The light from the full Agrabah moon lit Jasmine's room on one particularly hot Agrabah night. She sat on the floor on the beautifully crafted mat in the center of the room and relaxed against the many throw pillows, her pipe in hand.

Jasmine took a long drag from the pipe, inhaling the sweet, intoxicating fumes. She crossed her legs in the royal attire that Princess Jasmine had given her for the engagement party and kicked off her sandals. Even though the party was still going on downstairs, Jasmine had elected to return to her room early for the evening. After all, she had more exploring to do in the slums of the city.

She sighed heavily, the smoke pouring steadily from her nostrils. She hit a lot of dead ends in Agrabah. Ever since Jafar had been taken care of, most of her leads had vanished, making it that much difficult to track down the lost pages of the journal.

'Am I ever gonna be done with this?' Jasmine asked herself, rubbing her under eye area careful not to disturb the smoky black eye she applied earlier. 'Am I ever going to go home?'

The sound of thundering knocking startled Jasmine and she looked over her shoulder, eyes narrowed. Who in the world could be at her door at this hour?

Jasmine reached for the dagger Aladdin had given her on her last visit, carefully draping her open, emerald green robe over it.

"Come in," Jasmine called slowly.

The door nearly flew off its hinges as Ventus, who was also dressed for the party in blue and white royal attire, stumbled into her room. The blond tossed himself onto Jasmine's makeshift bed on the floor and rested his head in her lap.

"Come back to the party!" Ventus begged, staring up at her with puppy dog eyes.

Jasmine smiled slightly and brushed Ven's wild blond hair out of his eyes, only for it to fall back into place every time. "I'm tired, Ven. I gotta get rest before I go out tomorrow."

Ventus pouted and poked Jasmine's slightly showing abdomen. "There's a party downstairs and you wanna stay cooped up in your room. We're staying in the sultan's palace! There's music and alcohol and dancing."

She was firm with her decision to stay in her room. "Maybe when I don't have to dig up dirt on a dead SHINRA rat," Jasmine said. "Besides, I'm not in much of a party mood."

The blond sighed. "It's always business with you."

Jasmine shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly and stared back up at the moon while she continued to play in Ventus' hair. "I'm only here because of business, Ven," she gently reminded him. "I can't go home empty handed – not when there's so much at stake."

The air in the room became stiff when they fell silent. Jasmine looked down at Ventus, who had removed his glasses and set them on the nearest pillow. Gone was his normal playful expression and his eyes hardened slightly.

"You're right," he said finally. "I'm being selfish."

"What are you talking about?"

Ven sighed once more, the maturity in his face showing. "Sometimes I honestly forget about SOLDIER and all that – and I think we're just on this big adventure. But this is our job. And you've got so much on your plate. I need to be more mindful of you and your situation."

Jasmine's heart sank. "Ven, its fine. I'm fine," she half-lied.

Ventus made a face, knowing almost immediately that Jasmine wasn't being completely truthful. "Come on," he said. "I know better."

Taking another long drag, Jasmine focused her attention back to the moon. "I know. I don't know why I even said that. But," she said suddenly, "it's nice to be at another party. I'd rather be celebrating a wedding than doing field work right now. Weddings are so uplifting."

"Yeah, they are," Ventus agreed, crossing his arms over his chest before closing his eyes.

A comfortable silence hovered over the pair as they listened to the distant music down below on the first floor from the engagement party and the wind whistling through the city. Agrabah nights were peaceful for the most part, that's one of the reasons why Jasmine and Ventus loved it so much.

That, and the fact that the city had a wild, mysterious, sexy air about it.

"Jasmine," Ven said suddenly, breaking the silence.

"Yes?"

Ventus hesitated for a moment. "Have you talked to Noctis in a while?"

Jasmine stiffened. In truth, she'd only talked to him a couple of times since she left Radiant Garden. Noctis and the others were travelling along the Lucis countryside, looking for information on what was going on in the kingdom. Jasmine knew how important the mission was to Noctis and the others, who were desperately trying to reclaim their homeland, so she did her best to make herself scarce.

"Not since I left Deep Jungle," she answered plainly. "Besides, it's not like we talk about much even when we do get put together."

Ventus sneered. "His social skills still need a lot of work. How are you two supposed to have a relationship if you guys don't talk?"

Jasmine scoffed, feeling slightly annoyed; not with Ventus or his question but with her own situation with the prince. "We don't have a relationship," she replied coolly.

"Yikes." Even Ventus could feel the icy edge to Jasmine's tone. "Trouble in paradise?"

Jasmine relit her pipe after filling it with more of the unnamed Agrabah herb, inhaling deeply before blowing the smoke away from Ventus. "I get that Noctis is experimenting and he's confused. But let's be honest, Ven: he's not going to date me."

"Is it because of the royalty thing again?" Ventus rolled his eyes. "Look at Aladdin and Jasmine. They're getting married and he's definitely not a nobleman or a prince."

"Aladdin actually loves Jasmine and vice versa," Jasmine pointed out to him. "Besides, the sultan is different: he'd actually allow Jasmine to break tradition. Deep in my heart I know that, even though Noctis puts up a good front with the rebelliousness, he'd break down and do what his father tells him."

Ventus rolled out of Jasmine's lap and propped up several pillows behind him, positioning himself so that he was now sitting in front of Jasmine. "You don't see him actually taking you seriously, do you?"

Jasmine bit the end of the pipe and closed her eyes. "I don't see us becoming anything more than what we are now: confused partners. I just don't it happening, Ven. And he doesn't do anything to prove that he wants one. Not that I can fully blame him though: he's got more on his plate than I do."

"So you don't see yourself falling for him?"

Jasmine paused before she spoke, thinking on the subject long and hard. "I can't see it. He'd have to really do something amazing for me to even open up that can of worms. Call me crazy, but I still believe in marrying someone for love – " But Jasmine froze right there, feeling a familiar sting in her chest.

Ventus caught on quickly, apologizing for bringing up a painful subject for her. "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize," she told him quickly and calmly. "It doesn't hurt to talk about it anymore…at least not like it used to. Besides, you and I can talk about anything."

"Really?" Ventus' ears perked up.

Jasmine nodded her head. "Uh huh. Nothing is off limits."

"Nothing huh?" Ventus grinned from ear to ear. "Eat your heart out, Noctis!"

Jasmine threw a nearby pillow, hitting Ventus square in the chest. She laughed. "Why do you always pick on Noctis? You know he struggles enough on his own."

"I'm just kidding," Ventus replied, tossing the pillow aside. "I do it just to see if he'll actually take the first step and actually do something."

"You've got a better chance of hell freezing over," Jasmine snorted.

Ventus thought long and hard about it, eventually throwing his hands up in the air. "You're right," he agreed. "He has every opportunity to man up and make a move if he wants. His loss."

"Loss?" Jasmine lifted an ebony eyebrow. "Noctis can have his pick of women. He's attractive in his own way. He's like that strong, silent, but he's still got that I've-got-a-shady-past-so-don't-screw-with-me look going on."

Ventus groaned inwardly. Jasmine was completely missing the point. "Jasmine, Noctis is missing out on a great girl. Other men look at you. Hell, even Prompto used to chase you," Ventus reminded her.

Jasmine waved her pipe around. "Prompto loves women, period. You should have seen him when I first met him. He was a mess. He was always picking up girls."

"At least he's honest about what he wants," Ventus offered.

"True."

"But still, Noctis lives with you. He had too many opportunities. I would've at least thought that he would attempt something by now – at least something on the low that goes beyond buying your flowers."

"How do you figure that?"

Ventus gave Jasmine a hard stare. "Jasmine, you're funny and smart and talented. And you're gorgeous. Girls like you don't come around very often. And you live down the hall from him. It's like the universe set this situation up perfectly and he's shooting himself in the foot."

Jasmine strangely found herself blushing. She was thankful for the dim lighting. Ven had never affected her like this before.

"What about you?" Jasmine quickly tried to redirect the focus of the conversation. "Not once in the entire time that I've known you have you said anything about any of the people you've dated."

Ventus chuckled. "That's because I don't date. I'm in SOLDIER, remember? No one really wants to date someone who bounces around the world all the time."

"Eh. I get that." Jasmine's lips pulled into a smirk. "But I know you've had a fling or two."

Ventus fired another smirk back at her. "Well I never said I didn't."

"So how many girlfriends have you actually had?"

"Two," Ventus answered. "And I've had three flings. All of them ended well surprisingly."

Jasmine nodded for her response. In truth, she couldn't foresee any of Ven's relations going sour. He was just too….perfect almost. She cautiously asked her next question. "How many times have you been in love?"

The normally hyperactive blond was quiet for a long time, concerning Jasmine deeply. He looked behind him, his face lit by the full Agrabah moon, shadows dancing across his face. "Me?" He said finally. "Only once."

Jasmine stiffened up, worried if she should ask him the next question or not. But Ven would tell her if something was off limits (which was never the case) and she would be completely okay with that and never bring up the subject again if he asked it of her.

"Who was she? I'm sure she's special if you loved her," Jasmine said with a warm smile.

Ventus let a sigh escape his lips. "Yeah, she's special, that's for sure."

Jasmine placed another pillow behind her back to prop herself up. She hesitated in asking her next question. "Who is she?"

Ven turned back to Jasmine with a slightly pained look in his eyes accompanied by a smile. "Aqua."

Jasmine's jaw dropped and she made no effort to try and hide her shock. "Blue-haired Aqua? Your teammate?"

Ventus nodded.

Then, all at once, Jasmine began putting the pieces together. Aqua and Ventus had been friends for a long time. In fact, she had been his medical mentor during his early days in SOLDIER. And what else wasn't to like about Aqua? She was kind, she was talented, wise beyond her years and she was pretty. Jasmine could easily see why Ventus fell for Aqua.

However, when she fast-forwarded to the present where Aqua and Terra were in a relationship, Jasmine felt her heart ache for Ventus.

"I never told her," Ventus spoke up, almost out of nowhere.

"You didn't? Why?"

Ventus shrugged his shoulders. "I knew that she had a thing for Terra. Not long after I realized that, he asked her out. The rest is history."

Jasmine's heart ached for Ventus. "Ven," she started, unable to think of what to say.

"It's fine, really," he reassured her. "I love both of them. They're family. And if they're happy, I'm ecstatic."

Unable to look at Ventus' face any longer, Jasmine focused on the intricately woven rug underneath her feet. She knew all too well what it was like, to watch the person you loved most be with someone else. Granted, Jasmine and Riku had a past. Ventus never even had that. And judging from the way Ven spoke about Aqua, even in regular conversation (and she secretly wondered why she hadn't asked this question sooner), it had been very obvious that something was there.

"I know how it feels," Jasmine whispered. "I do, I get it. And…it's so hard." Jasmine visualized the memory of Riku with Aria on the campus. He actually looked happy. Even though she would've given the world for it to have been her in Aria's place, Jasmine knew she couldn't disturb Riku's happiness. "You step aside because you love them and you just hope it works out."

"Exactly," Ven ran a hand through his spikes, only for them to bounce right back into place. He gave Jasmine a pained smile. "That's all we can do anyway."

Jasmine agreed. "One day we move on. Eventually it won't hurt at all."

Ventus stared long and hard at Jasmine when she was looking elsewhere, though he knew she knew he was watching her. Suddenly, out of the blue, he started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Jasmine asked, finishing off what was left in her pipe.

He leaned back in a relaxed pose and shook his head. "I'm terrible company. I'm sitting with one of the prettiest girls I've ever seen and I'm going on about another girl. I should shut up."

Jasmine's blush deepened but she kept her cool. "I could say the same," she chuckled. "Usually I'm talking about Noctis or Riku, but here I am in Agrabah, far away from everything with a devilishly handsome blond. I'm screwing up big time."

"Are you hitting on me, Miss Valentine?" Ven teased.

"The question is, are you hitting on me?" Jasmine fired back.

Ven said nothing. He simply laughed to himself and turned back around to look at the moon.

'Did that just happen?' Jasmine asked herself calmly, realizing that the two of them had hit on each other unashamedly. But when she really thought about it, this wasn't the first time this happened. Their first go around in Agrabah when they were still grunts in SOLDIER, Jasmine and Ventus were flirtatious with one another to a certain degree. As time progressed she wrote it off as the two of them being playful and would always dismiss those interactions.

Jasmine leaned back, wiping the sweat from her forehead, stealing another secret glance at Ventus. At this point, Jasmine no longer linked Ven and Roxas together or felt awkward about their many similarities. Ven was his own individual. And despite his high-stress job, Ven was a lot more relaxed and nonchalant with a more cheerful, playful disposition than that of his cousin.

And aside from the fact that he was older, Ven was taller and much more muscular from his time serving in SOLDIER with stronger, facial features.

Blush deepening even further, Jasmine stared at his eyes. Despite his purity and genuine lightheartedness in his gaze, she couldn't deny the alluring mischievousness in his royal blues that seemed to pull her in at random.

And then, just as suddenly, Jasmine snapped out of it. She was two steps from fantasizing about Ventus.

Clearing her throat, she closed her eyes and focused her mind on the mission instead of her comrade.

There must have been something in the Agrabah air.

Author's Note: Hey guys so I know it's not Sunday but I wanted to give you guys something. I now write professionally so it's getting even harder to step away but here I am. This is the first short story in the "Bridge" series. I imagine there will be five different stories that will build up to the next story and they will be (intentionally) out of chronological order. However, once the third story comes out I'm sure it'll be easier to place.

So this short story will be centered around Jasmine and Ventus' relationship. As you probably already know from the last story, Ven and Jasmine are…special and I'm testing out this idea with two individuals who are the closest thing to soulmates.

Let me know what you guys think and I'll get the next chapter up no later than Sunday. Take care!