Chapter 1: Trouble Maker

The elevator opened to reveal the SOLDIER floor of the Shinra building. I glanced around the hallway to make sure nobody was around and carefully made my way to the Briefing Room. I was late comming back from a mission, what was supposed to only be a week long assignment turned into two weeks, and if my brother saw me before I had time to make up an excuse, I was in big trouble.

Almost there! I thought.

I was just about to open the door when, "Hey Senna, where've you been?"

I flinched and closed my eyes, Busted...

Turning, I put a smile on my face. Behind me stood my older brother, Zack Fair.

"Hey, big bro..I was just-"

"Senna, you're a week late. You had me worried sick, I thought you were hurt!" He exclaimed.

"I know, Zack, I'm sorry. There was a complication and I had to fix it."

Just to seal the deal, I used my puppy eyes on him, just to bump up to forgiveness level. Zack could never resist my puppy eyes, just one look into those glistening baby blues and he was trapped until I was forgiven for whatever I did wrong. Zack bit his lower lip once the face grabbed his attention. He tried to look away, but it was no use. Finally he sighed and hung his shoulders.

"Fine, Sen, you're forgiven." He said.

I smiled and hugged him, "Thank you, Zack!"

"Yeah yeah yeah," he laughed, "but I think you're getting to old to use the puppy face. Pretty soon it's not gonna work, then what are you gonna do? Hmmmm?"

"Oh please, you're never to old to do the puppy dog face, and besides, you still use the puppy dog face."

Zack glanced around the room, trying to think up an excuse I suppose. That's my brother for ya, always trying to think up something to get him out of trouble, maybe I got that from him.

"Alright, Sen, you win. Just go clock in already and I'll see you back at home." he said.

"Yes, older brother, sir!" I saluted.

Zack rolled his eyes and walked away. It's only been a month since he was promoted to First Class SOLDIER and already he's starting to act like a high authority official. It's only a matter of time before he takes some poor Third Class under his wing and becomes like Angeal, or Genisis, or even Sephiroth. A picture of Zack with long silver hair and cat like green eyes appeared in my head, I shuddered, No, not like Sephiroth. I walked into the Briefing room to check back in from my mission. Now hopefully I'm due for a day off to enjoy being back, nahh, like that's gonna happen.

"Welcome back, Senna." Sephiroth said behind me.

"Ohhh...I'm in trouble aren't I?" I asked.

Sephiroth was my mentor, strict as he was with training, sometimes he would let me off with a warning when I did something stupid, or dangerous. Hopefully this fit into the category of stupid instead of dangerous. Sephiroth crossed his arms and shook his head. I innocently smiled at him, I would try the puppy dog eyes, but I've tried that before and they had no effect on him. He nodded his head towards the door, meaning: Go to the training room. I sighed in defeat and hung my shoulders, my usual punishment was to do numerous exercises and fight off multiple computer generated fiends until my body couldn't take anymore strain, and even then I had to keep going. That was Sephiroth's way of training and punishing, to always push yourself further than what you can normally go. I've gotten better from the first day I was here, within half an hour I was down for the count, but now I can go a good six or seven hours before collapsing. We passed by Angeal before we got to the training room, Sephiroth stopped, but I continued to the training room. I knew what I had to do, so I didn't really need Sephiroth there to guide me. Professor Hojo was in the training room when I got there, he was mumbling to himself about a new experiment and how great it was going to be, or something like that. The man was just plain creepy, he wasn't just a scientist, he was a mad scientist that needed some serious mental help. I carefully walked past him and punched in my training program onto the computer stimulator.

I stretched my muscles before I started the main exercises, there's nothing worse than sore, aching, muscles that haven't had the time to get warmed up before doing vigorous activity. I felt eyes on me the entire time, it wasn't a comfortable feeling. Every now and then I would stop and look around, but nobody was in my line of sight, which made me wonder where Professor Hojo disappeared to. I shrugged my shoulders and got back to doing squats, something I picked up from watching Zack when he gets bored. There's no way I could do more than him, but I'm working on it. I could feel the sweat rolling down my back by the time I got to seventy-five squats.

"Come on, you can do better." I said to myself.

I locked my arms behind my head and kept going, my legs were burning and I could feel the heat in my face. I tried to keep even breaths, but eventually I fell over from my legs going numb. I rolled over onto my stomach and started doing push-ups. I would take a short break, but I didn't want to risk getting caught by Sephiroth.

Finally after eight hours, I collapsed flat on my back, out of breath and not able to feel any part of my body. On the up side, I beat my original record of seven and a half hours. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and sat up.

"Finished already?"

Sephiroth walked into the training room with a potion in his hand. He tossed it to me, thankfully I had enough strength in my arms to catch it. I scowled at the light blue liquid in the bottle. I've always hated this stuff, it tasted like melted chalk with spinach.

"Drink it. You'll feel better." Sephiroth said.

I looked at him, "You know I hate this stuff."

"It's good for you."

"Yeah wells so are vegetables, but I don't eat much of those either."

Sephiroth sighed, "Professor Hojo is comming back in here later to test out his new invention. Do you want to be here to be his test dummy?"

I took a moment to think about it, then popped off the lid of the bottle and chugged down the chalky liquid. I squinted my face when I got the last drop of the potion and handed the bottle back to Sephiroth. The warmth of the potion spread throughout my entire body and I felt like I could go through training for another five hours. My phone went off, making me jump because of how loud it was. I pulled it out of my pocket and opened it.

"Hello, Senna Fair here. How may I help you?" I said.

"It's almost eleven thirty, Sen. Where are you?"

I smiled and rolled my eyes, Zack can be to over protective sometimes, especially when it came to my curfew time.

"Don't worry, Zack. I just got done with training and I'm on my way home right now. So keep your panties on and sit tight."

"Oh that's funny, Senna. Real funny." Zack said with a monotone voice.

"You love me, big bro, I know you do." I smiled.

"Yeah, well love isn't gonna be enough to get you home before your curfew, remember the infantrymen patrol the streets and they're strict about kids being out after midnight."

"I'm not a kid, Zack. I'm seventeen, I know how to take care of myself, and besides, most of those infantrymen are my age."

"Just get home before my head explodes from worrying about you." I could hear the smile in his voice.

"Yes, brother."

I closed my phone and put it back in my pocket. Sephiroth was still in the room, looking rather bored.

"I gotta get home, Zack's getting worried." I said.

He nodded his head toward the door, meaning I could leave. "Take care of your own training tomorrow, I have a mission to go on, so I won't be here."

"Yes, sir."

I lightly bowed to him, my usual form of respect, and began my walk to the elevator. The hallway was deserted, there used to be so many Seconds and Thirds running around trying to finish their last minute work, but ever since Genisis left, this place has been so empty. I turned the coner that led to the elevators and almost ran into somebody else coming around.

"Oh, sorry." I said.

"Senna Fair, 2nd class SOLDIER, so nice to see you again, how was your training?"

I hesitated looking up, I knew the voice, that crazy, maniacal, voice. Professor Hojo stood infront of me with a devious smirk on his face. I nodded at him and stepped to the side, but he stepped infrong of me.

"Now now, Senna, don't be rude. Answer my question." he said.

I looked towards the floor, "It was fine." I mumbled.

"Good girl, now on your way, I've got important work to do."

Hojo stepped past me, I looked over my shoulder and made a disgusted face at his back. What a creepy man.

At night the streets of Midgar were creepy, but also peaceful. There was always a small breeze blowing through the tall buildings, and the fountain in the center of town supplied the cooling mist. I sat down on the edge of the fountain, being late by afew minutes won't hurt Zack. I dipped my figures into the cold water and made small circles. I breathed in the scent of the mist and fresh air, and sighed. Light footsteps brought my attention to the stairs leading towards the train station. An Infantryman was making his rounds, poor guy, he must be the unlucky one to get the night shift. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs when he saw me.

"You should get home, it's gettinng late." He said.

He had a soothing voice, one that sounded innocent and kind, not arrogant and bossy like the rest of the Infantrymen I've had the unfortunance of meeting.

"I'll be ok, I know how to take care of myself." I replied.

He walked over to the fountain. From what little I could see of him, he had pale skin that looked soft to touch, and a nicely built figure, he wasn't a city boy.

"Sometimes fiends wonder into the city in the middle of the night. Do you want me to walk you home?" He asked.

"It's alright. No fiend is a match for a SOLDIER 2nd Class." I said matter of factly.

"Oh! SOLDIER. I'm so sorry, I didn't know-"

I cutt him off with a light chuckle.

"That's alright, I'm one of few girls in SOLDIER. I don't expect anybody to know who I am." I stood up and walked towards him, "I'm Senna, Senna Fair, but my brother calls me Sen. What's your name?"

"I'm Cloud, Cloud Strife."

"Well, Cloud Strife, why don't you let me see what you look like under that helmet?"

Cloud took off his helmet, revealing his blonde spiky hair, handsome features, and the most gorgeous blue eyes I have ever seen. I found myself getting caught in his gaze, like I was spiraling down into a pit that I didn't want to get out of. He shifted uncomfortably, probably because I was staring wide eyed at him. I shook my head to recover from my stupidity.

"Um, sorry haha, but your eyes..they're just..I really like them."

Cloud's eyes widened, "Oh, thank you." A hint of blush appeared on his pale skin, "Nobody has ever said that to me before haha."

I blushed as well, though I usually state the obvious, I've never gone that far before. "You're welcome."

We stood in an uncomfortable silence for awhile before the clock beside the fountain made a loud ding noise, telling everybody that it was midnight.

"Oh crap! I'm late!" I exclaimed.

I rushed past Cloud towards the stairs, I turned back at him before I ran to far away.

"I'll see you later, ok Cloud?"

He nodded at me and put his helmet back on. Even from this distance I could still see the blush on his cheeks. I smiled, and ran up the stairs to mine and Zack's apartment. I seemed to be getting into a lot of trouble today, maybe it was the weather.