Easy As Breathing Rewrite
AndiAi
A/N: Okay, so this was actually my most popular fic on this site, I'm doing a complete and total overhaul on it, to match my writing today, which is way better than it was in 2011, a 21 year old mind can think better than a 15 year old mind can when it comes to the adult situations that are in this story. I hope that this story does justice to the other one! If you want to see how it was before, I'll be leaving the original on my profile so people can compare and contrast.
Chapter 1: Meetings
It was a day in the middle of February, which was an oddity in Neibelheim, and I walked in deliberate steps home from school, enjoying the feel of the warm sun on my skin. A rare smile crossed my face when the wind blew, pushing bits of litter that had been left on the ground out of the places where they had been left for gods know how long. My pace picked up a bit when my house was in sight and I adjusted the heavy bag on my shoulder. "Thank gods it's Fri-" I started to whisper to myself just as someone ran into me, effectively knocking me flat on my face.
"I am SO sorry!" I heard a voice saying, it sounded slightly panicked and he turned around to look at the person who had so rudely delayed me getting home.
"It's fine.." I said quietly, averting my gaze from the Raven haired stranger, not wanting to have to talk to him for longer than what was absolutely necessary. The black haired man offered me his hand, to help myself up when I started struggling to stand, I sighed in defeat and took his hand, he pulled on it and balanced himself carefully, before muttering a small "Thanks" and taking off towards my house, opening the door quickly and slamming it shut. I leaned against the door and sunk to the ground. I hate having to deal with people, and the embarrassment of being knocked over just doubled the awkwardness of the entire situation for me. I frowned, taking a few deep breaths trying to let myself move on from the situation that had just occurred, then I heard someone knocking on the door.
"How much do you wanna bet it's that guy." I muttered to myself, a bit of poison lacing my words, my frustration over the situation starting to surface a little more. I opened the door and sure enough, there he was. "Yes?" I groaned.
"I really am sorry." The man said. "My name is Zack, let me make it up to you"
"Not interested." I said shortly, basically glaring at him.
This was the first time I had really seen him though, his eyes were a really deep blue, almost glowing, though, my eyes were a lot like that too. His face was pale and flawless, except for a small scar that made a small "X" on his right cheek, and for some reason I had the urge to reach out and trace it, but I shook it off and continued to glare at him.
" No need to be so bitter." He said, a frown went across his face and I rolled my eyes. " I really am sorry though, if you change your mind about me making it up to you, I live two doors down from here, he offered a smile and turned around. I slammed the door shut, and locked it, making my way up the stairs, my footsteps causing the boards to groan in protest. When I arrived to my room I dropped the heavy backpack onto the floor and walked over to my desk, turning my laptop on, planning to spend the day scrolling mindlessly through whatever I happened to come across and numb my brain. That was the plan, until my twin sister Rikku barged into my room and practically attacked me.
"Cloud!" She squealed in obvious delight to see me, she was identical to me, except for her vivid green eyes, totally different from my own eyes. My mom gave my eyes to me and my father passed down his eyes to her. I ruffled her light blonde hair and stood up allowing her to tug me to wherever she wanted me to go. The thing with Rikku was that even if you didn't want to give her, her way, she would get it anyway, mostly because she had mastered the art of pouting.
"Where are you dragging me?" I whined sarcastically, I heard her laugh quietly but all I got in reply was a finger over my lip, which in turn I licked.
"Ewwww!" She exclaimed. "You are so gross!" She smacked me playfully, but never faltering in the pace she was making to whatever, or wherever was so important that she was forcing me to go with her. "So there is this new neighbor, and he is so cute! I figured you would want to see him." At that exact moment is when my whining went from mock to real, mostly because I already had a good idea of who this guy might be, and I was not in the mood to have to recount how I had already met him. Mostly because Rikku would be all over it.
"Rikku, no!" I protested and fought against her grip futilely, her grip only tightened, and once she had her death grip on you there was no way out without injuring yourself. This could be a good tool to have on your side sometimes, but at this very moment I hated how strong she was.
She looked at me, widening her green eyes. "Come on Cloud." she said softly, almost as if I had hurt her feelings. "For me?" She made the 'me' longer than it needed to be, and stuck her bottom lip out slightly.
Her puppy dog face was stronger than my dislike for this new neighbor, so I gave in with a reluctant "Fine, but I'm not happy about it." She quickly changed her expression to a victorious one. She guided me to her room, we hadn't made it yet because of all my struggling, though in normal time we would have been here in less than a minute. I groaned when she took my shoulder and pushed me toward her window.
She pointed to the already familiar raven haired man who I now knew as Zack. "His name is-"
"Zack." I said cutting her off. "I've already had the pleasure of meeting him." I said sarcastically.
She looked at me incredulously. "Spill." She demanded, and I rolled my eyes, going into the details of the events that happened just before she assaulted me and dragged me into her room. "Oh. My. God!" She was literally bouncing out of her seat when I told her about how he followed me to the house, she had a big grin on her face and her eyes were flashing with excitement. "He asked you out!"
I shook my head immediately. "No, there was no asking out." I corrected her very carefully.
"Cloud, please don't tell me you are THAT naive." She said disdain thickly lacing her voice. "Usually when a guy says 'let me make it up to you', it's a way to ask you out." She smacked my forehead.
"Well, I am in no way, shape, or form interested in him." I said, nodding my head to assert my statement.
She rolled her eyes and smirked. "But he certainly seems interested in you, and you better bet if that is the case, he will make another appearance in your life." and with that she ushered me out of her room, leaving me to think about what she had just said. God, sisters could be so pushy.
End Note: I changed quite a bit from the original, mostly because I needed some more supporting characters and detail. Cloud's personality also differs from that of the game, mostly because I am treating things as if the events of the game had never occurred, and there was no SOLDIER program. Also, there will be characters from multiple Final Fantasy titles. Comment as you will, any comment is welcome, even the flames direct me more toward how I want to write!