of bed without bothering to fix it up and headed for her messy wardrobe.

"What am I gonna wear? What am I gonna wear?" she panicked, chewing her bottom lip. She was trying to find 'appropriate' office clothing for her meeting that she barely remembered Fang making for her. "Um, um, um, um... Damn it!" she just ignored looking for skirts and darted for her tight-fitting black jeans and a loose white plain t-shirt that was on the other side of her closet.

Slipping into her jeans, she scanned the room for her roll of socks that she had finished washing yesterday. Without a singlet underneath, she slipped on her t-shirt and grabbed her white ankle socks from the small pile of other clean socks. She pushed out from her room and hopped down to Serah's room, while trying to put on her socks. She opened Serah's door to see Serah already dressed, but was reading a book and listening to music. She looked up from her book, but sighed looking back down, trying to ignore the fact that Lightning was in her room.

"Serah, come on, we gotta go" Lightning rushed, waiting for Serah to get up. Serah only refused.

"Serah!"

"What do you want, Lightning?" she hissed, plucking the earphones from her cell out of her ears. Lightning sighed, leaning against her door frame.

"I... I've got a surprise for you, okay?" she replied. Serah sighed, closing her book while getting out of bed. Lightning looked at her sister's clothing. A beautiful cherry dress that stopped at her calves with brown loose thin heeled boots, and to top it off, she had a brown vest. Lightning had no idea where she got these clothes from. Was she stealing again?

"Where did you get those clothes?" Lightning's voice seemed tempered. A bit of a rough hiss at the end of the words made Serah roll her eyes.

"If you're only going to growl at me, forget it!"

"I'm just asking, where'd you get them from?"

"I have a bunch of mom's old clothing, okay?" Lightning paused. She saw the distant look on Serah's face. Up until now, she had realised how different her clothes had been. She furrowed her brows, bitting on her lower lip.

"Why are you wearing mom's clothing?" she asked, hesitantly. Serah sighed, placing an irritated hand on her hip.

"Maybe I'm just missing mom! Are we going or not?" Lightning felt a small sting in the pit of her chest. She gave a nod, smiling it off.

"Sorry. Come on, let's go, we're late" she murmured. Serah looked at her sister curiously. She watched as Lightning walked out from her room and headed toward the stairs. She sighed, and began to follow after her.

Serah came out of the house to see that Lightning was already down the stairs waiting by the car. She turned to lock the door, then trotted down the stairs.

Lightning had spaced out for a moment before actually clicking back into reality and opened the car door.

Looking down at her wrist watch, she gasped. '10.12... SHIT!'

"Let's go!"

The two pulled up at a small building, surprising Serah.

"Wait... is this?"

"Yep."

"You're kidding me!"

"C'mon. We're late!" Serah squealed, getting out of the car. Lightning was very amused at how sudden Serah's attitude changed and especially surprised at how tight she squeezed Lightning, while jumping up and down excited.

"Thank you, Lightning! Thank you so much!" Lightning blinked a couple of times and smiled.

"Go on, we're late!"

Serah grinned, running into the building with Lightning slowly following from behind. Lightning had watched as Serah ran into the room, where she could clearly hear Vanille in the background and a bunch of other girls. Surprisingly, she couldn't hear a single males voice.

"Hey, beautiful!"

She thought too soon.

She sighed, rushing to the room, busting through the door. She saw a bunch of guys staring at Serah as if she were a piece of meat. One thing thatreally ticked Lightning off... was that she didn't like the fact that guys talked smack about her sister like that!

"You disgusting little prick!" she snapped, storming up to Serah, protecting her from the lustful glances from the bunch of huddled guys in one spot.

"Oh, is she the mother? She's a bit young to be her mom." Lightning took note of this blond headed boy with a cheeky grin plastered on his face. It was that kind of look that pissed her off most about young boys with hormonal problems.

"I'm her older sister!"

"Now that makes sense," Lightning twitched, walking up to him, face to face.

"If I see you touching her, I swear, I'll break your little neck!" she snapped, raising her clenched fist at him. The blond boy furrowed his brows and stepped back. She was his height, but a tad bit taller, and she was scary. All the guys in the huddled bunch thought she was scary.

"Lightning, you're embarrassing me" Serah murmured, turning red from her humiliation. Lightning glared over her shoulder and snorted.

"I'm just making sure that this slime thinks twice before coming near you!"

"That's the whole point of dancing...," all the attention turned to whom Lightning had thought was another guy who seemed to try and chat up her sister. She looked over at Serah who was speechless when he stepped up to face Lightning. Lightning arched a brow and looked this fellow up and down. He was wearing a suit. A black suit with a black shirt beneath and a navy tie that seemed to be the only colorful thing that stood out, barely. He was tall, and, to be frank, very handsome. To her surprise, he was staring at her intently. As if he had known her. She wouldn't have a clue who he was...

"Who the hell are you?"

Noctis was standing at the stereo where he had set up a c.d he had asked Jei to burn for his class today. He was greatly surprised by the amount of people who had attended today. He was more importantly grateful to see that there were males in his class today. He was a little put off, though, due to the fact that the only reason there were males in his class was because of the many women here. Sighing, he took a quick glance to see how many guys had come. More than ten less than twenty, he guessed. Such bulk numbers joined his classes each day. But, in the end, the women trumped the numbers. There are going to be a few girl with girl partners. He would need to change his location soon. This was getting a bit too much for him.

"Serah! You made it!" he turned his attention at the girl he had met yesterday and saw that she was dressed well enough to dance. It was as if she was expecting what dance he had planned for today. He turned back to set up the sound system. He had planned for his morning to go smoothly until he had to get ready to take over his uncle's responsibility for Tenebrae this afternoon. Hence the reason why he was already dressed for the occasion.

"Hey beautiful!" Noctis twitched. 'Ven. You better not do anything reckless...' he thought to himself, still trying to sort the sound system before he got started. Finally, he had got it to the right song. He pause the track and tuned the volume to suit the room and atmosphere. Just when he had thought things were going as planned, he heard the door being ruthlessly swung open,

"You disgusting little prick!"

Noctis was shocked by such a beautiful voice that was capable of such cursing. He turned around to see what had caused this ruckus, and was in more shock than ever.

'Ven... What in the world have you done!' he hissed, running his hand through his hair and sighed, frustrated. He looked at the situation ahead of him and saw that she had the same colour hair as the girl he met yesterday, but she was taller and he couldn't see her face with her back facing him.

"Oh is she the mother? She's a bit young to be her mom...," Noctis knew whose voice that belonged to, and he wasn't in the mood to deal with a cranky parent.

"I'm her older sister!"

Okay, he wasn't in the mood to deal with a cranky sibling. Especially an older sibling. He just thanked his lucky stars it wasn't an older brother. Noctis heard yet another smart remark escape from Ven's mouth that only made him want to strangle the life out of him.

'I shouldn't have brought him at all!' he sighed, shaking his head.

"If I see you touching her, I swear, I will break your little neck!"

"Lightning! You're embarrassing me"

Noctis was amused at how tough this woman's exterior is. He had never met such an over-protective damsel such as she. A smirk played upon his plump, pink lips and he paused for a moment to see more of this tigress before him. He enjoyed seeing flare in a women, but he had never expected one such as she to have a very violent attitude. He almost felt he was going to laugh, although the air felt thick for others around Ven and the woman.

"I'm just making sure that this slime thinks twice before coming near you!"

Noctis chuckled deeply, using this time to intervene before something actually happens.

"That's the whole point of dancing...," he watched as she turned to glare at him as if he were to be next to have a go at him. His smirk vanished when he had realised who exactly it was he was staring at. Strawberry blond hair that was laid onto her left shoulder and icy orbs of blue, fair skin and quite tall and fit. She wasn't near his height, but she was clearly taller than all the women in his class... But what caught him was that face.

"Who the hell are you?" he arched a brow, almost matching her glare towards him.

"Waltzing into my class with an attitude that is highly inappropriate and uncalled for, asking me of my identity? Such a rude way for a woman to speak." he hissed.

"Lightning... Cut it out! This is the dance instructor. S-sorry, Noctis. I, uh, my sister wanted to check this place out, but I didn't know she would cause such a commotion" Noctis looked down at the young woman who looked almost like the woman in front of him. 'So she is somehow related to this woman...' he sighed, looking at the flushed woman in front of him. It was a weird moment. First she was blaring her head off, and now she was as silent as an ant.

"Ooooh. Uh, I... I'm sorry for, uh... Ruining the moment everyone." she apologised, scooting herself to an isolated seat in the corner of the room. Noctis arched a brow at the sudden change of mood from her.

"Interesting..." he murmured, smirking. He turned to the full class and greeted them all.

"Welcome back to yet another lesson. I assume you all were practicing your steps yesterday?" he asked, earning giggles and whispers. He took it as a yes.

"Before I get started, I would just like to welcome the new comers." he bowed. The males in the back looked at Noctis up and down, a little envious about his looks and the way the girls stared at him more than anyone else in the room. Ven grinned, stepping away from the group and towards the front where Noctis resided. In a swift moment, Noctis held his hand out to Serah who was still a bit red from the embarrassment Lightning put her through.

"Today, I have planned something for more than a days worth. This will last three months, due to immense practice and patients." he smirked, the whole time looking at Serah who gave a shy smile. She reached out to grab his hand and he pulled her into his arms swiftly, making her gasp. The girls who watched snared and snickered quietly amongst themselves. Vanille was giggling at Serah who was blushing greatly.

"Seeing as you were the one who was dressed more for the occasion, I thought that maybe you would be good for my partner today" he muttered into her ear. Serah gulped, feeling a bit uncomfortable in her own skin. Noctis stole a glance from the flaring Lightning in the corner of the room. He saw that her eyes were fixated on his arms wrapped around Serah's body. He ignored the deathly glare and continued with the lesson.

"Three months. We're going to concentrate on one thing in my class" he smirked, moving his hands down Serah's abdomen. Her breathing hitched and she 'eeped' a bit. Noctis darted his eyes from each and every pupil in his class. The girls seemed to hold a look of disgust and aimed it at Serah, and the males in his class rolled their eyes at Noctis.

"And that one thing...," he placed his hands on Serah's hips, causing Lightning to twitch.

"Is to be sexy." with one swift motion, Noctis roughly turned Serah toward him, caressing her spinal cord, stopping at her tail bone.

"The only way to be sexy without even trying...," he began to chuckle as he intertwined his fingers within hers, raising to level with her shoulder. Then, abruptly, he twirled her to face the audience, pressing his chest to her back, roughly pushing her head to the left to expose her creamy neck. He ran his finger down from her jawline to her strained collarbone, creating gasps from the audience.

"... is to just relax," he smirked, twisting her to end up face to face, only inches apart, forcing her bended knee to rest on his hip, and dipped her slightly. "... and let the man expose you." Serah was flushed, her heart felt like it was going to pop out from her chest. She felt like she was in heaven being in the arms of her handsome dance instructor. That was until she felt her body being tugged away from him and pushed behind someone.

"I've seen enough! Stop violating my sister!"

"Not again!"

Lightning was shocked. She had just witnessed her little sister been felt up by a complete stranger, and he was doing it with his own free will and in front of everyone. What kind of dance is this? This was sex with clothes on!

"... is to just relax," her eyes widened when she saw that Serah's face was only inches apart from this dance instructor before her. Her leg on his hip is what set her off. She stood up from her sit. She couldn't stand seeing her sister being violated like this.

"... and let the man expose you." she gritted her teeth, and stormed up to the two and snatched her sister away from his grasp.

"I've seen enough! Stop violating my sister!" she snapped, and this time, she wasn't going to apologise for interrupting the lesson.

"Not again!" Lightning looked the man in the eye and was surprised by the flickering red in his eyes. Something about those orbs scared her in a way. She blinked a couple of times, trying to see if she was hallucinating. She only met navy orbs and a pretty disappointed expression upon his face.

"Lightning. You're ruining the moment again!" Serah hissed, only being ignored. Lightning wasn't too keen on allowing her sister to dance with this violator ever again.

"I don't care, Serah. This wasn't the type of dance I had thought of when I had decided to let you take these classes." she murmured back, never breaking the intense gaze between she and him. She was caught off guard when he smirked, and held her chin, tilting it upward to meet eye to eye. She blinked a couple of times and tried to register what was happening to her.

"You're very rude, aren't you?" his voice seemed pissed, but his eyes never showed any hint of anger. Lightning's brows furrowed, incoherent about her situation.

He inched a bit closer to her, nearly touching noses, and he could feel that she had suddenly stopped breathing.

"Especially after pulling someone down a case of metal stairs and leaving without an apology" he hissed, pulling away from her. She arched a brow. She stared at him as if he were crazy... but she had thought hard, and in a moment, she had remembered the fabric she felt before she had fallen down the stairs.

"It was you?" she muttered. Serah was shocked. "YOU PULLED HIM DOWN THE STAIRS?" she exclaimed, shocked. Lightning furrowed her brows. She shrugged, earning deadly glares from this guy's fan club.

"I didn't know I pulled something down the stairs with me! I was in a rush and I thought it was only me falling." she muttered, ashamed. Serah sighed, annoyed. Her older sister had ruined her first official class! She was never going to bring her here ever again.

"Lesson's over" Lightning looked at him and arched a brow. She looked down at her watch, furrowing her brows.

"OH MY GOD! IT'S 11.36! This class was supposed to be over ages ago!" she screamed, heading out the door. A few seconds later, she poked her head back through the door and bit her lip. "Serah, could you catch a ride back with Vanille, I've got stuff to do" she muttered and left again.

Noctis was really amused with this woman. She wasn't like what he was used to. She was definitely tough, he figured from her confrontation with Ven at the start of class, and she was also... Somewhat, hyper actively rude. Her voice wasn't so high to what he was used to expecting from a woman. She was rather more coarse than elegant. She may have the features, but she definitely didn't have the qualities of a woman from what he's seen.

"Noct. We're going to be late for the meeting." Ven alerted, "Jei's outside right now." Noctis smirked and gave a nod, walking towards the exit. He turned back to lock the doors and headed out with Ven who was still shaken a bit by being threatened by a woman. Noctis noticed this and chuckled. "You're scared of a girl?" he asked. Ven frowned, glaring at Noctis who was laughing.

"Shut up. You weren't the one who was being threatened" he hissed. Noctis grinned, amused by the frightened expression on Ven's face that he rarely ever saw. This, Lightning, woman had a huge effect on the day. It was a shame that after what had happened today, he wouldn't be seeing her around anymore.

Chapter four:

"Oh my gosh, Vanille! She embarrassed me in front of the entire class! How could she do this to me?" Serah cried, covering her red face. Vanille smiled, placing an assured hand on Serah's back. "Oh, Serah. She's just being the protective sister she's cut out to be" Serah rolled her eyes and grunted, "Whatever, she did that on purpose so I wouldn't go back to that dance class" she snapped back, only making Vanille giggled. "Serah, we're talking about Lightning! Of course she's going to be overly-protective of her own little sister being touched in awkward areas in her eyes. Lightning will always be worried about your well-being. At least give her credit for that" she asked. Serah tightened her lips, a bit iffy about forgiving Lightning for what she's done.

Blaming her for losing her job, is one thing. Embarrassing her in front of the entire dance class, and in front of her dance instructor was another thing, but literally verbally attacking her dance instructor was something so unforgivable to her. How will she ever show herself to him again?

"I just hope Lightning doesn't come to the next dance class" Serah muttered. Vanille laughed. "Well, thank your lucky stars. My Aunt. Fang knows everything, and she's promised that your sister will never step foot in that class again" she assured. Serah sighed, relieved. "Oh, thank Etro. I'm so jealous of you, Vanille. You have such an awesome Aunt. I wish she were my sister." Vanille pouted, "Aw, don't say that, Serah." Serah rolled her eyes.

"I'm serious. At least she doesn't boss you around, or makes you do things you don't want to do" Vanille frowned. "I just want my sister to be more... more like my mom"

"$#!T" Lightning exclaimed, digging through her pile of clothes. She was lost, and she didn't know what to wear! She pulled out a black t-shirt with faded blue jeans and frowned.

"No." she threw that behind her and searched again. She dug deeper into the unfolded clean washing, and then pulled out something very stunning. She had found a set of Fang's clothes that she had borrowed a couple of days ago, and she forgot to return it. She pursed her lips together and thought for a moment. "Should I?" she asked herself, sighing. She looked down to her feet and bit her lip pondering some more before actually giving in to wearing this gorgeous black satin short sleeved dress. She darted for her wardrobe and grabbed the matching black CL champagne chiffon ambrosina pumps and ran toward the hallway mirror to do her hair into a low side bun, sticking a black french-clip to hold it still.

"Ready" she frowned at the fact she had to wear this outfit again. She didn't like wearing dresses and heels at all. Maybe it was because she could never feel comfortable in it. Fang had no problem wearing this stuff, but that was because she was brought up in a very wealthy family and it wasappropriate to wear high standard clothing. Lightning cringed at looking at herself in the mirror. She needed to make this new job work... come to think of it, Fang never told her what job this is. Or was she too drunk to remember?

"Just... Go to the building and get this day over and done with" she hissed at herself and swiped her tattered brown bag from the counter desk and pulled out the tissue Fang scribbled the address onto and checked the time.

"DAMN IT!" she exclaimed, reading 11.54am. She snatched her keys from beside her bag and jolted out of the house and locked the doors. Before she even thought about rushing down the stairs, she gripped the rail and glided down the stairs with ease. 'Phew... I made it' she internally giggled, but on the outside, she was pissed off. She needed to get to that building in under 6 minutes and she needed to get there fast. She hopped into her car and smirked.

"Let's make a good first impression for the new boss" she shifted the gear into reverse and sped out of the car park, leaving a huge cloud of dust behind her.

Noctis, Ignis and Prompto were making their way towards the building and Prompto was blabbering about how hot each chick in that dance class was, and it really pissed Noctis off. It wasn't the fact that he said how cute each and every one of the females in his class was, it was the fact that he usedinappropriate words to describe their features.

"We're here" Ignis said calmly. Noctis was first to exit the car and straightened his tie and suit. He looked over the roof of the car and realised the pack of press, paparazzi and news reporters at the entrance of the building. Noctis gritted his teeth, looking at Ignis who seemed shocked himself. Meanwhile, Prompto was already strutting down the aisle, posing for the cameras.

"Damn it, Prompto!" Ignis exclaimed, getting out of the car, and guided Noctis along to ignore the press and such.

"Mr. Caelum! Word has been said that you will be running the Caelum Corps for the next three months. Why is this?"

"Sorry, Mr. Caelum is in a rush. We cannot afford to waste any time right now." Ignis excused himself and Noctis and tried to rush him through the building to the top floor.

"Prompto you idiot" Noctis and Ignis hissed, whacking him on the head. Wincing in pain, Prompto glared at them and rubbed his aching head. "What?"

Lightning pulled up at the Caelum building and looked down at the tissue. She looked up at the sleek sign reading 'Caelum Corps' across the top floor windows. She furrowed her brows. 'This seems way more strict than my last job' she thought, stepping out of her rag-of-a-car and shut the door, breaking the door handle. She gritted her teeth and threw the handle to the ground.

"AH, for Goodness sake- huh?" she had realised that there was a whole lot of people gathering at the doors to the building and two figures had just entered the building. She raised a very curious brow. "What the hell is going on here?" she asked herself, studying the men and women with cameras and microphones. She stuck her key into her front door and locked the car, and checked her time.

"SHIT" she exclaimed, heaving her bag over her shoulder and jolted for the building doors. Running past the pack of people, she could feel their eyes on her, so she shot a deadly glare at them, making them jump back a bit.

'What the hell is her problem?'

'She's scary' Lightning sighed, ignoring their comments and ran for the entrance.

She made it inside and looked around, trying to find the receptionist table. Finding it, she brisk walked towards the desk, only to be pushed aside... Roughly.

"What the hell?" she exclaimed, nearly losing her balance and almost fell over if it wasn't for the waiting chair beside the elegant desk. She looked up at the tall man before her with a creamed trench coat, black bandanna and blond hair muddled in different directions. He turned toward her and wrinkled his nose arrogantly. She gritted her teeth, "People like you are the ones who piss me off most!" she exclaimed, storming up to the man and pulled him back to face her and sucker punched him in the jaw.

The workers on the bottom floor gasped at what they had seen. "What the hell is your problem!" he hissed, rubbing his chin, glaring at her.

"My problem?" she asked, calmly sneering down at him. He raised a brow and grabbed onto her collar, about to retort, but she acted quickly and reversed his hold into a tight arm lock behind his back and tripped him to the ground. "Don't even think about touching me, you scumbag." she hissed. The man was in shock.

'Is this chick even a chick? What the hell was that?' he thought to himself, afraid to admit that she was pretty strong.

"Somebody call the police!" the receptionist screamed, frightened about what she was seeing in front of her.

"You're pretty much closest to the phone, miss. But, there's no need to, actually" Lightning looked back at a tall, very intimidating man who was covered in dust with a very plain expression on his face.

"I'm sorry, but this building is strictly violent and smoke-free. If you two have a problem to deal with, I suggest you both leave now" he demanded. Lightning pushed the man away out of her grip and huffed. "I only came for my interview with Mr. Caelum, and then this fool here rudely pushed me aside, purposely. He deserved what came to him" she excused herself, patting down her attire. The man gritted his teeth, angry. "You bitch! You're the one who punched me for no damn reason! And for the record, I apologised to you when I gently pushed you aside!" The tall, dark man just stared at the two bickering, realising exactly why they're here.

"You're both here to see Mr. Caelum?" he asked between their argument that was being watched by the entire bottom floor. They looked at him with pissed expressions and replied with a grunt. He took it as a yes. "Please, come with me" he instructed. Lightning looked at the man and screwed her face into a disturbed expression. "You better keep your distance if you know what's right for you" she threatened. He rolled his eyes. "Oh, get over it, Drama-mama" he hissed and followed the big guy.

Lightning kept that same twisted expression on her face and followed along too. She darted devilish glares at the watchers around her and instantly, they returned to their allocated jobs.

"Okay, where's Gladiolus? He's taking so long to get here... And the two new body guards are taking their sweet time, too" Prompto hissed, rolling back and forth on Noctis' office chair. Noctis sighed, leaning against his desk and brought a hand to his forehead. "He should be here soon. Just be patient" he said, slightly annoyed by Prompto's voice. Ignis was feeling rather impatient too, checking his time.

"It surely isn't like Gladiolus to be late. He's usually the first here" Noctis agreed to what Ignis has stated. He checked his wrist watch and frowned.'12.24pm' he wasn't impressed. Both his to-be body guards weren't even here yet. How in the world is he going to trust them, if they're going to be tardy?

"Noctis" the three men looked up and saw Gladiolus walk in, covered in dust. "Whoa. Gladiolus, what happened to you, bro?" Prompto asked, shocked. Gladiolus bowed his head, a little embarrassed, yet with pride. "Some crazy driver revved a bit too much and created a sand storm... I was caught in it" he briskly explained. The three men paused. Ignis and Noctis restrained themselves from laughing, but Prompto had no problem with blurting out a laugh. Gladiolus glared at him and ignored him, annoyed.

"Anyway, your clients have arrived" he quickly mentioned before burning Prompto's head off. Noctis gave a nod, holding up a hand to signal them to come in, "Let them in"

Gotta Be Love

CHAPTER ONE: The New Girl

Noctis stared at the window watching the trees, people, and small stores and building pass by. The limo started to pull up to a familiar walk way that he has always remembered since he started school as a freshman here. His head was resting on top of his right fist and his eyes were lazily drooping from the lack of sleep he had last night, he wasn't really a morning-person so he is really grumpy this morning. His best friend named Larvis kept him up all night with his constant calling and bickering about how he was so excited to see Vanille again because he hasn't seen her throughout the whole winter break. Noctis was falling asleep and closed his eyes.

Beep beep beep beep beep beep. Noctis' phone rung and vibrated in his pocket. Noctis groaned and opened his cell phone to a loud voice.

"HEY NOCT!" shouted the voice. Noctis had to get the receiver a few inches away from his ear so he wouldn't burst his eardrum.

"Dammit, Larvis, keep your voice down. It's early in the morning." Noctis said in an annoyed tone.

"Ahaha, sorry Noct. I just have some great news to tell you, bro!"

"I'm not interested." Noctis said. "I'm hanging up." Noctis said almost reaching the end button, Larvis stopped him.

"WAIT NO NO!" Larvis repeatedly pleaded.

"Can't this wait until we go into class?"

"No, it can't!" Larvis said.

Noctis exhaled loudly. "Then what the HELL do you so desperately need to tell me?" He said while pinching slowly in between his eyes.

"Noct, I heard that there's gonna be a transfer student commin'!" Larvis said excitedly.

Now Noctis was really pissed off. "You… you call me at 6:15 in the MORNING just to tell ME that there's gonna be a new TRANSFER STUDENT?"

"Hell yeah!"

"Goodbye, Larvis."

"Aw, c'mon Noct! Don't be like that! Guess what else? That person made number one on their entrance exam. Maybe, just maybe, your up for some competition." Larvis said in a sneaky sort of way voice.

Noctis sighed. "The hell if I care. I know I'll always be at the top." He said confidently.

"Oh well, you never know what fate has in store."

"Ugh. Goodbye and see you in class." Noctis hung up.

As the vehicle slowed down because of crossing students, out of the corner of Noctis' eyes, caught a glimpse of a strawberry-blonde hair outside. The strawberry-blonde color stood out so perfectly when it's the season of the cherry blossoms. The color seemed to pierce through him and it captivated him. He turned to see what it was but found nothing. He rubbed his eyes a bit and blinked several times to shrug off what he had seen.

He gotten out of his limo a few minutes later and started walking up the small path all students take to go to the entrance of the school.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Noctis just listened to his shoes pound against the ground. His bag slumped over his shoulder and his left hand in his pocket; he looked up and could see all the cherry blossom petals that filled the campus air.

"Noctis!" He heard a voice call. He didn't even make an effort to show a sign of response either. He just kept on walking until he heard running footsteps coming. He turned to see his friend Larvis huffing and puffing.

"Sheesh, Noct." Larvis said panting.

"And good morning to you too." Noctis said and continued walking with Larvis close behind. Noctis laughed. "I could see your blonde spiky hair from miles away. Did you bleach it again?" He said with a raised eyebrow and glanced at his blonde friend.

"I guess you could say that." Larvis said with a big smile.

Noctis just smiled, shook his head and averted his eyes forward.

"Hey, Noct, so who do you thing the new transfer will look like? I bet it's a guy." Larvis said smirking.

"Well, don't bet all your luck, buddy." Noctis said with a smile playing over his lips. He knew that Larvis had bad intuition and always lost his money to bets.

"Aw, c'mon, Noct! Be at least a little more excited! It's the first day of school and your last year of president, captain of the track and field team, and leader of self-defense class. Not to mention, the captain of the shooting range team." Larvis pleaded. "AND it's our senior year. Graduation is just around the corner for us!"

"Yeah, for US, not YOU." Noctis teased.

Larvis laughed. "That's the spirit!"

Noctis laughed and both of the two boys made their way up to Bodhum High School.

Just as Noctis and Larvis got into class, a swarm of friends went over to them.

"Hey, Noct! How ya been?" Cloud Strife said. He was a pretty short guy, about 5"7' or so, with a short temper and really blonde and spiky hair with is blue eyes that stood out a little. He was a really good friend to Noctis since they've been friends ever since he could remember.

Noctis just smiled and nodded. "I'v been good." And he took his seat.

"Oh, Larvis! You bleached your hair?" asked Aerith, a braided brunette who is one of the most respected girl in class because of her kindness and nice personality. She was currently dating Zack, Cloud's older brother. Zack was a sophomore at Bodhum University.

Larvis laughed. "If that's what you think!" He teased.

"Oh, Larvis I love it!" Vanille said enthusiastically as she skipped over the the little bundle of people. She was the one Larvis had a huge crush on. She had an orange pink kind of hair and had an odd Australian accent. She was a cute girl and very easy to make a friend out of. She was the only girl who all girls loved and had that down to earth sort of personality. Her height was short, only 5"3', a head smaller than Larvis.

Larvis blushed madly and scratched the back of his head. "Thanks, Vanille." They both walked each other over to their seats.

As the morning break passed by with missed conversations with friends about their long break, the teacher walked in.

"Alight, alright, I know some of you haven't seen each other in a long time, but ya gotta settle down now." Said a dark colored man, with a big afro.

"Aw." The class girls and some boys said in unison.

"Oh, c'mon Sahz sensei! It's our last year! We have senior privileges don't we?" Larvis said.

Sahz laughed. "Well, yes. But anyway," he continued as he shook his head. "I have some news to tell you." He said with a smile.

Everyone in the class looked at each other wondering what it would be. Then they turned their attention back to Sahz.

"So, what's up sensei?" Cloud asked.

"There will be a new transfer student in this class this year. I want you to be a welcoming class and treat em' like you would treat your close friends." Sahz said then turned to the door. "Alrighty, come on in."

Everyone started to whisper his or her bets. Some bet it was a girl, most bet it was a guy.

Noctis laughed at them. Even though he had all the money in the world, he knew betting could be a large habit. So Noctis held his breathe to see who was about to come. Everyone looked at the door intently.

Then, someone walked through the door. Her strawberry-blonde pink hair flowed, untamed, one her left side and her bangs seemed to spike a bit to the right covered her icy, electric blue eyes. She was kind of tall, the height of maybe 5"7' or 5"8'. Her uniform blouse tucked in with sleeves rolled up showing her soft forearms and hands. It was buttoned up leaving only two buttons unbuttoned, defining her bust a little more than it should have, and a thin black jacket tied around her waist. Her black skirt was short, like the rest of the girls' skirts but it showed the best pair of legs the boys had ever seen. Her white socks came up until right below the knees with her black converse shoes and her black jansport bag slung over on one shoulder.

Noctis' eyes stared in amazement. She was the strawberry-blonde pink that he had seen outside the car. He never knew that it would to a shade that matched exactly the color of the blooming cherry blossoms. The blossom was pink but it still had the white tang in it. Noctis had to admit, she was very attractive, almost lady like. Her posture said to him that she was very confident and had a womanly grace to her.

Noctis' tunneled vision toward the girl stopped when Sahz said, "Alright, here is your new classmate, class."

Everyone oohed and ahhed at her. And some pouted that they had lost the bet. Some guys even called dibs on the girl.

"C'mon, don't be shy. Introduce yourself." Sahz smiled.

The icy blue eyes averted from Sahz to the class. The girl then sighed.

"Hey." She started. "I'm Lightning Farron. I'm seventeen years old. I transferred from the city Eden but I was born and raised in Bodhum." She said in a non-interested voice.

"Okay. Well, one thing she left out is that she came from the Guardian Corps." Sahz said happily smiling. Everyone was amazed, even Noctis couldn't believe it. A seventeen year old already taking the job of a soldier.

Lightning shot her eyes toward Sahz. "Why tell them what they don't need to know, sensei?" She asked in a frightful tone.

"It's something that they should know, since they are your classmates." Sahz said.

Lightning sighed, wishing she could go back home. "Can I sit now?"

"Sure. Uh, you can sit in… the seat there, behind Vanille."

Vanille raised her hand and waved it. "Over here!" She said smiling.

"...great..." Lightning said in an irritated voice.

'Oh crap.' Noctis thought. She would be sitting right in from of him and Noctis blushed madly and tried to hide his face by putting half of his face buried into his crossed arms on the desk. Larvis teasingly nudged at Noctis' back. Noctis make a small groan only loud enough for Larvis to hear.

Lightning made her way over to the desk behind Vanille. When she edged closer, her eyes locked with Noctis'. Both of their eyes seemed to penetrate all the way down to both of their hardy souls. She slowed down a bit but quickly to soon, she broke the gaze and gotten seated.

Vanille turned around and introduced herself. "Hi! My name is Oerba Dia Vanille." She said with a smile and held out her right hand. "Nice to meet you, Lightning."

"Pleasure, to meet you too, and call me Light." Lightning said shaking Vanille's hand. "You are in the Dia clan from the village of Oerba?" Lightning asked, suddenly interested in the conversation.

Vanille's eyes widened. "Wow! You really know your geography! Yes, and I'm pride to be!" She said with a laugh. She then titled her head to see Noctis behind Lightning.

"Oh, and another person to introduce! That person there, right behind you, is practically the ruler of the school, Noctis Lucis Caelum." Vanille said pointing straight at Noctis.

Noctis' eyes were wide open in surprise and blushed furiously. Lightning turned around and faced him. "Uh, nice to meet you. I'm Noctis, but you can call me Noct." Noctis said nervously and held out his hand.

Lightning shook his hand. "Pleasure to meet you, too." Just when both of their skins touched, it was sudden electricity that didn't want the two to let go. Noctis blushed but not making it so noticeable to be easily read by anyone. Lightning was the one to break the connection of their skin. Larvis, almost standing out of his seat, leaned over Noctis' shoulder and held out a hand. "And I'm Larvis! Pleased to meetchya!"

Lightning shook his hand. "And you too." Then, with a small glance back at Noctis' eyes, she turned around towards Vanille.

"Alright now, settle down, first announcement of the day…" Sahz vented.

Everyone settled down to listen to the teacher.

'This is for her.' Lightning thought to herself. 'This is for Serah.'

CHAPTER TWO: A Challenge from Delinquents

"So class, we need to get to the auditorium for entrance ceremony for the freshmen. Seniors, President, Noctis, be welcoming to your underclassmen. Line up in the hall please." Sahz directed.

Lightning sighed. She didn't have any intention of going to some ceremony. As her classmates began to assemble outside in the hall, Vanille caught a glance at Lightning that she wasn't budging from her seat, she skipped back over to her, pulling her free hand. "C'mon, Light!" She begged as she pulled and yanked.

Lightning groaned. "Only if you LET GO." Lightning said as gently as possible for her.

With a highly irritated Lightning and a highly cheerful Vanille, they both exited the classroom and filed down with their class in the hallway.

Lightning was seated between Vanille on the left and Tifa on the right. Next to Tifa was Squall then Rinoa. Next to Vanille was Larvis then Aerith and Cloud. Noctis was seated at the top on the stage with the rest of the student council accompanied with the school's principal, Principal Rufus. As the ceremony went on with the speech of the principal for only a few minutes, seemed like a few hours to Lightning. Lightning's eyes started to droop a bit but quickly paid attention to the speaker when it was Noctis' turn to speak.

"Students, teachers, and staff of Bodhum High School, welcome back to another year of fun, education, and maybe even some sorrow. Freshmen and transfer students who do not know me, I am Noctis Lucis Caelum, your Student Council President, and captain of varies classes and teams from class 4-2." He said with a high and mighty voice. Most of the girls in the freshman year adored him, and said that he was the hottest guy they've ever seen. Lightning just rolled her eyes and sighed to listen to the rest of the speech.

"Freshmen, I hope you will come to love this school, just as I, your upperclassmen, and principal Rufus and staff. Another announcement is that today is half-day so, after the ceremony." Noctis said. "That is all, and everyone, have a great year." He said with a wave of his hand then seated himself.

When the ceremony was over, everyone crowded at the entrance waiting for his or her friends to walk home with and waiting for rides home. Vanille, Larvis, Cloud, Noctis, Squall, Rinoa, Aerith, and Tifa were all under the shade by a tree. Lightning sighed as she hung from a branch about 5 to 6 feet off the ground with one leg up and one leg that hung down and her bag as a back comforter.

"Ah, sorry guys but me and Rinoa are gonna head out to the café for a drink. Anyone want to come?" Squall asked.

"Oh, I'll go. Zack has a few more classes to go to at the university so I have time on my hands." Aerith said. The trio then set out for the café leaving Larvis, Vanille, Cloud, Tifa, Noctis, and Lightning at the tree.

"Oh guys, so I've wanted to throw a welcome back to school party at my house, it'll be a party like it's the last time to have fun. It'll be on a Saturday night so anyone gonna come?" Tifa said with hopeful eyes, mostly looking at Cloud. Cloud cleared his throat a little. "Uh, sure." With that said, Tifa was flaming with adoration.

"Ooh ooh! I am definitely coming!" Vanille shouted while jumping up and down waving her hand.

Larvis scratched the back of his head. "Well, if she'll come, I'll come too." He said with a small blush.

Noctis just sighed. "Well, someone has to babysit Larvis."

"Hey!" Larvis sulked.

Everyone except Lightning laughed. They all then turned to Lightning.

"So, what about you, Light?" Vanille asked.

Lightning just stared off into space, thinking deeply.

"Um… Earth to Lighting?" Vanille said while tapping Lightning's dangling leg.

Lightning glanced to her. "Hm? You say something, Vanille?" She said with a raised eyebrow.

"Would you like to go to my party on Saturday?" Tifa said. Lightning rose her head from looking down at Vanille to level her eyes with Tifa. "Everyone's gonna be there. I'm gonna invite Aerith, Squall, and Rinoa the next time I see them." Tifa said with a smile.

"Uh…" Lightning said while tipping her head to the side to think. She hasn't ever been invited to a party before, but one thing that she hated about it was those silly games and involving dancing and more of that sort. She frowned.

"Oh, please, oh please come, Light! It'll be so much better if you came! And not to mention that Tifa's place is super cool!" Vanille said jumping up and down for a few seconds from the excitement.

"I, uh, don't think I can go... You see me car-" Lightning said choosing her words carefully.

"Awwww. But Light!" Vanille begged, cutting off Lightning's sentence.

"Yah, Light! It would be awesome if you came." Larvis said, hands behind his head.

Noctis just stayed quiet, arms crossed and leaning on the trunk of the tree, waiting for her answer. 'Hopefully she'll come, then I can have a decent conversation with her.' Noctis thought hopefully. Cloud stepped a step closer.

Cloud blushed and offered, "If you need a ride, you could come and ride with me on my bike?"

Noctis felt his mouth a bit and felt like he was about to fall to the ground from a heart attack. 'What the frickn' hell! I thought he was totally into Tifa!' He thought. He was about to open his mouth to say something but Lightning beat him.

Lightning's eyes widened a bit for a split second and cleared her throat. "Um, thanks, Cloud, but no thanks." Lightning said.

"Oh okay then…" Cloud said, a little disappointed and a bit surprised. 'Wow, never been rejected about that before...' Cloud thought with a mental from. He rubbed his temple. 'I'm getting a feeling that I should get used to that...'

Tifa seemed to breathe a small sigh of relief and so did Noctis. "So, you coming, or what?" She said with a clear fake smile. 'Looks like she doesn't like me much… heh, bring it. I'm up for some fun.' thought Lightning with a mental smirk.

"Sure, I'll come." Lightning said with a sly smile, returning that fake smile of Tifa's. Tifa gave a quick stingy look and with another fake smile, "Great."

"Oh this is going to be so fun!" Vanille jumped up and down and squealed to such a high pitch, Lightning thought it could be heard from miles away.

Lightning covered her ears in discomfort and so did everyone else. "Vanille!" Everyone said in unison.

Vanille stopped squealing and jumping around. "Oh," she said while one hand scratched the back of her head and smiled, "Ahahaha… sorry." She apologized.

At the entrance of the driveway, a long black limo came into view and honked a horn. "That's my queue. Larvis, you need a ride?" He asked while walking towards the flashy limo.

Larvis laughed. "Hell yeah! You haven't offered me in months!" He said running after him.

"What's with the sudden kindness, huh?" Larvis joked.

"So that you can just vent to me in the car and not at night on the phone when I'm trying to sleep, you idiot! Sheesh..."

"But you know you love me right?" Larvis said in a baby voice.

Noctis just smirked and gave Larvis a headlock and a good hard noogie, Larvis hated it because it messed up his hair, until they reached the car. After the others waved goodbye except for Lightning who just watched. Cloud glanced at his watch and said, "Ah, crap... Better get going, I got to go work for part time today." He excused himself with Tifa staring at him as he walked to his bike. Once he got his shades on, which Tifa swooned and Lightning made a smirk because she had to admit he was pretty good looking, and his engine started up, he gave the girls a small goodbye wave and rode off.

"I'd better go too. See you tomorrow." Tifa said waving goodbye running out through the entrance.

"Ahhhhhhh, I'm beat." Vanille said while stretching her arms over her head.

"Maybe because you were so hyper today." Lightning muttered with a smirk.

Vanille laughed. "I can hear you, and yes, maybe." She said with a smile.

Suddenly they heard a "Hey!" in a slightly high voice.

Lightning and Vanille looked at the direction the noise were coming from. A group of junior boys were picking on the new freshman boy across the front lawn at the entrance doors to the school. Lightning sighed and jumped down from the branch. 'Ah, damn... my good side is getting the better of me. Usually I won't care...' She thought with a mental frown.

"Light?" Vanille asked.

"Well, we can't just let those idiots roam freely and pick on a freshman, can we?" She said while walking towards the scene. Vanille nodded vigorously after Lightning was halfway across the field and chased Lightning close behind.

"Hey, apologize, you little brat." A boy said with spiky grey hair as Lightning edged closer.

"I didn't mean to push you!" the freshman boy declared.

"APOLOGIZE NOW!" Another boy said with straight grey hair that reached the end of his neck.

"N—" the freshman started to protest but another guy from the junior trio said, "Shut up, you punk and apologize!" He said and pushed the freshman to the ground. Then a flash of white, black, and strawberry-blonde whipped in between the freshman and grey haired gang, pushing the one closest to Hope two steps back. It was Lightning and she had her hand on her hip and one holding her bag strap that hung over her shoulder.

"What the hell do you think you guys are doing, hm? Picking on a freshman just on the first day of school…" Lightning said shaking her head in disappointment, looking down at the ground. "That's real low, you know." Lightning said in a fierce voice as her icy electric blue eyes looked up slowly to theirs, seeming to pierce through everything that she saw.

"And who the fuck are you supposed to be?" The grey spiky haired one said with his voice trembling.

"A girl who you do NOT want to piss off." She said in a piercing voice, then glanced back at the freshman, and saw Vanille catch up to them, kneel beside the fallen freshman, and put a hand on the freshman's shoulder. "You alright?" Vanille asked.

"Uhm… yeah thanks." He said.

Lightning then avrted her attention back at the lowly gang.

"Heh, that kid deserves it." One said with a big grin.

Lightning made an exasperated groan. "I'll spare you if you walk away now. I am usually not this… well, let's put it this way, merciful…" She said with a frown.

"Like we'd run away from some pink-haired chick like you! It's not even like you stand a chance against us!" The last statement pissed off Lightning even more and made her fingers twitch, wanting to throw the first punch but refrained herself. "Move out of the way, that damn kid still needs to have some respect for his superiors and apologize." Said the grey haired guy with the short hair until the end of his neck who was smiling like a hyena.

Lightning gave a smirk. 'These guys really piss me off.' Lightning thought. "And you obviously need to show some respect for yours." She spit back in a threatening voice showing her senior emblem on her blouse's left sleeve by showing her left side profile. It was a deep blue cloud shaped figure that was surrounded by white stars. The gang cringed back but then took a step forward. "You sure have some guts to be such hypocrites." She said as she turned back forward.

"What did you say you little bi-" He said while he was about to give her a punch in the face.

Lightning, in a record time of one point five seconds, squatted down and kicked both of his feet so he fell to the ground with her right leg.

"What the? What the hell is wrong with you?" The two others said helping up the other grey haired boy.

Lightning rose up. "I'm doing self-defense, you idiots. That's one of the least damage I can do. Be grateful I'm being so merciful on you."

"You guys! If you fight with her, you'll definitely get hurt!" Vanille shouted.

"Vanille, please, I'll hold myself back." Lightning said without looking back, a smirk playing on her lips.

"Heh, so you want a fight huh? Fine. We'll back off from the little kid… for now." The spiky haired on said with a sly smile on his face.

"And we challenge you. Bring a friend too. We aren't that low to hit a chick who doesn't have help from another person." Another one, he had really long, straight grey hair and was the tallest of all of them said.

"Heh, right. Did you just see what your friend did not to long ago?" Lightning countered pointing to the guy between the two others.

Two of the grey haired boys frowned at the one who threw the punch and both let go of the grey haired boy that was in the middle's arms.

"Heh, and like I need help from anyone to defeat people who isn't even worth fighting." Lightning said in an irritated voice.

"What did you say you little bitch? Fine! Bring no one with you! This will be settled after school at the gym's 2nd basketball court where no one can hear or help you no matter how much you scream for it." The spiky haired guy said.

"You boys will be the ones screaming." She said with a smirk.

The boys glared at her.

"Oh the glaring contest? Surely I'll win." She said with and evil looking glare and a threatening smile.

The boys cringed back a bit. "Heh, we can wait till' tomorrow. Be prepared." They said as the walked away.

Lightning sighed. "damn idiots…" She said while she pinched the bridge of her nose. Then glanced at the freshman boy. "You hurt?" She asked, trying to sound like she didn't really care, but there was a small hint that she did.

"No, t-t-thank y-you." He said blushing a little from all the girls' attention.

Vanille chuckled. "So, what's your name? My name's Vanille, and the one that saved you is Lightning." She said with a comforting smile pointing to Lightning.

"Call me Light." Lightning said.

"Vanille… Light… thanks… for saving me." He said with a small embarrassed smile. "My name is Hope. Hope Estheim." He said.

"Well, Hope, today is your lucky day. You won't be bothered by those guys anymore thanks to Light." Vanille said helping him up.

"But… you'll have to face them tomorrow." He said to Lightning looking really worried. "And you might get hurt!"

Lightning smirked. "Heh, they aren't even strong enough to face the monsters at Lake Bresha." She said teasingly.

"You've been there? I thought only…" Hope started to wonder.

"Well you see, Light is from the Guardian Corps. That's why she knows how to fight really well and knows all these places." Vanille said, then remembered how irritated it made Lightning when Sahz told the class about that. "Oops. Sorry Light…" she said with her left hand's index finger on her lips and frowned.

Lightning sighed. "... Its alright." She said. "Who were those guys anyway?" She asked.

"Those three are brothers. They are naturally the delinquents of their year. The spiky haired one is Loz, the youngest brother. The one with the hair up to the end of his neck is Kadaj, the oldest. And lastly is the one with the long grey hair. That one is the middle child, Yazoo." Vanille explained. "They are all twins but very much different."

"Thanks for the info." Lightning said and turned to Hope. "And how old are you? You don't… look… like fifteen…" She said, trying not to be too harsh.

"Well, yeah…" He started, then laughed. "I'm only fourteen. I skipped a couple of grades."

"Wow! Your so smart!" Vanille said.

Hope chuckled. "It was only preschool and seventh grade." He smiled.

Lightning looked at the sky and the school grounds. There were only a few students left on campus waiting for their rides. "It's getting late to stay at school now, and I'm going home." She said while turning and walking to the entrance without looking back. She stopped and turned to Hope. "If those guys come to you again, just call me, alright?" She said. Hope nodded. "See you later, Vanille." She said glancing at Vanille.

"Be careful on your way home Light! Oh and don't forget to come early this morning at 6:00!" Vanille said with a big smile.

"Why?" Lightning called out.

"It's a surprise!"

Then, with a little smirk on her face, Lightning walked out of the campus grounds and headed for home. 'Guess she's not so bad after all, huh Lightning?' Lightning thought to herself.

"Wow, she is so cool! You both are from the senior class?" Hope asked.

"Yup. It may be just the first day of school, but I already know some things of her. She may look real scary but she actually is a nice person once you get to know her." Vanille said in awe.

Hope smiled.

"I'd better go too. See you later!" Vanille said leaving him. Hope waved goodbye and walked home too. 'I think I'm gonna like it at this school.' Hope thought smiling as he walked home.

CHAPTER THREE: An Interesting Fight

Lightning laid on her silk bed reading in light green cotton shorts and a white, comfortably tight spaghetti tank top with a WEAPONS UNLIMITED magazine in her hands. 'Hm…' Lightning thought. 'Maybe I should get that new Ultima Weapon Gunblade or Omega Weapon gunblade?' She asked herself glancing at her two other weapons, Blazefire Saber and Lionheart. Lightning sighed, leaned the book more to the side so that she could look around her room. Her room was pretty big. She had white walls with light pink and grey borders with a white ceiling, which supported a hanging punching bag in the right corner. A metal desk and a tall black lamp beside it on the left corner, then next to it a little grey trash can that hardly ever had any trash excepts for a few crumpled post its. Her bed was a queen-sized bed against the wall across the door, with silk white and black sheets, a metal nightstand with a light switch by it and also by the door. A bathroom that contained an open shower and a bathtub with luxury jets, a sink, also a mirror/cupboard above the sink with a white and light pink tile floor.

"Weapons again, sis?" said a soft voice at Lightning's room door. Lightning's eyes darted to the door in surprise to see her little sixteen year old sister standing at the door in hot pink bunny pajamas and bunny house slippers with a white blanket around her. Her eyes were the same icy blue color but a lot softer than Lightning's piercing electric blue eyes. Lightning jumped up off her bed, dropping her weapons magazine and ran over to her sister with both her hands softly laid on both of her sister's shoulders.

"Serah. What are you doing up?" Lightning asked worriedly.

Serah frowned. "Why does everyone get so upset when I'm up and walking around?" She asked in a quiet sulking voice. "It's not fair. I feel fine anyway."

Lightning sighed. "Serah, you know what type of condition your in." She said shaking her head. "You just got out of the hospital." Lightning said as she pulled her sister to her in a hug. "I can't lose you like that again. Mom entrusted me of keeping you safe and under my care." She said with closed eyes, trying hard not to cry one bit in front of Serah. Serah hugged her sister back with one hand.

"Don't worry, Light. I'm strong like you. I can handle anything." She said with a small smile. Lightning led Serah to her bed and they sat side by side. Serah looked at Lightning and said, "Lightning, Snow is gonna come over tomorrow."

'That bastard again?' Lightning thought. "No way. He is NOT coming into my house." Lightning said crossing her arms and leaned against her headboard.

"Light, please. This is my house too." Serah pleaded, her legs crossed and held a black pillow.

"You may live in it but I pay the bills with the money I earn from the Guardian Corps."

"Lightning! Please, please why can't you accept him as my boyfriend?" Serah pleaded.

"Because…" Lightning tried to answer. 'I-I really don't know why…' Lightning thought.

"See? You have no reason, therefore, you just have to accept him." Serah pouted.

Lightning exhaled and gave up. 'I really can't argue with her...' Lightning thought. She put her arm around Serah's shoulder and Serah leaned against her. "I'm trying Serah. I really am."

"And he is too. You just don't see it." Serah explained. Lightning widened her eyes a bit and thought, 'She's… right…'

"He is always coming over and inviting you with us on our dates not to annoy you but for you to accept him as apart of not only my life, but yours as well." Serah said softly. "Light," she looked up into Lightning's eyes. "At least try to notice that he is an important person in my life right now, and he is not leaving."

Lightning stayed silent, then nodded solemnly. Serah smiled and threw her arms around Lightning. "Aw Lightning! Thank you!" She said excitedly. Lightning smiled.

"C'mon Serah. You better get back to bed, I don't want you to—" Lightning said being cut off.

"'—Be sick and go to the hospital again.' Got it, sis." She said with a tired smile.

Lightning walked her sister to her room, tucked her in her bed, and went back to her room to jump on her bed, head in her pillow, and sighed exhaustingly.

She fell asleep and in the morning, she was woken up by a sounding alarm clock. 'Ugh, 5:00 already?' she thought with a groan.

BEEP BIIP BEEP BIIP BEEP BIIP. Lightning smashed down on the snooze button and looked up to see the time. Her eyes widened to the size of a golf ball. "FUCK!" She shouted. She sprang off her bed grabbed her uniform and changed while brushing her teeth. 'AGH!' she thought. 'This cannot be happing! Why the hell did it fucking ring at 6:00? Damn! I'm so screwed!'

Lightning came huffing and puffing as she passed the school's entrance and stopped, with one hand on the side of the entrance gate and one hand on her knee, trying to catch her breathe. When she was breathing somewhat normally she held her hand up and glanced at her wristwatch and sighed deeply. 'Only ten minutes late. I'd have to say, running those miles with lieutenant really came in handy.' She thought.

"Lightning!" a voice called.

Lightning jerked her head up and saw cheerful Vanille show up beside her.

"V-Vanille!" Lightning said still gaping for some air.

"Your late!" She pouted.

Lightning grunted and stood up straight to take a deep breath. She put a hand on Vanille's shoulder and smiled a small smile. "Sorry, Vanille. My alarm clock rung later than usual."

Vanille was amazed, so amazed she had her mouth wide open with her eyes dazzling at her smile. "Lightning! You smiled!"

Lightning's smiled faded and raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't everyone?"

"Yes, but you always smirk or give evil glares. Noctis actually smiles more that you!" Vanille said in astonishment.

Lightning sighed. "You're comparing my with him?" She said in a weird sort of tone.

Vanille jumped. "Oh, well, the two of you are pretty much the same." She said with a laugh and scratched the back of her head.

Lightning furrowed her eyebrows. "I don't really think so…"

Vanille smiled. "Actually you two do. And~" Vanille whispered in Lightning's ear. "You two would make a really good couple!"

Lightning was shocked. "No way. Nuh uh. No frickin way." She denied.

Vanille just smiled and began to walk.

Then Lightning shook her head and grunted. "Never mind. Anyway, what did you need to show me at such a early frickn' time?" She said scratching her head as she followed Vanille as she continued to walk around the school's 1st main building where all the classes were.

"We are going to the place where everyone meets most of the time. Before school, sometimes during breaks, and we eat there for lunch too. Oh, and we always meet here after school. It was where we were yesterday." She said with a smile looking back at Lightning as she walked.

"Hey, Vanille!" Larvis called waving his hands in the air. Next to him, again leaning on the tree trunk was Noctis. He slowly lifted his sleepy eyes and locked with hers. Lightning stiffened up and stopped. Noticing what she did, she was surprised. 'What the hell is up with me? He's just a guy. JUST A GUY, Lightning.' She thought to herself. 'But why am I acting like this? UGH, get a hold of yourself Lightning! Don't let Vanille's mumbo jumbo get in your head.' She tried to convince herself while rubbing her temple.

"What's wrong, Light?" Vanille said looking at Lightning.

Lightning looked up at Vanille. "Ah, sorry. It's nothing." She said and continued walking.

As they grew closer to the gang, they saw in the back of the tree trunk was Cloud and Squall. Noctis smiled. 'Yes! A normal conversation opportunity!' He thought.

"Hey, Lightning!" Cloud called as he turned around. 'Agh! Shit! I forgot that Cloud was frickn' here too!' Noctis thought as he gave a glare to Cloud's back as Cloud jogged over towards them and walked them back to the tree.

"Hi, Cloud." Lightning said. 'Wow, I've never seen him up close like this to me before.' Lightning thought, surprised that he looked very attractive. Cloud smiled. "Hey Vanille."

Vanille smiled, "Morning Cloud!." Vanille then looked back and forth between Cloud and Lightning and smiled a sneaky smile. "I'll… go over to Larvis." She said as she walked to sit beside Larvis on the nice grass on the left of the tree.

"Oh, nice to see you, um Noctis." Lightning said as she and Cloud reached the tree, then Lightning climbed up with her bag as a back rest, on the tree branch she was on yesterday.

Noctis blushed a small blush. "Yo." Cloud seated himself between Noctis and Vanille.

Squall came around the tree and said, "Hey guys, guess what!"

"Hm?" Lightning said uninterested.

"What? Got a new girlfriend?" Cloud guessed with a laugh.

"Hell no! Rinoa is to awesome to break up with!" Squall defended.

"You got a tattoo?" Noctis guessed.

"No way!" Squall shouted with a blush.

"Oh, yeah. You have a low tolerance for pain. And I thought you were tough." Larvis teased as he laughed.

"Ugh! I can handle pain! And what the hell is up with your guys' guesses?"

Noctis laughed. "You DID tell us to guess…"

"Ugh, never mind the guessing already. Rinoa, Aerith, and me saw Stella last night at the café!"

Noctis' eyes grew wide open and stood straight up. "Stella?" He shouted in surprise.

"Oh yeah…" Squall said realizing something. "Uh, sorry Noct."

Lightning raised an eyebrow and glanced at Vanille. "Stella?"

Vanille looked into Lightning's eyes with sad eyes. "She used to be really good friends with us (A/N: Vanille is referring to Noctis, her, Larvis, Cloud, and Tifa and Squall, Rinoa has never met her because she transferred to Bodhum High in her junior year and Stella left after sophomore year.). She transferred from Bodhum High to an elite all girls' school in Palumpolum." Vanille explained. "She was Noctis'—" She began to say.

"Vanille!" Larvis called with a pleading look in his eyes.

Noctis sighed. "Its alright, Larvis. She wasn't that serious about us anyway." Noctis looked up at Lightning and explained. "Stella Nox Fleuret, was her name. She is my ex-girlfriend."

"She was a real bitch anyway." Larvis stated in an irritated tone with crossed arms. Squall nodded once. Cloud had a glare on his face, looking at the ground, and Vanille frowned. "Didn't have a care in the world if something bad happened to any of us." He said frowning and eyebrows furrowed.

"She makes me very frustrated. She tells Noctis she loves him, then goes around to screw with someone else." Cloud said evilly with a sigh. "She's probably done that with about a quarter of the guys at this school."

"She wasn't like that before! She used to be real nice!" Vanille defended.

"Vanille, you've forgotten what she also did to hurt you." Larvis said in a voice Lightning never thought would be so frightening. "I still can't forgive her, you know."

Vanille looked back down like she was about to cry.

Lightning fidgeted with her hands. "Uh, look, you guys don't need to explain to me if you don't want to. You all are getting to worked up over it too." Lightning said nervously.

"Your right." Cloud said.

Then, out of nowhere Squall surprised everyone with a loud, "OH SHIT!"

Vanille and Larvis jumped in surprise except Lightning, Noctis, and Cloud. Larvis and Vanille half screamed. "Dammit Squall! You scared me!" Larvis complained. "Just shouting out like that…" He muttered.

Lightning and Noctis sighed; Cloud chuckled because he saw Vanille hugging against Lightning's dangling leg.

"Yeah Squall!" Vanille shouted, tightening her grip to Lightning's leg.

Lightning grunted. "V-Vanille, you're kind of… cutting off my… blood circulation… in my… leg…" Lightning struggled to say. Vanille quickly released her leg. "I'm sorry Light!"

"Shit shit shit! I totally forgot I was gonna meet Rinoa!" Squall said with his hands ruffling his hair and then he ran, bag and all, to the front entrance where you take off your outside shoes and put on your indoor shoes.

Cloud laughed. "GEE, such a devoted boyfriend. You can only get that title if you only remembered set dates and time to meet your girlfriend." He teased.

Then calling from fifty feet away, Squall turned around and walked backwards to say to Cloud, "I HEARD THAT!" Then he turned back to do a sprint.

Lightning smirked. Larvis cleared his throat to break the silence. "Ah, so Lightning. There is a self-defense club in school. You learn almost any type of fighting that is available. Noctis is the captain of that team. Since you're so good at fighting and all at the Guardian Corps. maybe you could…?" Larvis said slowly.

Lightning sighed. "Not interested." Noctis widened his eyes. "Why not?" He asked.

She looked at him. "It'll take up more of my time that I have at home." She said coldly.

"Oh yes Lightning! You should at least try! Maybe you'll like it! And besides, you can beat people up and not get in trouble for it." Vanille smiled. "Cloud is a part of their team too."

Cloud blushed. "Well, I may be a good fighter but I've only won one match with Noctis. He's actually the top dog." He said smiling.

"I'm not telling you to brag…" Noctis said softly.

Lightning made an evil smirk. "I think I can take the poor guy on." She said. Noctis smirked just as evil as Lightning and looked at her. "Bring it." He challenged.

"Ohh! Do I see a fighting challenge growing?" Larvis shouted.

Lightning jumped down from the tree and walked a few feet away from the tree and Noctis followed her, standing directly across from her.

Vanille panicked. "You guys! You can't! You'll just end up hurting each other!"

"She's right you two. You should settle this when the actual club meeting is taking place." Cloud tried to convince them.

"Heh, it's too late guys. I don't say 'no' to a challenge. And," Noctis said with a curious and devious look. "I want to see what she's got."

"It'll be a lot more than just punches." Lightning said with an evil grin.

"Okay guys you both have the full total of ten minutes to finish this fight, then the bell with ring for people to go inside. You can now begin." Larvis said.

"Wow, your actually paying attention to the time now." Noctis said in a surprised voice as he glanced at him.

"For you information," Lightning said charging at Noctis. "Never keep your eyes off your opponent." She threw a punch and Noctis; reflexively dodged it by ducking and doing a lower sidekick to counter it but Lightning jumped up, barely missing the attack. Then, jumped a foot away.

"Heh, you're sharp." Lightning stated.

"Nice dodge." He said. Then they both charged at each other again. This time Noctis threw the first punch, Lightning ducked and got behind him and kicked his back with her left leg as a counter attack. Direct contact from her powerful leg to his lower back was excruciating for Noctis and he ended up almost falling to the ground if he hadn't stopped himself with a step of his leg. He turned around to face her. "Not bad for a soldier."

"Not bad for a student." She said back. During their punching, kicking, counter attacks, and defensive motives, Vanille latched on to Larvis' arm tightly, praying that none of them would get hurt. Larvis blushed madly and kept looking at his stopwatch. Cloud tapped his foot repeatedly, also worried for the two stubborn people.

"One more minute guys!" Larvis shouted.

Noctis and Lightning were already gasping for air. Lightning already had a small cuts on her forearm and Noctis had a small cut on his cheek along with a bruise on his lower back. Noctis grunted. "You're not bad."

"Same as for you." Lightning said out of breath. Then they both charged again. This time, with even harder and more precise hits and blows.

"Aw you guys enough already!" Vanille begged.

"Okay guys time's up! Bell is ringing!" Larvis said quickly. The two hotheads stopped sparring each other.

"Ngh…" Lightning grunted and held her hand hard against her right ribs. Noctis gasped for air and held a hand to his left arm, a spot a little lower than his shoulder.

"Not bad, not bad at all."

"Not so bad yourself. You could make a great soldier." Lightning complimented.

"And you could make a fine self-defense ranker." Noctis complimented back.

"You two should go to the health room." Cloud suggested.

Noctis and Lightning looked at each other's injuries. After scanning each other, their eyes locked and burst out laughing. Cloud, Vanille, and Larvis were taken by surprise.

"Oh boy! I think they really hit each other's heads really hard!" Vanille said as she let go of Larvis' arm and went straight to Lightning.

"Hah, you got that right." Larvis said going to Noctis.

Cloud just sighed and scratched his head, then chuckled. "You two are so stupid." He muttered. Lightning turned to Cloud and was still smiling. "I heard that." Cloud's eyes grew big as he looked at Lightning's smile. Then blushed a lot and ducked down his head. 'Damn… she is actually really cute when she smiles…' Cloud thought to himself.

Lightning stopped laughing but continued to smile and went over to Noctis with an outstretched hand. "Let's call it a draw."

Noctis blushed while he looked into her eyes. 'She's never been this up close to me before… she is really cute when she smiles too…' He thought. He shook her hand softly. "It's a draw." He smiled a small smile.

"Well, Cloud, Larvis, I think we'd better walk these two to go to the health room." Vanille suggested with a worried look. They all laughed and made their way to class for Cloud, Vanille, and Larvis and the health room for Noctis and Lightning.

Chapter 4: The Confrontation

~In the Health Room~

"Well you two really got a beating, huh?" said a women with messy, untamed black hair said. She was sitting on one of those wheeled chairs beside the bed with a clipboard and a pen in hand. She is tall, taller than Lightning even, the height of 5"9'. She also has that same odd Australian accent that Vanille has. Even thought she had that feisty look to her, her eyes were a soft, light teal green color. "So, you gonna tell me how you got those wounds?" She asked with a raised eyebrow as Lightning and Noctis both sat on the bed, both of them treating their own wounds with disinfectant and cotton swabs.

"Well…" Noctis started, then laughed. "I was recruiting her for my self-defense team." He lied smoothly.

Lightning smirked as she bandaged up one of her cuts on her knee. 'Decent enough.' She thought.

"I've got to say, she is quite good." He complimented.

"Quite good? More like excellent." Lightning grinned then cringed a bit after wrapping her wound on her knee too tightly.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that." The woman said as she stood up and walked toward the door and opened it. "I'm Dr. Oerba Yun Fang. Vanille's cousin." She smiled. "After you bandage up, leave for class alright? Both of your slips for being late are on that small table there." She said pointing to the table with two small pieces of paper on it. "I hope I don't see you two here to often. Especially you, Lightning. Your face'll get ruined if you damage it with scars." She smirked and left the room with a quiet noise from the door as it closed.

Noctis sighed. Lightning glanced at him as he got up and rubbed his lower back, and turned to look at Lightning and smirked. "You've got a good kick there." He chuckled. "I think it might leave a bruise. You done bandaging up yourself?" He asked.

"I just need some help with the shoulder here." She said pointing to her right shoulder. "I need to wrap it." She said while handing him a cotton wrap.

Noctis blushed a little and grabbed the cotton wrap and grabbed her arm gently.

"Hurry up. I don't want to miss first period because of you." She glared.

"Well, I can't put this on until you lift up your sleeve, Einstein!" Noctis said irritably. 'God, I just want to get this over with…' he blushed in his mind.

Lightning made a small grunt and lifted her right sleeve to show him the damage he caused her. It was a fairly deep gash. About the length of three inches across her bare arm. 'All because of just a punch, huh? Guess I went to far...' he thought. Noctis sighed with a small blush and started wrapping. In silence, Noctis wrapped up the gruesome looking wound as gently as possible, with Lightning cringing at the pain now and then. Noctis glanced up at her eyes with her piercing eyes staring back. Her eyes widened and quickly turned away from his gaze. 'How cute…' Noctis thought to himself with a little smirk on his face then he glanced back to her wound.

'Why'd he have to look at me for!' Lightning screamed in her mind. 'It's not like I'm attracted to him or anything…' she thought with her conscience having some doubt in her.

"Damn… that is a really deep gash. Sorry about that." Noctis apologized, standing up and washing his hands after he finished wrapping.

Lightning touched her wounded arm softly and sighed. "Its not that bad...I'm not the one suffering the most in my life." Lightning said softly. Noctis glanced at her curiously while wiping his hands with a paper towel.

"I guess…" Noctis said. 'Does she mean me?' He asked himself. Then he grabbed his bag, slung it over his shoulder, grabbed his tardy slip from the table and headed towards the door. "Better head to class."

"Hey, Noctis." Lightning called.

Ba-thump! Noctis' heart skipped a beat. He turned around slowly and raised an eyebrow.

"Thanks." She said shyly. 'Goddamn I sound like such a softy! Ugh, what the hell is wrong with you Lightning?' she scolded herself in her mind.

Noctis smiled. "No problem. You'd beat me to the pulp if I didn't anyway." He chuckled.

Lightning smirked and walked over to him, grabbed her bag and her slip, and passed him through the door and turned back to him. "You're not such a bad guy, you know." She said. "You are probably one of the very few who can withstand as much pain as I can." She teased referring to all of his injuries and walked away with her bag on her back and her slip in her hand.

Noctis smirked. 'She's really something else…' he thought as he trailed after her.

~Sahz's Classroom: Class 4-2~

Lightning and Noctis marched inside with everyone still chattering away at each other's desks. Cloud caught sight of the two and made his way over to them with Larvis and Vanille following close behind.

"There you two are!" Cloud said with a smirk.

"Yo." Noctis said and made this weird handshake with Cloud. 'Can't stay mad at him forever.' Noctis thought. 'He is my best friend.' He thought reassuringly.

Lightning just smirked. 'They must be real good friends…' She thought.

"Oh Lightning! I was so worried!" Vanille said worriedly and hopped all around Lightning checking for any serious damage.

Lightning smiled. "I'm fine, Vanille. I'm as healthy as a horse." She said proudly.

Cloud laughed. Cloud leaned over to her. "Well you sure are a lot more beautiful than a horse don't you think?" Cloud said in a flirty voice in her ear. Lightning bursted into a big blush with wide eyes and turned her head away in embarrassment. 'Oh god, Lightning! Pull yourself together!' She told herself. Noctis noticed.

"You okay? Do you need to go to the health room again?" Noctis asked as he put his hands on her shoulders with his eyes examining her red face. She looked up with her innocent and unusually soft eyes. Noctis blushed also and turned away. "W-what's up with you…" He muttered. Lightning sighed and got back her composure. "Sorry, I'm all good." Noctis nodded and let go of her shoulders.

"Aw man, Noct! You really got the beating to the face huh?" Larvis said with a grimace as he scanned his cheek's covered gash.

"Heh, it's not as bad as it looks." He said with a smile, then the second bell rung.

~Lunch Time: By the meeting tree~

Lightning, hanging from the tree's lowest branch again with a coffee drink in her right hand, was by Cloud who was leaning on the trunk beside her with a bottled sweetened green tea drink and ankles crossed. Lightning smirked.

"It's really too bad that Vanille, Larvis, and Noctis have to be lunchtime cleaners huh? It's not really normal to have Vanille not be all over me now even if its only been two days." She joked.

"Don't you think that it's alright just like this?" Cloud said softly. Lightning's heart made a fast heartbeat. Lightning cleared her throat and shrugged off the feeling.

"So, what the relationship between you and Noctis? I always see you two with each other. Even with Larvis too." Lightning wondered.

Cloud chuckled. "We are pretty much like brothers, Noct and I. Actually, Larvis is my first cousin, and Noctis was my childhood friend. Noct and I basically been together ever since we were in diapers." He laughed. "Larvis, well, he met Noct through me. He officially met him when we were in elementary school and we've all been inseparable since." He explained.

"Wow." Lightning said slowly.

"Yeah. Noct and me have been together for fifteen years. Can you imagine? That's a whole quarter of a lifetime already." He joked then sighed.

Lightning glanced over at Cloud. Cloud looked at everything in front of him, the entrance of the campus, the sky, and the school's building. 'He's pretty hott…' Lightning thought and she blushed a bit. Then she glanced back down at her hands and sipped her drink. It was a short period of silence, about five minutes or so, and then they both heard running steps thudding on the soft grass. Lightning turned to see Vanille jogging towards the two. Lightning smirked.

"Vanille." Lightning called in a loud calm voice.

"Lightning! You're hanging on the branch again?" Vanille pouted a little.

Lightning smirked. "Here, this is my apology for this morning for me being late." She said and tossed a strawberry milk drink to Vanille. Vanille sparkled.

"Oh, Light! This is my favorite!" She said smiling and quickly opened the drink and started chugging.

"Whoa, calm down there. It's a dairy product you know?" Cloud warned with a smile.

Lightning chuckled a small chuckle.

"Ahhhh~" Vanille sighed. "I know but milk tastes so much better when being gulped!" She said delightfully and started to chug again.

"Oh, where are Noct and Larvis?" Cloud asked.

Vanille stopped drinking and put one hand on her hip. "Well, Larvis is actually getting confessed to by another girl from class 4-1 and he wanted Noct to stay with him through it all..." Vanille said as she sort of pouted.

"Jealous?" Lightning asked in astonishment.

Vanille pouted even more.

Lightning and Cloud glanced at each other and chuckled.

"I know you wouldn't even hurt a fly, Vanille. I didn't expect you to be jealous of another person." Cloud said surprised.

"I'm not jealous! I just hope that he doesn't return her feelings…" Vanille muttered.

"Oh hell. Vanille, you should just frickin' go out with Larvis already!" Lightning exclaimed. "If he hurts you, you've got me on your side." She said with a smirk.

"Make that two." Cloud said with a smile with two fingers held up.

"Oh you guys!" Vanille blushed madly. "Jeesh!"

Lightning smirked and jumped down from the tree. "You two are meant for each other." She said. "Trust me. The loudness is just inseparable." She teased.

Cloud chuckled. "You have no idea."

"Cloud!" A voice called. 'Noctis' voice.' Cloud thought with a smile.

The three friends turned around to see Noctis walking towards them and Larvis in a full on sprint.

"Yo." Cloud said.

Larvis went up to Vanille and grabbed her in a surprisingly big hug.

"Larvis?" Vanille said wish a humongous blush spreading across her face.

Lightning, who was between Vanille on Lightning's left and Noctis on her right and Cloud in front of her, turned towards Larvis and said, "HEY, don't go on sprinting and almost TAKLING DOWN a girl like Vanille!" She scolded.

Larvis still hung onto Vanille. "I'm sorry Vanille! That won't ever, EVER happen again so you don't have to be worried!" He said quickly.

"Larvis! What's gotten into you?" Vanille said as she comforted him by patting softly on his back.

"Um… We'd better go, uh, leave these two for their business…" Cloud suggested as he looked at Lightning and Noctis.

Lightning and Noctis smirked and nodded. As the three of them walk slowly away, and Vanille trying to comfort Larvis, Vanille looked over to Lightning and Lightning gave her a thumbs up. Vanille's eyes widened and blush and smiled and nodded.

Then, just a little too soon, the bell rang for the end of lunch a few minutes later.

~In Class 4-2~

Sazh picked up his chalk and began to write his title for his lecture. Lightning sat in her seat sighing. As she glanced at her right, she could see Cloud. A small blush came across her face. 'Ugh, Lightning are you an idiot? I've never liked a guy ever since my junior high years. How can you like him? I swear I'm such an idiot. It's already so noticeable that Tifa is in love with him! God dammit…' Lightning scolded herself again. As she glanced to the left she could see Aerith. Then right in the back of her is Rinoa with Larvis on Rinoa's right and Squall on her left. The entire gang was pretty much almost all in the back or the middle of the classroom. It was a big classroom too. The windows had a lot of light come into the room and their teacher had a big computer on the right of his desk. The trash can by the left of his desk, a closet at the front right corner of the room, and cubbyholes for classroom things and lunch bags in the back of the room.

The hours dragged on till the end of school. The bell was a deafening sound that could be heard around the world. Lightning sighed and got her bag. The person waiting by the door for her was Vanille.

"Okay Vanille, spill it." Lightning said as she looked at the red faced cheery girl.

"Wah! Lightning! I feel so amazing! My life is amazing! EVERYTHING IS AMAZING!" She shouted hyperactively as the two friends walked down the halls to go outside.

"You know what's not amazing? My now DAMAGED right eardrum." She said rubbing her still ringing ear. "What happened?"

"Larvis and I are DATING!" Vanille squealed. "We are finally officially together as bo—"

"Boyfriend and girlfriend, I get the concept. I'm happy for you two. Definitely a match made in heaven." She teased and made a smirk.

"Oh Lightning!" She squealed then gasped. "What about that fight today?" She said alarmingly.

Lightning raised an eyebrow. "Fight?" Lightning tried to remember which fight she was talking about. "Oh, those three hot headed idiots that picked on the little kid… Hope was it?"

Vanille nodded vigorously. "Please don't fight them!" She pleaded.

"And be called a coward? Nope. I don't say no to these things." Lightning said as she headed to the fight's meeting area.

"Light!" Vanille called as Lightning didn't stop walking. 'Oh boy! Need to get someone! She's gonna get killed!' Vanille thought and ran back to the main building.

~2nd Basketball court~

Lightning sighed as she neared the court. 'I hope this fight will be interesting.' She thought.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't queen high and mighty." Loz said with his spiky grey hair and his messy uniform.

"Hmph, whatever." Lightning said as she dropped her bag and untied her jacket around her waist. "Lets get started shall we?"

"Not so fast, babe." Said Kadaj.

Lightning eye twitched at the "babe" part and raised a strained eyebrow. "Watch that tongue of yours or I'll RIP IT OUT OF YOUR FUCKING IDIOTIC MOUTH." She said menacingly with her cold icy blue eyes pierced through them.

Kadaj cringed back a little. "W-w-whatever. Anyway, you really didn't bring company?" He said with a smirk. "Heh, your own fault if you die." He teased.

"Die? I think you are over exaggerating. I am pretty sure it's the other way around." She said frighteningly. "You idiots won't stand a chance." She provoked.

The three guys gritted their teeth. "Heh, we'll start off easy since you're a girl." Kadaj said with a sly smile.

"Cut the crap." Lightning said.

Kadaj laughed then turned his face into a menacing look. "We will. Loz."

Loz smirked and charged at Lightning. He threw a hard right punch, Lightning ducked, but Loz countered with a swing of his left arm that almost punched right into her stomach if she hadn't leaned to the side. After leaning to her left she bolted up and kicked with all her might with her right leg to his lower back, sending him straight down to the ground on hands and knees.

"Dammit. You really piss me off!" Loz said angrily as his two older brothers snickered in the background.

"That's not even a percent of the worst that I can do." Lightning said. "Get up and fight already. Time is ticking." She said in an irritable voice.

Loz snarled and charged right back to her. With a few more beatings, Lightning managed to knock the life out of Loz.

She dusted off her hands. "Are you guys done wasting my time now?"

"Guess it's my turn huh?" Yazoo said as he walked up to confront Lightning. "You're not bad, miss senior."

Lightning sighed. "Shut up and fight already. I'm losing interest in this!" She complained.

Yazoo made a huge smirk.

"Just a heads up, Yazoo here is the best man for strategizing. Better not leave to many openings." Kadaj grinned.

Yazoo leaped forward and threw fast, steady, but powerful punches towards her. She dodged as many as she could but got hit by one in the shoulder.

Yazoo pulled back and ducked down to do a low round house kick. Lightning jumped up, dodging the attack while consoling her shoulder that Yazoo punched by rubbing it gently. "Nice… punch."

Thoughts ran through Lightning's mind on how she was going to beat him, strategize some attacks and counter attacks while she was dodging his attacks and throwing some of her own. 'Hang in there Lightning…' She thought to herself.

~Bodhum High School Hallway [Floor 3] Senior Classes~

Vanille raced to find either Noctis or Cloud or even better, both of the boys to tell them Lighting was in trouble. As she bolted passed several empty classrooms, she found Noctis and Cloud in one classroom, classroom 4-1, talking to a few other people. Vanille stopped at the door panting.

"N…Noct… C-Cloud… I… need to… talk… to you… IMEDIATELY!" She said through heavy pants.

"Whoa Vanille! What's wrong?" Cloud said jumping off his seat and running towards Vanille with Noctis close behind.

"L-L-Lightning."

"Lightning? What about her?" Cloud asked.

"S-She is… f-f…" she tried to say.

"She's fighting AGAIN?" Noctis guessed surprisingly.

Vanille nodded frantically.

Both of the boys' eyes widened. "Where is she?" They both asked in unison.

"S-second B-basketball Court."

Then, without a second thought, they both ran as fast as they could towards the court. 'Hold on Light! We're coming!' Noctis thought reassuringly.

Chapter 5: Confessions & Surprise Visit

Noctis heaved and urged his legs to run faster to get to Lightning, which was fighting a fight all on her own. Cloud seemed to do the same. They were about 100 meters away from the court when Lightning fighting came into view.

"NOT GOOD…" Noctis said. "She's fighting Yazoo."

"Crap! He's one of the best at strategy! Even I had a hard time with him in our self defense club!" Cloud said as he panted.

They made their full on sprint like they were running for their lives.

Kadaj laughed. "I really told you to get some company, didn't I?" He chuckled.

Yazoo kept on coming with his fast attacks, leaving Lightning with very little openings. Lightning gasp for air and panted like crazy. "Just…you…wait!" She said between pants, then she threw an amazing attack that sent Yazoo flying five feet away from her with a kick of her swift leg.

Kadaj stood there with his mouth gaping like a fish. Then He furrowed his eyebrows and snarled. "You bitch…" He said frightening voice. "You're gonna be crushed now!" He charged. Lightning got into a battle defense mode.

Then as Kadaj charged, a blur of blonde yellow and cobalt blue flashed right in front of Lightning, which made her collapse from the surprise, and both men in unison punched Kadaj in the face, inflicting a nasty black eye with a bruise over his forehead. While writhing in pain on the ground, Yazoo managed to limp over to his complaining brother and look towards Noctis, Cloud, and Lightning.

"You guys win. Please don't attack my elder brother no more." He said calmly.

Cloud gritted his teeth. "If this EVER happens again…" He started.

"You are NEVER going to WISH you were BORN." Noctis said in such a fierce voice that even Lightning cringed away a little.

After the three brothers slowly went away, Noctis turned towards Lightning and bent down to meet her eyes.

"Idiot! You could've gotten seriously hurt by these guys! Even though they're a year younger than ourselves doesn't mean you can fully take them on! They are a lot bigger than you and what if they took you out all at once?" He scolded. Lightning sighed.

"I can fight my own battles! No one asked for your help!" She shouted back.

Cloud cleared his throat. "Noct, please." He looked at Lightning. "Are you hurt?"

Noctis sighed.

Lightning made a small blush. "Not really. Thanks for your concern." She said. As she stood up, she glared at Noctis. 'Sheesh, at least he could be a little concerned for me like Cloud…' She thought. They gathered up her things and walked her back to the classroom.

"Light!" Vanille shouted as she ran to Lightning and gave her a big hug. Lightning grunted a little but ignored it and hugged her back. "Sorry, Vanille."

"I was so worried! I ran to call Noct or Cloud for help but thank god that they were both together!" She sighed with a big sigh.

Noctis and Cloud sighed from the front door. As Vanille still worried over Lightning, Cloud nudged Noctis' shoulder. Noctis glanced at him and raised an eyebrow. "I need to tell you something. Follow me." He said walked to the next empty classroom with Noctis trailing behind.

"What's up?" Noctis asked as he leaned against a desk while Cloud took a seat next to him.

"You know that I tell you everything right?"

"Yeah…" Noctis said nodding his head.

"I… I'm interested in Lightning." Cloud said.

Noctis was surprised even though he knew all along; he just never thought he would here it directly from him. He sighed. "Great…" He playfully punched Cloud's shoulder.

Cloud smiled. "She's real different. She doesn't follow us around like all the other girls do. She's strong and beautiful." He said slowly. Noctis looked down guiltily. "Cloud…"

"I really like her, bro." Cloud said.

"Cloud, what about Tifa, huh? You fully well know that she has feelings for you right?" Noctis urged. 'He's my friend but… I too like Light! I can't lose to him…' Noctis thought.

Cloud sighed. "Yes I do know. I feel like I'm split in two!" He said frustratingly. "I like them both… Tifa… she's one of my best friends. She understands me. I used to always think about her, what she was doing, what she was feeling right now, even what she thought about me. But ever since Light came to our school… she is like someone I've never met before. She is beautiful and I want to get to know her better. She may be a little headstrong at times but I think there's a soft side to her too." He confessed. Noctis sighed again.

Then they both heard a knock at the door. "We're all going home guys. You going to come down with us?" Vanille asked. Larvis appeared behind her and smiled a smile at them.

Both boys looked at each other and chuckled. "Sure thing." They both said.

As the gang walked towards the entrance of the school, Vanille spotted someone. "Hope!" She called. The boy looked over at the gang and waved a shy hand.

"Hey Hope!" Vanille greeted when they got closer to him.

"Hi. You guys going home?"

The boys nodded. "Yup!" Vanille said cheerily. Hope glanced at Lightning.

"Hi Light."

Lightning smirked. "Hey. I don't think those idiots will bully you again for a while."

"Oh? Really! Yes!" Hope celebrated. Everyone chuckled. "Why? Please don't tell me you fought them!" He said worriedly.

Lightning made a huge grin. "You'll find out tomorrow." Everyone laughed and went home, except Lightning and Noctis ended up walking home together because Vanille took a cab, and Cloud offered Lightning a ride on his black crotch rocket, but he had to go to work.

Lightning sighed as she kicked rocks that were in her way. Noctis stayed silent as ever. "Hey, Noct." She called. Noctis turned to her. "You and Cloud are real good friends right?"

Noctis nodded. "Why?"

"C-could you tell me more about him?" She said embarrassingly. This request was like a big pang on Noctis' heart. He looked down at the ground.

"You like him or something?" He asked, hoping that she would say no.

"I don't, trust me. I'm just interested in getting to know him more…" She replied, and then turned to him with an evil look. "If you tell anyone I swear, you won't see the end of me!"

Noctis glanced at her blushingly evil face and sighed. 'Really… God must really hate me… seriously these two…' He thought.

Noctis sighed. 'Just can't say no to her…' He looked straight ahead.

"What do you want to know?"

Lightning again laid on her silk bed, rethinking over her conversation with Noctis.

"What do you want to know?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know that?"

"Well you asked! You SHOULD know! THINK before you SPEAK." Noctis said teasingly.

Lightning glared at Noctis.

"Dammit Lightning, if you don't know what you want me to tell you don't ask in the first place!" Noctis said frustratingly.

Lightning sighed with a blush. "Just tell me basic stuff."

Noctis raised an eyebrow.

"Are you a fucking idiot? By basic I mean as in favorite food, where did he go for middle school, favorite color, Sherlock!" She said.

"Should've said so in the first place, Einstein!" Noctis teased. Lightning scowled.

"Spit it out already!" Lightning complained.

"What's the magic word?" Noctis said in a teasingly childish voice as the walked passed a bus stop and crossed the crosswalk.

Lightning scowled. "How fucking old are you, five?" She complained again.

Noctis had a small smirk playing over his lips. "Fine, if you really don't want to know then…" He said while whipping his head forward looking at the traffic lights.

Lightning glared at him and sighed. "Please…"

"Please what?" He said adorably.

"PLEASE TELL ME THE FRICKIN BASIC STUFF ABOUT HIM GODDAMMIT!" Lightning shouted.

Noctis smirked. "And who is this HIM you are speaking about?" He said teasingly.

Lightning let out a frustrated breath. "YOU KNOW WHAT? NEVER FRICKIN MIND! I'LL JUST TO THE FRICKIN' OLD FASHIONED WAY."

Noctis started to laugh. Lightning glanced at his laughing face and pouted then looked straight ahead. Noctis glanced at her and slowly stopped laughing. He then softened his face and ruffled her hair. Lightning shot a surprised glance at him.

"Sorry, but I'm not telling you anything. You need to do it old school, just ask him yourself." He said with a sly grin on his face. "I doubt that you haven't done this before."

Lightning's eyes widened in surprise. He turned his head to the left. "This is my turn. I'll be leaving you now!" He said as he turned down the street towards his house. Lightning stopped and watching him as he walked down the street. She lifted her hand to touch the spot where he had ruffled her hair. 'His hands were… like…. HIS hands…' She thought.

Lightning sighed as she got out of the flashback. She touched the spot again but quickly shook her head and pulled her hand away. She glanced at the digital blue and silver clock. '5:17?' she thought and sighed. It was only an hour after she came home and now only 8 minutes to prepare herself to see the most obnoxious man in her life. She was already dressed in her normal home clothes, which was a tight spaghetti strap tank top, preferably white, and any shorts, right now it is jean shorts with a white and silver belt around her waist. Lightning heard a soft knock on the door and the door slid open with her little sister Serah peeking out.

"Sis, he's here…" She said nervously. Serah wore something pretty similar to Lightning's, only; Serah was wearing light blue cotton dress the ended a little more than half way of her thigh.

Lightning sighed. "Alright." She said in an irritated voice as she walked down the hall with her sister linking her arm around Lightning's.

"Be nice now, Light." Serah said. "Remember, you're going to at least try to accept him." She reminded her. Lightning furrowed her eyebrows and sighed heavily. As they got near the end of the hallway that entered the living room, they could already hear Serah's boyfriend pacing back and forth. 'Clearly he's nervous…' Lightning thought.

"Hey, sis!" He said with a welcoming smile. This was Snow Villiers. He was 6'7" and had blonde hair with a black bandanna on his head. He had soft blue eyes, but not as penetrating like the Farron sisters. He was pacing in front of the clear window that was on the wall behind the dining table.

The living room was big. A nice cool breeze from the air conditioning, ceiling that was metal, and classy black leather couches. The couches were set up as an open square with a nice glass coffee table in the middle. The centerpiece was the huge flat screen TV that occupied most of the back wall that was by the hallway. Then there was the kitchen; it was an open kitchen with pots and pans hanging from above facing the dining room table, which was in front of the kitchen. The kitchen consisted of any ordinary kitchen would have.

"I'm not your 'sis'." Lightning declared. Serah let go of Lightning's linking arm and ran over to Snow. Serah gave Lightning a look which clearly said, 'don't back down on your own words, sis.' Lightning again sighed.

"Anyway, it's a pleasure to see you… again." Lighting said spitting out the last word while forcefully telling herself to be nice.

Snow looked surprised. "Serah… what'd you do to your older sis?" Snow said tilting his head towards Serah's ear.

Serah just smiled softly. "Nothing that'll harm her."

Lightning cleared her throat. "I'm making dinner already." She said as she sharply turned to the right towards the kitchen.

Lightning could hear Serah's soft apology to Snow from behind her.

"Snow, I hope you like Ravioli because it's on the menu!" Lightning called.

Snow smiled. "I'll eat anything!"

"Of course you would, you would think a poisonous plant would be edible because you're an idiot." Lightning muttered. 'Calm down Light.' She soothed herself with her mind.

Serah set the dining table and Snow helped out Lightning with getting the food carried to the table. Serah sat patiently, waiting for them to settle down into their chairs. Snow grabbed a seat next to Serah and Lightning sat across from Serah. Serah stared at the food with dazzled eyes. "WOW!"

The tabled was filled with the appetizer, which was garlic bread with melted cheese on the top; next to it was the main course, Classic Italian Ravioli with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese powder.

"YOU made all THIS?" Serah said in astonishment to Lightning.

"It's not that all surprising that I can cook." Lightning said with a flat voice then sighed. "Dig in…" She said uninterestedly.

"So!" Serah said while she clasped her hands together. "What's for dessert?" She said excitedly. Lightning half choked on her iced tea that she was drinking.

"Aren't you full?" Lightning said while she wiped her mouth with a napkin.

Snow scoffed. "Hell nah! NO MEAL is complete without the most favorite ending course." Lightning smirked in a non-humoring way and rolled her eyes.

"I sometimes wonder what you see in him, sis." Lightning said teasingly.

"Be nice!" Serah scolded as she held Snow's right arm. "Light, I KNOW you have dessert." Serah said in a melodic tune to Lightning.

Snow smiled. Lightning sighed and walked to the kitchen to open the freezer. When she came back, she slammed down a big tub of chocolate ice cream and held out two big serving spoons and smirked. "Eat up."

"WOW!" The both said in unison as they took the spoons and started to eat.

"Thanks, sis!" Snow said.

Lightning sighed. "Whatever. After you two are done getting all fattened up, it'll be lights out for Serah, and go home for Snow." She said as she walked through the living but stopped at the entrance to the hallway and turned her head towards Snow. She gave a glare. "Try anything funny, you'reROADKILL." She said in a fierce voice. "Goodnight~!" She said eerily as she walked down the hallway and turned into her room.

After Serah hard Lightning's door close shut, she giggled. "She is too funny." Then she took another bite of ice cream with Snow snuggled close by her.

-1 week later-

"Ahhh~! Finally, it's the weekend!" Vanille sighed as she sat next to Lightning on the small bench in front of the school. Vanille turned to Lightning who was sipping coffee milk out of a straw.

Lightning glanced slowly at Vanille and raised an eyebrow. "What? Never seen a girl drink coffee before?" She joked.

"What's your plans for tomorrow?" Vanille asked.

Lightning looked at Vanille suspiciously. "Why?"

"Hellooo? Its Tifa's party tomorrow night!" She said. "We are going shopping before the party too!"

Lightning sighed. "Oh no, the LAST thing I need is to spend more money, plus I can't go. I got work tomorrow." She said as she sipped her drink again.

"WORK! The school FORRBIDS students to be working!" Vanille said worriedly.

"Well, when you have a job that is defending our nation then it's an exception." Lightning said.

Vanille pouted.

Lightning smirked. "Nothing to say?" She chuckled.

"Please Light!" Vanille begged.

"Nope."

"But you said you'll come..."

"I just found out that I had work tomorrow like yesterday. I'm sorry but I cant'. Pass that on to Tifa too."

Vanille conjured up a puppy-eyed face with her lower lip jutting out.

"Oh no you don't. Not those puppy dogs looks again. I am NOT going to fall for it this time." Lightning said as she stood up and patted Vanille's head. "I have to go now. See you Monday."

"Aw, alright. Call me though!" Vanille called as Lightning walked way. Lightning just waved without turning back. Vanille sighed. 'Oh well, I'll try next time.' She thought and began to walk home.

Lightning walked home after talking with Vanille. Lightning opened her front door to see a man that had glossy black hair, bright silver eyes with a pinch of green in it, and had a tall height of 6"6' sitting on her couch with a glass of cold water next to Serah standing next to him. He wore a white v-neck cotton shirt with a necklace that had a Guardian Corps. Emblem hanging on it, dark Levi's, and black military boots. He cracked a hot, killer smile at Lightning.

Lightning's face sparked with familiarization.

"Hey, Light." He said in a deep, sexy voice.

Lightning smiled a big smile that brightened her face and her heartbeat was like a humming bird. "Cid!"

Chapter 6: False Alarm

"Cid!" Lightning said in surprise.

The man smiled. "You haven't changed one bit." He said as he stood up.

Lightning half walked and half ran over to him and gave him a big hug. "It's been so long since I've last seen you! How long? A year? You're too cruel." She joked as she let go of their embrace.

"Well I just HAD to visit the most prized sergeant." He said with a grin.

"Uh, sis?" Serah said confusingly.

"Oh right…" Lightning said. "Serah this is Cid Raines. He's a comrade and boss of mine at the Guardian Corps. He's the commander of the Wide-Area Response Brigade. Also known as the 'Calvary'. You met him when you were nine so I guess that's the reason you don't remember him." She said with a smirk.

Serah nodded. "Oh, um—sorry we got off on the wrong foot umm…" Serah said slowly.

"You can just call me Cid." He said smiling. "That's alright, I understand that you were nervous." He smirked. "Sorry for scaring you."

"Ah no, I let you in because the emblem on your uh…" She said while pointing to her neck, referring to his necklace.

"Oh, yeah." He said with a chuckle. Then he turned to Lightning. "So ready for tomorrow?" He said putting his hands on his hips with a sneaky smile.

Lightning gave out a small laugh. "I haven't even packed yet."

"Light. Can't wait forever." He said in a teasing tone with a shrug.

Lightning smirked and punched him softly in the arm and pointed a teasing finger in his face. "I just got home from school, don't piss me off now." She said with a joking smirk. Lightning narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't tell me you're going to stay here?" She said.

He made a puppy dogface. "Please?" He asked.

Lightning sighed and gave a laugh. "You're getting the back room."

"Yes!" He said and from behind the couch he pulled out a black duffel bag.

"You so PLANNED this didn't you?" Lightning said shockingly and teasingly when her eyes saw the bag.

"Knew you couldn't resist." He smiled.

"I don't have a choice." She said with a 'tsk'.

"Yeah I believe that, you'd so get fired." He said the last word so teasingly to mock her playfully.

"Oh don't act all high and mighty. You're in MY territory now." She said with a sly grin.

He chuckled and Lightning led him to the guest bedroom. "Right." He said softly with a sigh.

"You know the procedure." Lightning said with a sigh as she leaned against the guest bedroom doorframe.

Cid laughed. "Yes, yes. Put away bag in closet, keep the bedroom clean, no girls in the house at night. Roger." He joked and made a sloppy salute.

Lightning smirked and turned towards the door. She stopped by the door and said, "Dinner's at seven. DON'T miss." She said with an evil look and pointed to his face.

"Ooo." He said with his hands up in surrender. "Two pointing with the finger within the time of," He looked at his watch. "Three minutes." He smiled. "I better not miss it." He joked.

Lightning smirked and went to her bedroom.

After showing Cid his room, Lightning was in her bedroom studying on her bed when Serah came crashing in and walked quickly over to Lightning and sat on her bed with a big bounce.

Lightning snapped her eyes from her English book to Serah's eyes. "Serah? You need something?"

"SPILL. Why is there a hot guy in our house and is obviously flirting with you ever since you WALKED THROUGH THE DOOR?" Serah said while pointing her thumb towards the next room, which was the guest room.

"Oh, are you interested? Great, you can dump Snow and go for a guy I actually approve of." Lightning joked while making room for Serah on her bed.

"I am NOT breaking up with Snow and I am TOTALLY NOT going out with some… twenty three year old." Serah declared, trying to estimate his age based on his maturity.

"NINETEEN. He's nineteen, sis. And trust me he is NOT flirting. Just think of him as a brother. Kay?" Lightning said while flipping through more pages in her book.

Serah sighed. "That's it?"

"What do you mean 'that's it'? Of course that's it." Lightning said with a smirk. "Oh," she started. "You took your meds right?"

"Yeah, yeah." Serah said in a hurried voice. "You sure nothing's up?"

"I'm sure and okay, just don't want you to have pains while you're asleep. Oh, dinner's at seven. Speaking of dinner," She said slowly as she closed her English book and set it to the side. "I got to cook." Lightning said as she walked towards the door.

"Ooo. Lightning Farron cooks the second time this week? First obnoxious Snow and now hot gunner guy Cid?" Serah said in a stereotypical reporter tone. "The world really must be ending." She teased with a smile and a shake of her head.

Lightning grinned. "Watch it, girly. Don't get to cocky." She warned with a pointed finger. "Oh and put a jacket on too please." Then she walked out the door.

"No problem, sis." Serah said with a sigh as she walked towards her room.

"Ah man! I never knew you cooked." Cid said as he plopped on the couch sipping a soda.

Serah laughed. "Yeah, just wait a couple more minutes then you'll find out that she put laxatives in."

Lightning made a non-humored laugh. "Ha-ha. Very funny." She said while attacking her sister with soft jabs on Serah's sides.

Serah laughed hysterically. "Mercy, mercy!" She shouted between laughs.

Lightning smirked and tapped her on the head. "Lights out by nine."

"Aw Light, c'mon, I'm sixteen." Serah said with a smirk.

"Oh that's right, you're all healthy now and you don't need your rest? Alright, nine thirty." Lightning said.

"Too cruel." Serah said getting of the couch and walked towards her sister. "But I love you too much!" She said and gave Lightning a big hug.

Lightning hugged her back and watched her walk off to her room. Lightning sighed and sat down next to Cid, who was only a hand's length away.

"You," Cid started as he prompted up his head with his right fist, "have been a lot more… I dunno, more perky since the last time I saw you." He said jokingly.

"Only because you're here." Lightning lied playfully.

"Ouch. You know, lies aren't healthy for a 'good' heart like you, deary." He teased.

Lightning made a soft laugh.

"Okay, spill it. Who is he?" Cid asked as he sighed.

Lightning scoffed. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh c'mon, Light. We've been friends for six years. I KNOW you." He said as he nudged her shoulder.

Lightning smirked. "Aren't you jumping to conclusions?" Lightning sighed.

"Maybe. So, who's this lucky guy?" He asked.

Lightning fidgeted with her nails. "Um, actually," She cleared her throat. "Guys."

"Wow," He said in teasing astonishment. "Double team. I bet I'm one aren't I?" He joked.

Lightning scoffed. "Oh don't be so full of yourself." She joked.

"Fine, fine. Names?"

"That's for me to know and for you to... dot dot dot." She said with a smirk as she got up, patted Cid's raised knee, and started to walk away. In a split second, Cid swiftly grabbed Lightning's wrist. Lightning turned back and raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Ah," He realized. "Sorry, impulse from the uh," He said slowly, "caffeine." He said as he raised his soda.

Lightning made a face that said, 'you're such an idiot.' "Right." She said as she nodded.

"Hey…" Cid said slowly as he let go of her wrist. "Want to go for a walk?"

She raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "You're always lazy to walk. And plus, it's already way past sundown."

"Please? I haven't been to this town in ages." He asked with a smile.

She rolled her eyes. "Where do you have in mind, because if it's just going to be a small walk around the block, I am not going." She said with the corners of her mouth slightly tilting up.

Cid let out a small laugh. "Anywhere until you feet get sore." He said with a smile.

She let out a sigh. "I can't just leave Serah alone."

"Aw, c'mon! Like she said, 'I'm sixteen!'" He said with a poor imitation of Serah voice.

Lightning smirked and nodded her head to the door. "Ice cream's on you." She said.

"Always." He said as they walked towards the door.

The same night, Noctis sat on a big desk in his father's office room. He always liked to stay there and work on his homework because of the nostalgic feeling the room gave to him, the feeling of the times when his parents actually used to care about family time. Noctis sighed and concentrated on his History. He heard a knock on the door, his head snapped up to see his mother standing in front of him in a black sparkly long silk dress. She had the same eyes as Noctis, navy blue. Her hair wasn't like his though. Her hair was a soft color of black with a hint of purple in it from the lighting. It was carefully wrapped into a messy bun, which gave his mother a sexy, sophisticated look. Her earrings were silver loops and makeup was a minimum.

"You look so much like you father." She said with a big sigh as she ruffled his hair. "Going out again?" He asked as he glanced back down to his work.

"Sadly yes. Your father has another meeting with the council at nine." She sighed. "I'm sorry I have to leave the mansion all to yourself…" She said with a 'sorry' look.

"It's alright, mother. It's practically deserted all the time so don't feel bad." He said softly. "You must go, it's almost time for the meeting."

"Alright." She said. "Goodnight, darling." She leaned over and gave her son a kiss on the forehead.

A few minutes later he could here from downstairs a door slam and a car pull out the driveway. Then everything became quiet. He slumped back into his leather chair and twirled around to see outside the window. It showed the main entrance to his mansion, a pavement circle with a fountain in the middle, and one black limo and two Mercedes parked on the sides.

His phone vibrated on the glass desk. Noctis opened his phone and put the receiver into his ear. "Hello?"

"Yo Noctis, it's Cloud."

"Hey man, what's up? I've been hoping for someone to pass the time with." He said with a laugh.

"Ah, I'm making my way over to your house now. Maybe we could pass the time at your place? Heard you got a new gaming system." Cloud said.

"Ah yeah sure. My parents just went out anyway so I can put surround sound?" Noctis offered.

"Sounds like a plan, be there in 2 minutes."

"See you."

And with a click of the button, the phone call dropped. Surely enough two minutes later, Cloud came pulling up the drive on his crotch rocket.

Noctis and Cloud were in Nocts' gaming room setting up the gaming system.

"Okay, what type of game is this?" Cloud asked as he watched Noctis click these buttons on the wall.

"Oh, it just came out. It's called Mortal Combat. It's a 3D game so we just walk into this other room and it's like a virtual world. It's supposed to give you an all time experience of battle." Noctis explained.

"Oh wow, now that's COOL." Cloud said in surprise. "Can't wait to play!" He said excitedly.

Noctis furrowed his eyebrows and Cloud noticed.

"What?" Cloud asked.

Noctis sighed. "Short just one battery."

"You want to go get one now?" Cloud asked with his thumbs pointing to the door. "We can go get one now, you know? Not to late to get one…" He said with a hurried tone and inched slowly towards the door.

Noctis laughed. "You want to play that badly?" He said with a raised eyebrow and arms crossed.

"Yessss!" Cloud said as he clasped his to hands together and kneeled in a begging pose.

Noctis sighed with a laugh behind it. "You're such a kid, you know that?" He said as he put Cloud in a headlock. "C'mon." He chuckled as he dragged Cloud towards the door.

Cloud laughed and countered Noctis' headlock by giving him a headlock too.

Cid walked out of the convenient store holding two ice cream bowls in both hands.

"Alright. One chocolate macchiato dream," He said giving Lightning her ice cream, "And one classic vanilla spiked with a banana cream swirl." He said while scooping a whole spoonful in his mouth. "YUM!" He said with his mouth full.

Lightning rolled her eyes. "Pig." She teased. Cid just smiled and they started to walk. "Any interesting reports come in recently?" She asked.

"Nah, not at all, just the same old same old. Nothing but reports to get rid of monsters out of town." Cid replied as he took another scoop of his ice cream. Lightning chuckled.

"You'll finish that in five minutes if you keep that up." She smirked.

"That's the plan." He lied with a smile.

Lightning rolled her eyes and took another scoop of ice cream.

Noctis grabbed the plastic bag that was on the clerk's counter. "Thanks." He said as he turned towards the door.

"Got it?" Cloud asked as he looked at Noctis coming out of the store. Noctis raised the plastic bag.

"All set." He said with a smirk. He titled his head to the direction of his mansion. "C'mon." He said with a smile and walked away with Cloud flanking behind.

Cloud's stomach grumbled. "Ah, um… that… wasn't me…" He lied.

"Cloud, you REALLY suck at lying." Noctis teased. "I got some pizza and cans of coke in the fridge."

"Thanks." He said with a smile, but as soon a he saw movement behind Noctis and leaned to look around him, his smile completely faded.

Noctis furrowed his eyebrows and narrowed his eyes. "What is it?"

"Behind you…" Cloud said quietly.

Noctis turned around to see Lightning walking side by side, shoulder to shoulder with Cid laughing with Lightning's ice cream in hand and Cid's ice cream bowl empty across the street.

Cloud narrowed his eyes and furrowed his eyebrows. "Who's he?" Cloud said defensively as he inched forward.

"Oh no you don't." Noctis said going in front of his friend. "Since when did you ever get jealous when guys walk around with her? Look, Lightning's right next to that guy. You don't want to make a fool out of yourself when you feel this way about her do you?" He said reassuringly. "Maybe he is a relative of hers?" Noctis said unsurely. 'I think I'm the one who needs convincing… the guy looks like he's twenty three or four for crying out loud!' Noctis thought to himself.

Cloud sighed. "Maybe I am getting too worked up…" Cloud said trying to convince himself.

"Don't worry, we'll just ask Light who the dude is on Monday. Forget about it, c'mon, I want to go home." Noctis said trying to push Cloud back a couple of inches towards his house. Cloud just nodded.

Lightning didn't notice Noctis and Cloud until she and Cid were directly across from them. While Cid was talking, she glanced at the two men. Noctis met her eyes and held it there for a second but Noctis was the first to pull his gaze away and walk Cloud in the other direction. Cid nudged Lightning.

"Hey, don't be so mean!" Cid said in a whining childish voice. Lightning snapped her head towards Cid and smirked.

"Don't be such a girl!" She teased. "Just thought I saw a cat." She lied unbelievably smoothly but Cid saw right through her.

"Liar." He said with a smile.

"You're calling me a liar?" She said challenging him by pinching his cheek.

"Hey! Light! Let go!" He said in protest while trying to tickle her.

Lightning laughed and let go. "C'mon we better hurry home." She said softly. "I still need to pack."

"Ah, right. Heh, let's go then." He said agreeing while he rubbed his cheek. "Damn Light, at least you could be a little bit more gentle." He muttered.

"Hey, I can do it again if you keep on complaining." She said. "Take it like a man." She teased. Cid narrowed his eyes at her and continued walking.

Lightning and Cid walked through the front door and flicked on the lights.

"Alright. I'm going to crash." Cid said while walking towards his room.

Lightning made her way to her kitchen and grabbed out a water bottle from the fridge. As she gulped it down she glanced at the clock on the microwave. '10:21? We've been out for a long time…' She thought to herself. After putting away her drink she went to go check on her sister.

Opening the door quietly, she saw Serah sprawled out on the floor not breathing. Lightning gasped and full on adrenaline pushed through her entire body.

"SERAH!" Lightning screamed and ran over to her lifeless looking little sister. "Oh god, Serah…" Lightning said as she checking if Serah could be conscious.

In a second, Cid appeared by the door.

"What the hell happened to Serah?" He asked as he ran over to Serah and kneel right besides Lightning.

"Call 911! NOW!" Lightning commanded.

"Roger!" He said, as he quickly got out his cell phone from his back pocket and dialed.

"911, what is your emergency?" said from the receiver.

"My friend's little sister isn't breathing and she is unconscious. Could you please send some help, quickly!" He said in a hurried voice. He gave the Farron's address and he hung up.

"Their coming with an ambulance in 5 minutes." He said.

The paramedics carried Serah onto the gurney and Lightning shut the back doors. As the ambulance drove down the drive and turned right towards the hospital, Lightning stood on the sidewalk with Cid. She crossed her arms and sighed a shaky sigh. Cid came close to her and rubbed her shoulders.

"I know this is a dumb question and it doesn't hurt to ask but, are you okay?" Cid said worriedly.

Lightning nodded and blinked away her tears from falling down her cheeks.

"I'll drive you to the hospital?" He offered.

Lightning nodded with her face blank as Cid gently walked her to the car. The car was a slick black color with tinted windows that you could barely see inside. It looked to be a sports car hybrid and Cid opened the door for Lightning and they drove off.

Lightning sat quietly during the ride. Cid glanced at her looking out the window and from the window's reflection; he could see her retaining her tears. He looked back at the road and extended his hand and ruffled Lightning's hair.

Lightning snapped her teary eyes towards him. 'His hands… both of them are too similar…' Lightning thought. She made a small smile from his comfort and felt one tear run away down her cheek.

Cid glanced another look at her. "I'm sure she'll be fine." He said convincingly as he patted her head once more before pulling his hand back.

Lightning made a small sob and gained back her composure. The rest of the ride was silent until they reached the Bodhum City Hospital.

They were both in a small waiting room while Lightning paced and Cid sat on a cushioned bench.

"You want me to call Lieutenant about your absence for tomorrow?" Cid asked Lighting.

Lightning looked at him with a weird look.

"Light, I know you're not going to come to the retreat tomorrow." He said with a sigh.

Lightning seemed to be in a small daze and she just nodded her head and went back to pacing.

Cid sighed and got out his cell and dialed the number.

"Hey, Amodar."

"Raines! Good to hear from ya! How's Bodhum? Heard Light's gone there because her lil' sissy's been transferred to the hospital there, hope she's alright. " Said a low static muffled voice coming from the receiver.

"Uh, yeah. It's a real walk down memory lane and all. Well, Serah got into the hospital again. Light said that she won't be going to the retreat tomorrow." Cid said calmly.

"Aw, that's a shame! I hope Light's all well too. Give my regards for me, alright?" Amodar said. "Well, speaking of the retreat. You'll be there right? You ARE one of the commanders, you might need to be there." He warned.

Cid sighed. Lightning glanced towards him waiting for his answer because even her pacing only one foot away, she could her what Amodar is saying and the two's whole conversation.

"Well," Cid started as he took a risky glance towards Lightning. "From the condition the I see Light in, I don't think I'll be going as well." Cid said quietly.

Amodar sighed. "Hmph. Alright. I'll let this go since you are one of my bosses." He said with a laugh.

Cid and Lightning then saw the doctor walk through the door and close it. The doctor looked to be in his late fifties early sixties with white grey hair and about 6" tall and with his white coat on, it made him look even taller.

"I'll call you later." Cid said and hung up.

Lightning raced towards the doctor. "Is she alright?" She asked.

Doctor made a small smile. "She'll be fine. She just had a small episode with the condition that she has. If it were worse she would have had a seizure. It was a false alarm though. There was no serious damage so all she really needs is some antibiotics for the pain and a lot of rest."

"How long has she been unconscious until we found her?" Lightning asked.

"I'd say for about three to five minutes. Maybe less."

"Do you have any idea what triggered it?" Lightning asked.

"Well, there are several plausible causes. One might be from not taking the daily dose of pills, having a cold drink, from banging her head somewhere, or maybe even from stress."

"No, she really happy. Why would she be under stress?" Cid said.

Lightning nodded. "There hasn't been a day when I've seen her depressed and she told me she took her pills."

The doctor sighed. "Whatever the reason is, we will try to find out what the trigger is soon. In the meantime, she will have to stay here for the weekend if that is okay with you?" He asked Lightning.

"Of course. Whatever that'll keep her from harm's way." She said.

After the doctor left Lightning plopped herself down on the chair and took deep breaths.

"You feeling okay?" Cid asked.

"Better." She said softly. "Thanks for calling 911. I think I was too in shock to even move…" She said embarrassingly.

"Don't worry." He said as he ruffled her hair once more and asked if she wanted to go to Serah's room. All Lightning did was nod and the two of them headed to the room.

Chapter 7: The Past

Noctis gathered his house keys and unlocked the huge front oak wood door. "Home sweet home." He said as he walked in through the door. Cloud quietly walked behind him. The climbed the long marble staircase and entered the gaming room.

Noctis sighed and got to work. Once the battery was installed, Noctis pressed a bright green button and a door slid open quickly and showed a dark room inside. Cloud looked at it wide eyed and his mouth gaped like a fish. "HOLY CRAP." He said as he slowly walked into the room.

Noctis chuckled. 'At least this kept his mind off of that dude….' He thought.

"Let the games begin my friend!" Cloud shouted as he reached the middle of the dark room.

Noctis smirked and entered while carrying two dark glasses and the door quickly slid closed.

Lightning quietly walked into the hospital room of her sister, Serah. Cid walked close behind and swiftly closed the door with a silent 'click'. Serah was sleeping peacefully with monitors that displayed her heartbeat, temperature, and oxygen level above her bed on a flat screen the seemed to be digitally engraved in the wall. Lightning has seen Serah in this type of state more times than anyone would want to see their loved one just lying on a bed limply in all these hospital equipment in a lifetime. Beside Serah's bed was a small comfy chair in which Lightning sat in while she gazed at the face of her sister. Cid leaned on the wall right beside the window, which was right on the right of Serah and across from Lightning.

** (Look at top for explanation of the paragraph below.)

Outside you could see the tall buildings of Bodhum. You could see the parks and some small houses, the vast night sky with a small glance of the planet below Cocoon, Gran Pulse, and a distant figure of Gran Pulse and Cocoon's moon.

Lightning grabbed Serah hand and closed her eyes, tired from the night's events. Cid sighed and started to fall asleep. Lightning also was asleep from the fatigue. So, at the hospital at 11:24 PM, they both slept peacefully next to Serah.

It was Saturday morning and Serah awoke from her deep sleep. As she opened her eyes to see a blurry vision, she could see her sister in a loose knitted white sweater with a navy blue tank top underneath and blue skinny jeans with white vans, arms crossed. She looking out the window, and Cid, who was wearing dark Levi's with his military boots and a white volcom shirt and was walking through the open door, to bring the breakfast for the three.

Serah smiled as she saw Cid sneak small glances at Lightning while he was setting it up. Serah looked at Lightning. 'Light, you are really delirious.' She thought. 'He is totally into you…' She sighed. Lightning then darted her head to Serah and smiled a relieved smile.

"Serah!" She said happily and ran over to her sister's bed.

Cid just finished setting up the table for breakfast and he looked towards Serah with a smile also. "Morning Sleeping Beauty." He mocked.

Serah chuckled and sat herself up. "How long have I been out?" She said in a struggling tone.

Cid smirked. "Oh, I don't know, it's been about a week or so."

"A WEEK!" She shouted.

"CID!" Lightning scolded. "Do you want her to have a heart attack too?" Lightning looked back at Serah. "You've only stayed the night at the hospital." She stated.

"What happened?" Serah asked.

Cid cleared his throat. "Well, we came home to see you kinda sprawled out on the floor pretty much dead looking… good enough explanation?" Cid joked.

Lightning rolled her eyes. "Serah, don't listen to him. We just saw you by your bed on the floor. The doctor said you've been out for about a few minutes until we found you."

"Wow…" Serah said.

"Serah, are you… um, stressed out by anything?" Lightning asked. This was definitely out of Lightning's comfort zone and didn't really want the answer to be a false statement. "Honest answer, please."

"OMG! LIGHT! I AM SO NOT STRESSED." Serah said.

Cid tried to hide a chuckle and Lightning shot him a fierce glare. Cid and Noctis were the only ones who could withstand her death defying glares.

Lightning softened her look when she prepared to ask Serah another question. "Are you SURE you took your pills last night?" Lightning said slowly.

Serah looked up while she thought back and retraced her steps in her mind. "Now that I think about it…" She said.

Lightning brought up her hand and slapped it on her forehead in exasperation. "Seriously! You told me you've taken them! This mistake could've cost your LIFE, Serah! Do you understand what I am saying?" Lightning screamed.

Cid took a step forward. "Whoa, Light, calm down." Cid looked at Serah's face. Her eyes were full of tears and they started to overflow. "Light, she's—" He got cut off.

"You scared me to DEATH!" Lightning shouted as she quickly grabbed her shocked, sister. Serah then started to sob, which led to her bawling her eyes out, while crying out apologies. Cid sighed and scratched the back of his head, confused. 'Why are girls so emotional?' He asked himself.

"Sorry isn't going to cut it, Serah!" Lightning said in a shaky voice. Serah just closed her eyes shut very hard and tried to restrain the falling tears.

After the two girls calmed down, the three had a simple breakfast. After Cid finished cleaning up everything, the doctor came in to tell Serah her diagnosis. All was fine and she was allowed to be discharged from the hospital. As they walked up the Farron driveway, Serah energetically trotted over to the front door, while Lightning and Cid were far away and walked slowly.

Lightning sighed. "She still is lively even after a near death accident…" She said shaking her head in disbelief.

Cid smirked. "Well, she IS your sister." He said. "She's got the 'Lightning gene' in her blood."

Lightning smiled. "Thanks, Cid."

Cid looked surprised but then his face changed into a soft smile. One that Lightning hasn't seen in a very long time. Lightning glanced at him and met his eyes. He gave her a wink, ruffled her hair once more, and headed towards the door to unlock it for the impatient Serah who had her arms crossed with a pout on her lips and her foot tapping impatiently on the porch. Lightning made an exasperating sigh and shook her head, blushing a bit. 'Jeez, Cid. You're really messing with my mind here…' She thought as she stared at him and Serah. 'You know that you can't bring back feelings from the past…' she thought to him. As if her mind's message carried itself to Cid, he looked over his shoulder and glanced at Lightning with a glint of hope and desperation in his eyes. Then after a short second he turned his head away and walked into the house after Serah.

It was Saturday night and Lightning was in her room again lying in her bed in a white spaghetti tank top with a loose light blue over shirt that loosely fell over one shoulder and left one bare, and a white vans belt with short blue jean shorts from Old Navy with her feet bare.

She thought about all the things that have happened over the course of one week. Moving to a new city, enrolling into high school, meeting the gang, finding new interests, Cid coming to visit, and Serah's false alarm till now. Lightning tried to sort out the feelings she had. How she felt for Cloud, Noctis, and Cid. For Cloud, she felt that she liked him, but since she thought about it, it was only because he actually gave her a lot of attention. He was a softy and nice and all the characteristics a girl could hope for. Just, not for Lightning. As if she had those three X's from America's got Talent show, X number 1 was stricken and out of the picture. Now she was left with two more Xs, Noctis and Cid.

Lightning heaved a sigh. She knew, deep down, that inside of her was telling her that she has a feeling for Noctis. 'Though, his hands felt too much like Cid's.' Lightning thought. With a shake of her head she tried to clear up that small comparison.

She smirked at the thought of Cid. When they first met, they were definitely close. They could tell each other everything, even until now, and they are like each other's small support system. In the past, Lightning and Cid were bf and gf for about 2 years. The reason for breaking up was simple, Cid made a mistake. His ex-girlfriend was Jihl Nabaat, a Lieutenant Colonel who was the commander of PSICOM, a military force, and she was the very core of the break up.

Lightning made a 'tsk' sound. 'She was a real bitch.' She frowned. 'Always pushed him around like he was some lap dog…' She cracked her knuckles to get the passing anger out. Then, she sensed someone at the door, when she turned her head towards it; there was Cid, gently leaning against its frame. Lightning was surprised at first but then frowned. "Do you not know how to knock?"

Cid smirked and walked towards her. Lightning's eyes stared at him with alarm as she sat up to lay her back against her bed's headboard. He smirked and dragged her desk's seat and sat on it beside her bed. He crossed his arms and leaned back. "You are agitated?" he guessingly asked.

Lightning let out a breath. "No." She lied.

"You're bad at lying." He said with a smirk.

"Better than you, though." She countered.

Cid laughed with a small sigh. Lightning noticed a strain in his sigh. She titled her head and raised an eyebrow. "What's up?"

Cid looked at her for a straight moment and looked down at his crossed arms. "Jihl just called."

Lightning looked at him wide eyed. "Why?" She asked, her voice sounding way too concerned than she wanted it to be.

Cid smirked. "Jealous?" He joked.

Lightning scowled. "Not in the very least. C'mon, spill it already. The suspense is killing me."

Cid sighed once more. "It's nothing serious. Just to check up on things and data sources, asked if I could come back to base to meet her, I had no choice so I said yes, then we hung up." Cid said. "Just the same old, bitchy Jihl."

Lightning furrowed her eyebrows. "I still don't understand why you even get involved with her still…" she muttered angrily as she looked down at her hands lying relaxingly on her stomach.

"It's not like I have a choice. We do still have to work together no matter how much I hate it." Cid said innocently.

"You never used to have it before…" Lightning said slowly as she furrowed her eyebrows.

Cid smirked and looked at her with a small gleam in his eyes. "Still jealous are we?" He said with a hopeful tone.

"Not even close." She said with a breathy voice then turned her head towards him with a serious look. "I'm only concerned for your well-being. She's been using you all these years, you know that?" She said, raising her voice just a little. "You fully knew well that she would wrecked us the very moment you asked me on the first date." She said in an angry tone. "I mean, c'mon, at the time she still wanted you, it was her main goal. And she accomplished it without getting you back." She said, her voice full of anger. "That's what she even deserved." She muttered. "She's a uncaring, selfish, bitch who wants everything for herself. She even took away your promotion and…" She ranted on.

Cid just sat there and listened to Lightning ramble about the subject. In the back of his mind, he hoped Lightning still felt that way he did. His feelings never wavered for her even after they have broken up. To him, the brake up seemed like a dream, as if it still never happened these past two years. In these two years until now, he still never lost hope. He knew in a strange sense of intuition that she, deep down; she still felt that small spark when they were together. For Cid, it felt like a burning fire in a jar. The flames burned brightly but bottled up and with one little touch, the jar would burst open.

Lightning looked at him. "Are you even listening to me?" She said agitatedly with a raised eyebrow.

"Ah," he said as jerked up his head, "yeah I am." He said with constant nodding.

Lightning narrowed her eyes then sighed. "Sorry for the rampage." She apologized as she scratched the back of her head.

"Uh, no prob." Cid said with a raise of his hand. He heaved a sigh as he glanced at his Nixon watch. "It's late. I'm going to crash for the night." He said as he got up and lifted the chair back to its original spot. He stopped by the door and looked over his shoulder. "I'm leaving Bodhum soon to return to base." Then, he walked to the neighboring room.

Lightning just sat there looking where he had last been. Did she really want Cid to leave her for a year again? Could she really bear another year without his support? She shook her head as if the clear her mind. As she sprawled out onto her bed, her cell phone vibrated on her nightstand. She picked it up to see the caller I.D. number. 'Vanille?' She thought. She pressed the green button and raised the receiver to her ear. "Hello?"

"Lightning!" said a booming high-pitched voice with loud pumping music in the background.

"Vanille?" Lightning said while she rubbed her ear a bit then put the receiver back to her ear. "What the hell are you doing? Dancing at a rave or something?" Lightning complained.

The sound of the loud music slightly dimmed then could now hear Vanille's voice. "Sorry, Light. I'm in the bathroom."

Lightning made a disgusted face. "Ew… Anyway what's going on?" Lightning asked.

"Well, everyone's at the party and the only one that's missing I you!"

Lightning sighed. "Vanille…" She started.

"No ifs no buts. Just get off from work or whatever the heck you're doing and get over to the Central Beats Nightclub!"

Lightning narrowed her eyes. "Are we even legal to go to a club?" Lightning asked as she used her military tone.

"Oh… well just restrain from the drinks." Vanille said cheerfully. "C'mon! It's still the early night too!" Vanille begged.

"Vanille, why are you there anyway? I thought you were better than that." Lightning said in an easy tone, trying not to sound like a mother, which she basically failed at because she was practically a mother to Serah.

"I know but it's sooooo fuuuuun!" Vanille said in her hyper tone. Then Lightning heard a voice in the background. "Vanille? What the hell are you doing in here? C'mon! Let's dance!" The voice said.

"In a minute!" Vanille called.

"Was that Tifa just now?" Lightning asked.

"Ah, yeah. Anyway, I better see you over here soon Lightning! You'll be surprised once you get here!" Vanille hinted. "Oh, and wear something 'sexy'." Vanille said. When she said sexy, she sounded like she never used that word in her entire life.

"Vanille!" Lightning complained.

"Nope! Get down here now! I'll meet you at the front door with Zack!" She said then the call disconnected.

Lightning sighed and grunted. She has been to club before with her military friends at the base but never at a town club. And, she had no idea how they could get in. It was always fine at the base because all soldiers if aged higher than 16 years old could get in but couldn't drink. She figured that this would be the same thing. With another complaining grunt, she headed for her closet.

As she raided the rows of clothes, she managed to find a white jeans mini skirt and her black belt; tight white spaghetti strapped tank top with her grey loose cotton over shirt that left one shoulder bare; a nice white beaded necklace with a silver chain necklace that had her Guardian Corps. Emblem on it; big silver hooped earrings; for the shoes, it was white gladiator style sandals with black bottoms; and lastly her make up was an all natural color with black eyeliner and very little black eye shadow and slight lip gloss. She kept her tousled shiny pink hair down with no accessories. She thought it looked best that way. After she checked out her outfit and final touches on make up in the mirror, she grabbed a big black and pink insides coach bag left with her cell phone in the back of her jean mini skirt pocket. She stopped by Cid doorframe and knocked. As he turned around a huge pink blush went on his face with eyes wide open, mouth gaping.

"Well… You look…" He tried to find the right words.

"I don't have time to have a long conversation but this came up recently. I have to meet my friends at some club downtown for a few hours. Could you stay here with Serah and keep an eye on her?" Lightning asked.

He smirked. "Ah, sure. One condition." He smiled.

"Cid, I don't have ti—" She was cut off.

"Take a picture of yourself for me." He flirted.

She grabbed a pillow from the bed at threw it at him with a great amount of force. "HELL NO. Please, just frickn' watch her. I'll call the house to check up on you two." She said as she walked away to go to her garage.

She grabbed her keys on the hook that was by the garage door and flicked on the lights, which shimmered her bright red Ferrari. She smiled a bit. She hasn't driven her car in a long time.

The car was expensive and had a leather interior with a GPS installed. You could even hook up your cell phone to it too and talk to anyone on the phone while driving.

When the engine turned on and revved the car, Lightning smirked. "Ah, I miss this baby." Then the front garage doors opened with a click of a button on the dashboard and her car raced out with the door closing again.

"This is going to be an interesting night." Lightning muttered to herself as she drove.

Chapter 8: Party Time

Lightning pulled into the driveway of the club. Lightning sighed as she looked at the sight. "Just a hole in the wall, huh?" She remarked. She parked her Ferrari next to a flashy black Mercedes Benz and locked her car with a click of her keys. Right about when she was going to turn to walk to the entrance, a group of guys loitering around their car smirked at her.

"Nice ride you got there, babe!" One of the men said.

"Again with the babe." Lightning muttered and looked over her shoulder to show a fake, scary smile. "Thanks." She said so fiercely that the group cringed. She then whipped her head forward and walked.

Lightning always knew that she had a natural sway of her hips, but it wasn't a 'gift from God', as girls would say, it's just a nuisance to Lightning. She sighed as she walked while the men whistled at her, who was hanging around the dark alleys and curbs. 'Probably drug-addicts…' She assumed. When she was halfway through the parking lot, she could see the big and buff bouncer by the door. Next to the bouncer was a navy blue, spiky haired man and next to him was Vanille, who just caught sight of Lightning. Vanille raised her skinny arm and waved her hand, indicating her location and also a greeting.

When Lightning stepped over the curb, Vanille greeted her with a big friendly/sisterly hug. "Um, hi?" Lightning said as she awkwardly hugged Vanille back due to the surprise attack from her.

"You came, you came!" She squealed.

The navy blue, spiky haired man jokingly punched the bouncer in the shoulder then turned to the girls. "Hi." He greeted Lightning with a smile.

"You must be, Zack." Lightning said with a smirk and held out a hand. Zack nodded with a cute smile and shook her hand.

"Yup! And you must be Lightning!"

"Call me Light. So any idea how we can get in the club?" Lightning said with worry.

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that, Light!" Vanille said. "Zack actually owns the club."

"Wow." Lightning said, impressed.

Zack smirked. "Come on in, oh and, no drinks for both of you alright? Not until you reach college." He said with a taunting smile.

Lightning smirked and rolled her eyes. Vanille linked arms with Lightning and they marched inside the club, which was booming with music.

Once they stepped through the metallic doors, it seemed as if they stepped into another world. It was a rave party, all right. It was a big room with a stage in the front that occupied a DJ. The dance floor was packed with rowdy college folks dancing to the booming beat. Zack looked back towards them. "It's gonna get a little confusing when you cross the dance floor so make sure you stay together and don't get lost." He explained. "Here." He stretched his hand out to Lightning who was right beside him. "Take my hand."

Lightning nodded and grabbed his hand with her arm still linked with Vanille. They past through the packed dance floor and just as Zack has said, it was extremely hard to squeeze through all the people who were basically glued together while dancing. Then they followed Zack into little dark hallway where a few couples decided to lean against the metal walls and make out.

Lightning shivered, feeling that she was intruding on their privacy but clearly they didn't even care if their parents even caught them making out. They proceeded onto the end of the hallway that showed a door guarded by another bouncer. Zack gave a little jerk of his chin and the bouncer nodded in response and opened the metallic door.

In the room was three couches and in the middle was a coffee table filled with party food and a big flat screen tv that displayed Call of Duty: Black Opswhich was played by Noctis, Cloud, Larvis and Squall. The room still had the club feel to it and there was still booming music in the room, just a little bit softer than the outside's dance floor music.

To Lightning's surprise, Tifa was snuggling close to Cloud and watched as he played. This disturbed Lightning a bit but she shrugged it off. She was glad that she sorted out her feelings beforehand. Rinoa sat next to Squall and cheered him on and Cloud retorted at them jokingly. Noctis looked so concentrated that Lightning thought he actually looked cute in a geeky way. Aerith was already up and out of her seat to greet her boyfriend Zack with a kiss. "You took to long." She complained.

"Baby, it's only been five minutes." He laughed. He guided her to the couch where they snuggled and watched as the four men played. Everyone greeting Lightning after and she took a seat on the small love seat that was in the corner of the room, tilted towards the television so that you could see. Cloud and Noctis glance away from their game and looked at Lightning then glanced back. Lightning noticed this. 'Probably thinking about that night…' She thought.

Larvis bursted up from the chair cheering. "Ooooh yeah! Who's the master now?" He laughed.

Cloud smirked. "That was a lucky shot, my friend."

"No frickin' way in hell that was luck! It was pure skill." He said with a victorious grin. Vanille and the others giggled.

"Hey don't forget, I'm the one you killed." Squall said. "Prepare to be killed because its revenge time baby!" He joked. Rinoa laughed.

"Oh stop it Squall."

"Yeah I like see you try!" Larvis joked.

Noctis chuckled. "Whatever you say, bud, cause the best guy's gonna play now." He taunted then handed the control to Zack. Zack hooted and Larvis smirk and they all had a rematch.

Then he walked his way over to Lightning and sat down next to her. "Hi." He said as he sat down. Lightning looked at him.

"Hey. So Noctis got beat by Larvis, huh?" Lightning teased.

"Eh, lucky shot." Noctis joked. Noctis had to admit, Lightning looked very attractive to him. He thought that her hair was the best because of its untamed and curly pink locks. He crossed his arms. "I thought you would've brought that guy with you."

"And who is this guy you are talking about?" Lightning asked.

"You know which one. Tall, black hair, handsome."

"Oh my, are you sure your not a girl?" Lightning teased with a laugh.

"Why I don't know. He is quite charming." He said sarcastically.

Lightning laughed then sighed. "Well, you guessed wrong."

Noctis chuckled. "Who's that guy anyway?" He approached.

"Why are you so interested?" Lightning countered with a raised eyebrow and a smirk.

"I was just curious in the matter." He replied.

Lightning narrowed her eyes at him and crossed her legs and arms. "You know what curiosity does to the cat." She warned.

"Curiosity is just another famous trait of mine." He said back.

"Well, does it really matter if I tell you?" She asked.

Noctis stared at her and cocked his head to the side. "Well, it all depends on the outcome." He said with another smile playing on his lips.

Lightning clearly knew that they were flirting with each other. She kind of liked the small argument. They never really got to talk much at school either so now was a good bonding moment.

"He's a friend." She answered. At least she wasn't lying.

"Oh? From the looks of it from that night, I'd say it was a date." He smirked.

"Please." She scoffed and turned her head towards the game.

"I dunno." He said in a melodic tune. "I know what a love struck guy looks like when I see one." He taunted.

Lightning turned to him. "Trust me, he is not love struck."

"How could you be so sure?" He asked.

"Because I know him and you don't. As simple as that." She said with a smirk.

Their gazes locked, as if they were at a flirtatious stare down.

"Hey! HEY! HEY!" screamed Vanille. Noctis and Lightning quickly ended their conversation and sharply turned their heads towards Vanille.

"What?" They all said in unison.

"Let's play a game!" She cheered.

"Vanille, this is a club. Not a sleepover." Squall joked.

"Actually, it's not a bad idea." Rinoa said with a smile.

"Yeah!" Aerith backed up. "You boys are playing a game us girls have no interest in. We want to have fun in our own way too." Aerith said as she nudged Zack.

"That is true…" Tifa said.

"Okay Vanille." Larvis said. "What do you want to play?"

"Hrmm… well I made small pieces of paper written with different types of games we could play. We could do a random drawing!" She said enthusiastically.

All the boys shrugged. "Well it wouldn't hurt I guess." Zack said slowly.

"I think I second that." Noctis said. Lightning just shrugged. They turned off the tv and gathered around the coffee table.

"Ugh there is too much junk on here!" Vanille said and cleared the table by putting everything on the side and laid out all the pieces of paper on the coffee table, all of it facing down so it was revealing anything.

"Vanille, no offense but, why did you even make these stuff?" Noctis asked jokingly.

"Well, I came well prepared for situations like this." She said with a grin.

Lightning raised an eyebrow. "You call this a situation?"

Vanille chuckled. "Precisely."

Everyone sighed except Vanille.

"Alright! Who's gonna pick?" Vanille asked.

"I think Aerith should pick." Zack said in a melody.

"Alright, Zack. Thanks for volunteering." Aerith said with a smile.

Zack chuckled and grabbed a piece of paper on the coffee table. Once he looked at it, bright pink flashed across his face. "V-V-Vanille! Why the hell would you put this kind of game?" He said in shock.

"Well, what game is it?" Aerith asked.

"Yeah, show it to us, bro." Cloud said.

Zack turned around the paper to reveal the game. Everyone looked closer in to get a better look and then all of their faces had at least a little blush and some had very noticeable blushes. They just began to sit silently, not saying anything.

Lightning sighed. "7 Minutes in Heaven? Really, Vanille?" Lightning said, irritated.

"Well, maybe that game's a bit overboard… But it was chosen and everybody agreed to do this…" She said innocently.

"GOD!" Tifa said. "I hate when she's right."

"But still. Don't think this is the best game…" Rinoa said.

"Hrm…" Squall said.

"Another draw?" Noctis asked.

"I guess it can't be helped…" Vanille said and picked up another paper. "AH!" Vanille said cheerfully. "How about this one?" She asked.

Everybody leaned in to take a look as Vanille flipped it around to show everyone.

"Spin the bottle?" Cloud asked.

"Vanille, what the hell is up with you and these kinds of games?" Lightning teasingly asked.

"Well, it does sound fun though." Squall said.

"Alright then. If the same gender picks you, you give a hug! Kissing on the cheek is allowed!" Vanille ordered.

Zack laid an empty coca cola bottle on the coffee table. "Who's first?"

"Oh ohh! Me!" Tifa said cheerfully. She spun the bottle that landed on Aerith. They both smiled and gave each other a big hug. Aerith's bottle spin landed on Squall. Aerith gave Squall a kiss on the cheek. Zack was pretty jealous of this but he got a little kiss on the lips after. Squall's bottle spin landed on Larvis. Squall smirked with Larvis cringing back.

"Hey, hey, hey now. Squall, remember you won the second round right?" Larvis said with a sweat dripping down the side of his face.

Squall gave him a big, bone crushing hug and a hard noogie. Larvis' bottle landed on Vanille. Everyone laughed at them as they both gave each other a kiss on the lips. Vanille's bottle spin had landed on Tifa. They hugged. Tifa's bottle landed on Cloud. Tifa blushed and to Lightning's surprise again, Cloud was the one to go for the kiss on the lips. Lightning just cocked her head to the side a little. Then Cloud's bottle spin landed on Rinoa. Rinoa smiled and Cloud gave her a kiss on the cheek. Rinoa's bottle landed on Lightning. Rinoa smiled and gave her a hug. Although both Rinoa and Lightning hasn't known each other for very long, Lightning liked the positive aura that Rinoa gave. Lightning then grew hesitant as she spun the bottle. The bottle slowed and landed on Noctis. "Whoa!" Vanille said with a little blush.

Cloud looked at Noctis and gave an encouraging smirk.

"Well, you sure got lucky Noct!" Larvis said with a cheer.

Lightning blushed a bit and Noctis scratched his head with a blush. Then the magic moment happened. Everyone stared in awe. Lightning leaned in and gave him a kiss on the lips. It wasn't any normal kiss though. Even though it lasted for a short, brief second, it felt a lot longer to Lightning and Noctis. Electricity shot through them and the both withdrew blushing. "A-alright, alright. Noctis, your turn." Lightning said quickly. Noctis blushed, then nodded, and then spun the bottle. The game quickly came to a close once everyone was chosen.

"Wow~!" Zack said with a sigh. "I'm beat."

Lightning glanced at her watch. 12:46. 'Serah should be asleep already and I've already checked up on them about an hour ago. They should be fine.' Lightning thought.

Everybody migrated to the entrance of the club.

"Thanks, Zack." Tifa said. "This was the very first time I've been to a club and I had fun. Thanks for having my party here." She said with a smile.

"Ahaha. No prob." Zack said with a smirk.

By the time everyone said their goodbyes, Larvis drove Vanille home, Tifa took off with Cloud on his bike, Rinoa lived close by so Squall walked her home, and Zack drove Aerith home. With that left Noctis and Lightning the last ones to leave.

"Got a ride?" Noctis asked.

"Um, yeah. The red Ferrari." She said pointing to her car.

"Nice. My car's there." He said pointing to the car right next to hers. It was a slick all black Mercedes sports car.

Lightning's mouth gaped. "A Mercedes Benz SLR McLaren specs!" She said in amazement. 'To think he could get his hands on a car like that!' Lightning thought.

Noctis chuckled. "Yup. 626-horsepower supercharged 5.5-liter V8. Pretty impressive huh?" He said with a smirk.

"How the hell did you get it?" Lightning asked as they walked towards their cars.

Noctis cocked his head to the side. "I got it for my 16th birthday from my parents. I have to admit, I nearly peed my pants when they first showed it to me."

Lightning smirked. "It was, uh, nice hanging out with you." She said.

Noctis just smiled and ruffled her hair. "I say the same thing." He said as he brought out his keys, pressed a button, and a beep came from his car unlocking.

Lightning leaned against her car. Noctis glanced at her and gave a sighing smile. "Want to give it a spin?" He said in a breathy voice with a haughty smile.

"Could I?" She pleaded with her eyes filled with longing to see how fast his car could go.

He smirked and tossed her the keys. Once she caught it, she gave him the rare Lightning smiles that he has only seen once. Lightning actually squealed quietly to Noctis' surprise. He blush and called shotgun after Lightning excitingly got into the driver's seat. She turned on the engine and the shiny black car roared to life. Lightning smiled. "Ah, it's got a nice purr." She said with a smirk as she revved the engine and quickly sped out the driveway, onto the freeway.

It was 1:12 pm when the pair came back to the club's parking lot. Lightning parked back Noctis' car with ease and after turning the engine off, she left the keys in the ignition and leaned into the seat taking a deep breath. "I… have… got to get my hands on a car like this." She said with exasperation.

Noctis chuckled and glanced at her. She was still in the perfect shorts and shirt outfit that Noctis wished he could see her in everyday if that was possible. Her whole body leaning into the seat, eyes closed, as if she could stay the forever. During her fun spin with the car, they both had a nice conversation, mainly the basic things to know about another. Like, what was you favorite color? Food? Band? Etc. Noctis loved the bonding and he could now classify to some point that she showed interest. He smirked at the thought and cleared his throat. "So, ready to go home, Light?" He asked.

Lightning opened one eye and smiled. "Sure." They both got out of the car and were now in between Noctis' car and Lightning's car, a very small gap to be in between. Lightning and Noctis' gazes locked. "I had fun tonight." She said.

He smiled, his lips only a small lean away. "I did too. We should do this again." He said. Lightning blushed from feeling his hot breath on her lips. "Just the two of us." He added with a smile.

Lightning softened her gaze along with Noctis. They both leaned in and they kissed. The kiss was slow and gentle, but enough to get their hearts racing. Noctis embraced Lightning tighter, pulling her in close. His arms wrapped around her waist. Then the kiss grew hungrier, aggressively lovely. Lightning tangled her nimble fingers into his hair and deepened the kiss, feeling Noctis' soft lips. They loved it. Lightning pulled away to breathe and their foreheads leaned against one another, and they were still entangled by their arms. Lightning smiled. "Goodnight." Her breath smelling like strawberries.

Noctis breathily chuckled, his breath smelling like mint. "Goodnight."

They gave each other one last peck on the lips and Noctis watched Lightning drive away.

All they both thought was, 'I can't believe what just happened.' They thought with a smile.

Noctis sighed and touched his lips with his thumb, then quickly blushing after. He smiled with full teeth showing, white and sparkling and got into his car and drove home.

Chapter 9: Feelings of Love

Lightning arrived home and flicked on the lights to her cozy living room. She plopped herself on the couch, purse and all, and leaned back with a noticeable pink blush splashed across her face. She sighed and closed her eyes, thinking about the sequence of events that happened that night again. It played like a mini chick-flick movie. Lightning smirked. 'Its probably better…' she thought with a smirk playing over her lips.

While she thought, she could hear the soft hum of the sixty degrees set air conditioner and the vanilla scented air that came with it. She dozed until she heard a soft pad of feet walking down the hallway, a noise that was to soft for the normal person to hear. She snapped her eyes open and jerked her head to the hallway entrance to see Cid leaning on its metallic frame.

"Well, if it isn't 'Girl who got invited to a club party and didn't invite her house guest to go also but instead, she left him to babysit her ill younger sister'. He said with a pout. He narrowed his eyes. "Your face is like a bright tomato. Don't tell me that you're drunk?" He said as he sat next to her, arms crossed and right ankle resting comfortably on his left knee.

Lightning sighed. "No I'm not drunk." She said simply. Maybe too simply that Cid didn't even believe her.

He rolled his eyes. "I knew it. You don't have to lie about it." He said with a slight smile. "It'll be our little secret." He said with a smirk and his index finger on his lips.

Lightning scoffed. 'I better just go along with this excuse.'

"Alright, you caught me." She said with a sigh and both arms raised in surrender. "I just couldn't resist the temptation." She lied smoothly with a smirk.

Cid chuckled. "Well, didn't you have fun tonight?" He said with heavy sarcasm.

She pursed her lips. Did she really want to tell him about her intimate encounter with Noctis? 'No way in hell.' She thought. 'He doesn't even know Noctis, and it would be so awkward after. I mean, he's my ex-boyfriend! I can't tell him about my interests right now.'

Lightning smirked. "Aw, don't be salty that you missed out on the fun." She said with a tired smile.

He pursed his lips. "Anything good happen while I was at home babysitting?" He asked.

She blushed some more. She had to lie again. She sighed.

"Not going to fess up are we?" Cid joked.

She grunted and stood up. "For me to know, and for you to find out." She said as she patted Cid's right knee and padded off to her room, leaving her swift shampoo scent of strawberries and vanilla, which left Cid dazed.

'Am I in love?' Lightning asked herself. In the past, she asked herself that question. Even when she said, "Yes, I truly am," she ended up separating from Cid. It was pitch black and the only light that had shown was her digital alarm. 4:13. She sighed. She couldn't believe she spent two whole hours actually thinking about these things. Usually she would think while was worked out at the gym, or spar with her platoon teammates. She smirked tiredly. 'No.' She thought. 'I'm not in love. I'm just falling for him.' She smiled.

She curled herself up in her sheets and let the darkness wash over her.

It's already been two weeks that has passed and Lightning and Noctis are going on great. But the thing that has occurred to Lightning is that Noctis never even showed any display of affection in front their friends and never even asked her to be his girlfriend. She was confused on where they stood with each other. Even though at time he would say something by her ear when they walked passed each other would make her heart flutter, he never said that he loved her. He would sneak a few kisses on the cheek and Lightning would allow it but they never really had the same kiss they had on that night at the club. She wondered if he even loved her at all or was just playing around with her. She thought about this while snuggled up in he sheets and with her room pitch black. It was a Friday night and Serah talked on the phone endlessly with Snow and Cid stayed quietly in the other room. She realized that she had to intro duce Serah to him soon and sighed. Serah would be so excited. Lightning smiled. Then sighed. She still hasn't figured out how she feels about Cid. She still cared for him, yes, but she was falling for Noctis faster than she imagined. But she definitely didn't want her heart broken again. But she just didn't have control over how she felt about Noctis.

She also thought about when Cid might leave. She didn't want him to but if he stayed longer, would she have feelings for him again? Lightning brushed off that thought of being with Cid again and sighed. All she needed was a good night's sleep to keep her away from her disturbing deep thoughts and soon she closed her eyes and drifted.

That same night, Noctis sat on the foot of his bed in deep thought. Mostly thinking about Lightning until his father knocked and his door. "Noctis." His father's voice boomed, independent and dignified, and powerful.

"Come in." Noctis said as he sat up straighter. His bedroom door opened and his father stepped through it. His face looking handsome and his eyes were deep red. His father and Noctis shared the same cobalt hair and both had the intense expression. His father smiled at him.

"Son."

"Father." Noctis chuckled.

His father smiled. "May I sit next to you?" He asked.

Noctis scooted a little bit to the side to give his father some room. His father took a seat and sighed.

"So, what brings you here? Do you not have a meeting to attend?" Noctis asked.

His father sighed once more but then soon smiled and looked Noctis straight in the eye. "I do have one actually. But, I wanted to ask you if you would like to attend also."

Noctis raised an eyebrow. "Why the sudden invite?"

His father cocked his head to the side, as if debating on what to say. "Well, I would like you to see that girl again. She would be attending tonight and I just wanted you to go…. see her?" He said unsurely and gave a little laugh.

Noctis raised an eyebrow. "And which girl is this exactly?" He said in a suspicious tone.

"Miss Stella Nox Fleuret." His said in a grave voice.

Noctis gave an exasperated sighed. "Dad…"

"I know, I know. I know what happened between the two of you, but you should at least try to reconcile with her."

"Even if I did, I can't just forgive her. Even if I reconcile with her doesn't mean that my other friends will. They would be totally against the fact. Actually, they would be against the fact that I even tried to reconcile with her." Noctis said.

"Then be the bigger person. Be the one to set things right again." His father suggested.

"It's not as easy as it is being said." Noctis said through clenched teeth.

"Son, have you even figured out the rest of your feelings yet? And have you told me about that other girl yet?" His father said with a raised eyebrow.

"Other girl?" Noctis asked.

"Yes, the one that was a soldier." His father said.

"How did you even find out about her?"

"I have my connections." He said simply.

Noctis sighed. "Her name is Lightning Farron. She's in my class, we have been… hanging out for a while. I like her and all…" Noctis said in embarrassment.

His father sighed and smiled at him. A smile that both of them shared. "Well, I'm glad. But," His father pushed on. "Do you still feel for Miss Stella?" He asked, his face becoming wary. "I trust that you won't lie to me."

Noctis's eyes became glazed over. "I know." He said then looked down at his feet. "As much as I really like Lightning, you still know that I can't forget Stella. No matter how much I try, she's still there. Even though she hurt me and my closest friends, she's still fucking there." Noctis said angrily, then looked up at his father, staring right into his eyes. "But, the one that I have now, Lightning, I want to cherish her. She's not like Stella and you and I both know it." He said.

His father pursed his lips and nodded. "Alright, son." He said and stood up to leave. He turned back at his son once her reached the door. "Are you positive you don't want to attend the meeting? We will have dinner there." He suggested.

Noctis nodded. "I'm sure."

His father nodded and walked away, leaving Noctis alone and in deep thought.

Buzz…. Buzz… Buzzzzzz… Her phone rang. Lightning yanked her eyes open to her room being as bright as day. She glanced over to see one missed call message on her phone. She grunted. "What time is it?" She muttered, looking at her alarm clock. 10:14. She grunted and lazily flipped open her phone.

"Hello?" She said trying to not sound groggily.

"Light?" A deep voice said.

She knew this voice. "Noctis?"

She heard a breathy chuckle. "Uh, yeah."

"Oh," she said, "What's up?" She said as all her grogginess faded away.

"Vanille, Larvis, Tifa and Cloud want to meet up and do some shopping today… and movies…" He included.

Lightning smirked. "Well, great. That's cool."

"Well, I—I mean, we, were wondering if you want to tag along?" He asked.

"Noctis Lucis Caelum, are you asking me on a quadruple date?" She flirted.

"Only if you want me to." He said back.

"Humph, pick me up at 11." She said. "I think you know where my house is. It's two turns past your place's turn. Take that third left and the fourth house with the Military mailbox is me."

"No problem. See you then." He said and the phone disconnected.

She just sat there for a moment until she realized… 'SHIT!' She thought. 'I'm bringing Noctis to my house and Cid is here! Aw, man I'm such an idiot!' She thought as she scrambled to get ready.

After she had her clothes and minimum makeup on for the day, she bolted out of her door and went to Cid's room. When she stopped by the door, his face was only inches away from hers. His eyes widened and almost leaped backwards three feet. "What that he—" Cid started.

"I'm going on a date." She blurted out.

Cid just stood there, and then raised an eyebrow. "Um, great?"

She looked at him dumbfounded, and then sighed a big relief.

"What is wrong with you today?" He joked as he walked past her as he ruffled her hair, but from the corner of her eyes, she could see his smile quickly fade away and saw his face became hard.

"How weird…" She muttered.

Next was Serah's room. When Lightning delivered the news, Serah went ballistic. "I can't believe it Light~!" She squealed.

A sweat dropped down my temple. "Hush! You don't need to be so loud." Lightning slowly said.

"What do you mean? I'm so happy for you! When you and Noctis are officially BF and GF, Noctis, you, me, and Sno—" She started but Lightning cut her off by holding her palm up.

"Oh no no no no no…. No double dates please." Lightning begged.

"Ah, we'll see about that. Anyway," She started as she scanned my outfit. "You look to simple. You need some… PIZZAZ… but not to busy." She said with a smile.

Lightning looked down at her clothes and then looked back at Serah. "And what is wrong with my shirt and jeans? We are only going shopping and a movie." Lightning stated.

"Nope, it isn't acceptable in my fashion sense." Serah said with a smile and half pulled and half dragged Lightning towards Lightning's room to find something else to wear.

Lightning stood in front of her 6-foot tall mirror and pursed her lips. She wore a tight blue T-shirt that had a few white and silver heart designs on the bottom. It was accompanied by a light, white cotton scarf and for the bottom was a white skirt that ended about two inches above her knees. For shoes, it was simple blue converse with low cut white socks. For Lightning's facial and hair, her make up was minimum. It was a blend of natural colors, which always looked best on her, and she wore slight pink colored chapstick the made her lips look smooth and kissable. Her favorite part of the chapstick is that it tasted and smelt like strawberries. She also had on mascara and eyeliner with the color of black. Her lavish pink hair is how both Noctis and she liked it, down, untamed, and most of it pulled on her left side. It had straight hair on the top but beautiful tousles on the bottom. She wore silver hooped earrings to top the whole outfit off. "Not bad, Serah." She said. She looked actually normal for a change. Whenever Serah would dress her, she would always look like she was going to prom.

"Yay! Mission accomplished!" Serah said with glee. Lightning smiled at her and a few seconds later the doorbell rang. Lightning's smile faded and she was wide eyed.

"Hurry up and go!" Serah pushed her. Lightning hastily grabbed her blue and silver jucci brand purse and darted out of the door with Serah following behind.

Noctis parked his car and was now walking towards Lightning's front door. 'Her house looks… cozy….' He thought. He wished that he could live in a house like Lightning's. A house that felt normal. His heart was pounding and he couldn't help but smile about the fact that Lightning would be his date for the day. He blushed but he quickly got his composure back. He stood on her porch looking straight at the door debating on whether he should knock. "Get a hold of yourself, Noct…." He muttered. He took a deep breath, raised his hand, and knocked on the door. Though, someone he didn't expect opened the door.

"Farron resi….dence…." Cid said as he opened the door and saw Noctis. "Oh." He said in surprise.

Noctis made a nervous laugh. "Um, nice to meet you. Is Lightning Farron here?" He asked. Cid stood up straight and Noctis could see his broad stature. Both of them were pretty close in height but Noctis was a bit shorter. Noctis felt intimidated so he put his game face on, stood up slightly straighter, and looked almost as intimidating as Cid. 'So he's the guy from that night…' Noctis thought, referring to the night he saw Lightning out eating ice cream with him.

"She's not here." Cid simply said with a menacing smirk.

Noctis returned it with another. "Is that so?"

The two guys stared down each other.

"Cid!" Lightning said. "Knock it off!" She scolded and went passed Cid and through the door. Lightning tried to hide a small blush as she looked at Noctis. He was well dressed for an occasion such as this one. He had black Levi's on with a navy blue dress shirt that seemed to bring out his cobalt hair and blue eyes more and was rolled up to his elbows. Two buttons were undone and you could almost see the top of his chest. Lightning's favorite thing about his outfit was that he wore black combat boots, which looked way too similar to Cid's combat boots. To Lightning's surprise, she had to admit he looked pretty hot.

"Light." Cid said. "No hanky panky now."

Lightning pouted. "And who exactly made you my father?" She teased as she stood beside Noctis.

Cid scoffed. "What are you twelve?"

"What are you, forty?" She challenged back. Noctis choked back a chuckle and Cid gave him a warning glare.

Cid started to protest but Lightning raised her hand. "Where are my manners? Noct, this is Cid. Cid, meet Noctis." Lightning said with hand gestures.

They both just did a head nod to each other. Serah came into view and smiled at Noctis. "HI!" She said cheerfully.

"Oh, this is my little sister, Serah. Serah this is Noctis."

"Its nice to meet you!" She said with a bright smile.

Noctis smiled back. "Pleasure is all mine." He said with a slight nod. Noctis turned to Lightning. "Ready?"

"Always am." Lightning said as she waved a goodbye to Cid and Serah.

As Cid saw the two leave, he felt a pang on his heart. It pained him to see Lightning leave with some other guy, especially one as young as her. Serah winked at Lightning and gave two thumbs up. Lightning rolled her eyes and turned away.

He sighed and closed the door.

Noctis politely opened her passenger door for her and Lightning reluctantly got inside his Mercedes.

"So who is this Cid guy?" Noctis asked as he drove.

Lightning stared out at the window. "He's actually one of my bosses."

"From Guardian Corps. hm?" He muttered.

Lightning chuckled. "I saw your death stare down battle you know, and trust me, with a little more work, you could almost beat him."

"Shit, I can beat him! Even a frickn' baby could." He said with a confident smirk.

"Heh, I don't think so." She teased.

The car parked and both got out. As they waited for the elevator Noctis looked at her. "By the way," He started with a smirk playing on his face. "I forgot to do this before we left your house." He said.

Lightning raised an eyebrow and got the unexpected. Noctis quickly leaned towards her and kissed her lips. It was the same exhilarating feeling of gentle then it turned to hunger. She ran her fingers through his hair without herself noticing it. Their lips parted, inches away from each other once the small ring of the elevator came to their floor.

The two saw Vanille and Larvis standing in line, waving them over, once they reached the lobby. Noctis greeted Larvis with a handshake and Noctis gave Vanille a little hug.

"Lightning! You look sooo cuuute!" She squealed and gave her a big hug.

"Thanks." Lightning said. "You don't look to bad yourself." Lightning commented. Vanille smiled happily. She wore a cute orange over shirt that said 'Miss Giggles' which suited her very nicely and was accommodated with a white tank under it. She had a big stylish brown leather belt with a very frilly white cotton skirt that ended half way up her thigh. For shoes she had on knee high brown cowgirl shoes. For her hair, it was her normal low pigtails and she had while pearls for her earrings. She wore a gold, pink, and orange, yellow, and brown beaded necklace that was beautiful.

"Hey, Light." Larvis said with a smiled and gave Lightning hug. Larvis's hair seemed as bright and stylish as ever, and her wore a nice fitting white shirt, and a black open button up dress shirt. He had dark blue Levi's on and has simple black boots.

"Hi."

"So," Noctis started. "What movie are we watching?" Noctis asked Larvis as the two men headed towards the line to leave Lightning and Vanille waiting for their tickets.

"Well?" Vanille asked as they went out of earshot.

Lightning raised an eyebrow. "Well what?"

"Are you and Noct you know, official?" Vanille asked excitedly.

Lightning pursed her lips. "Well, define official…" Lightning said slowly.

"LIGHT!" Vanille let out an exasperated breath.

"Okay, when we were at the club and all of you went home, Noct and I went around for a drive in his ride and then when we came back to the parking lot we kind of had a short second of making out I guess but that's really all. He never asked me to be his girlfriend or anything… I think." Lightning rambled and then took a deep breath.

Vanille blinked and a huge smile washed over her face. "OMG LIGHT I'm so happy for you!" She said as she glomped Lightning. "But we need to work on getting Noctis to ask you to be his one and beloved girlfriend." She smiled.

Lightning rolled her eyes.

"Now what's all this fun you ladies are talking about?" Noctis said right beside Lightning. Lightning blushed as she could feel his warmth at her side. She wanted to just turn around and embrace him but she resisted to the thought.

Vanille's smile widened more as she saw Noctis. "What movie?" She asked.

"Ugh," Noctis grunted. "A stupid chick-flick."

Lightning raised an eyebrow. "And what is wrong with chick-flicks?"

"Oh, Light, I thought you were different than the other girls!" He teased.

"I'm a lady too you know." She said with a smirk. "Just harder to get."

Noctis smiled. "Well, I guess I earned a gold medal cause your already mine." He flirted and wrapped his arm around her waist.

Lightning rolled her eyes and grabbed the tickets from his hand to pass it to everyone.

Larvis came by with all the food and drinks with Vanille helping and we all went into the theatre room. Vanille sat to the left of Lightning, Larvis sat on the left of Vanille, and Noctis sat on the right of Lightning. The screen flickered to the started of the movie and then you could hear the music of the intro.

During the entire movie, Lightning had her arm woven with his, and they cuddled. She didn't even seem to pay any attention towards the movie and just glanced at Noctis from time to time. She could also tell he was doing the same.

Lightning smiled as she saw the screen show the romantic kiss the heroine and the main leading guy displayed. Noctis saw her smiling and he put his hand on her cheek. She turned and looked at him.

"Lightning Farron, would you do me the honor of being your boyfriend?" He whispered from out of the blue. When he said her name, it felt like a warm embrace around it.

'FINALLY!' she thought. Lightning smiled softly and leaned towards him. Their lips met and the jolt of warm electricity flowed throughout both of their bodies. Noctis could taste her strawberry flavored chapstick and Lightning could taste Noctis's minty flavor of his lips. Lightning gave a soft moan. Then, as if too soon, the lights came on and everyone was filing through the rows and down the steps towards the exit, and the music of the credits were still playing. The two swiftly pulled away from each other and blushed.

"So," Vanille turned to Lightning. "How was the movie?" She asked excitedly.

Lightning blushed and laughed a breathy laugh. "Uh, awesome."

Noctis smirked. Who knew he could put such an affect on a girl who is not very soft hearted.

"So where to next?" Lightning asked.

"Well we were supposed to meet Tifa and Cloud at Bodhum Central Mall." Vanille started.

"But," Larvis added. "Tifa's gotten sick and Cloud is at her house taking care of her."

"How'd you know that?" Vanille asked curiously.

Larvis just smiled guiltily. "During the movie?"

Noctis made a face that said 'you're so screwed'. Lightning just smirked and shook her head in disappointment.

"You were supposed to be paying attention!" Vanille scowled and slapped Larvis arm. "No wonder you paid no attention to me! I picked the movie so me and you would…" She trailed off and bright pink flashed across her face in embarrassment.

Lightning smiled in surprise. "Wow, Vanille, I never knew you were so straight forward." Noctis chuckled.

"Awww! Vanille! Your too cute!" Larvis said and gave her a big hug and kissed her on the cheek.

"Oh hush!" She said looking away with her cheeks red.

The four of them went shopping and Vanille made Lightning try on almost all clothes she could possibly think was cute on her. The two boys carried all the bags, most were Vanille's and once the boys couldn't carry anymore, they decided to go home. Vanille and Larvis said their goodbyes and went home, so did Noctis and Lightning.

Noctis turned off the ignition and sighed in his seat. "Well that was fun, hm?" He said.

Lightning nodded. "It was. I didn't realize how long it was since I last shopped." She said with a smile.

Noctis smiled and then his phone rang. "Oh, um, if you'll excuse me…" He said as he grabbed his phone and looked at the caller ID. Noctis tensed up and Lightning noticed. "Aren't you going to answer that?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

Noctis just stared at his phone and nodded slowly. He flipped open the phone and waited a second before he answered.

"Hello?"

"Noctis." A shrill and piercingly seductive voice carried through the receiver into Noctis's ear. "You finally answered me."

"What do you want?" He said, trying to be polite. Lightning shifted in her seat from the edge in his voice.

"What? Can't an old friend call? How cruel." She purred.

"Stella…" Noctis said impatiently, pouring out all the venom he could muster in his voice. Lightning furrowed her eyebrow when he said her name. 'Isn't that his ex-girlfriend?' Lightning thought.

Stella gave a little laugh. "I just called to check up on you of course. How are you doing? I attended that council meeting the other night but you weren't there." She said with disappointment.

"I was busy." He said with a sigh.

"And now you need to make up for it." She said with a flirtatious laugh. "Meet you at the usual at 7." She informed.

"Hey, don't go make your own plans and—" He started.

"See you then!" She said with a laugh and hung up.

Noctis gave an exasperated sigh.

"What wrong?" Lightning asked.

Noctis flinched at her voice because he had almost forgotten she was sitting in the car with him. "Oh," He said then laughed nervously. "It's nothing." He said. Then looked behind her and saw the window to her house. Cid leaned on the wall with his arms crossed and raised an eyebrow. "I think you should go back in. Cid, there, is getting antsy." He said as he pointed at the window.

Lightning turned towards the window and scowled. "Seriously?" She muttered. She turned back at Noctis and sighed. "Don't want to keep him waiting…" She said and turned away and opened the door.

"Wait." Noctis called. Lightning turned towards him and their lips met again. Noctis's hand rested on Lightning's cheek and Lightning's hand reflexively rested on the back of Noctis's neck, pulling him closer.

They pulled away and Noctis laughed. "Bye."

Lightning smirked. "Bye." She got out and closed the door behind her. She walked up to her front porch and stole another glance at Noctis, smiled and went inside.

Noctis sighed and put on the engine and drove away, expecting a very difficult night.