Finding Nirvana by Seiri

A/N: You should meet Floch and Petunia.

They inspired this fic. Soo... um... if u wanna see 'em I'm hoping Dreav won't mind if I show her drawings around to however asks. ^^' (cause it's -her- drawings that really inspired this fic... lol)

It's totally based on today's world, not to mention many events from my daily life. ^^'

This isn't your normal "high-school fic". Why? Because the only two characters from the game that will be recognizable are Paine and Rikku. If you see any similarities between a character here and in the game otherwise -it's most likely just you. You see... I'm sick and tired of those cliché HS fics when everyone from a video games acts stupid because they're in High School.

This is the total opposite. This is just a story about how two girls find each other in a crazy time of their lives. It's that simple.

Note: I own nothing. Seriously, I'm just pulling names from real life and weaving them together into a nifty little story. This includes things like:

Rikku and Paine (SquareEnix) The Da Vinci Code (written by Dan Brown, I just love it to death) Pop Tarts Kurt Corbain and Nirvana Tom Yorke and Radiohead

Yes, I own nothing.

*Last warning* If you DO NOT like FEMALE/FEMALE RELATIONSHIPS. Don't read.

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The faint murmuring of a radio talk show sounded meekly in the dark room. Deep red and bloodshot eyes fluttered as a pale arm reached out to the radio alarm clock laying sideways on a copy of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code.

It can't be morning already...

Limbs sluggishly untangled themselves from deep navy sheets. Bright red numbers continued to glow as the murmuring conversation of the radio stopped. The sleep button had been pressed. However, time had gone by much too soon and the former murmuring had been replaced by the crooning of lyrics from the late Kurt Corbain.

Shit...

She couldn't dodge the clock this time, unfortunately. With much delay, the teenaged girl who appeared no more than seventeen years of age stumbled out of bed, just missing tripping on her bookbag that had been resting next to the bed. The slight feeling of satisfaction that sprang from the back of her mind at the realization that she had completed most of her homework wasn't enough to console her as she reached around to feel for the set of clothes she knew she had left hanging out of her dresser drawer so she could just pull them out and drag her lazy ass to the bathroom and shower.

Her mind wandering aimlessly, she found herself wondering how fast her Chemistry teacher was going to annoy her today... followed by the thought of how much the students actually recycled during lunch, and then if her Pre-calculus teacher recycled as well... then the commercial for a brand of coffee started playing itself in her head -the brand that her Pre-calc teacher had recommended off-handedly during class one time.

-And suddenly the girl was highly irritated with herself at her lack of organized thought. Well, what could she expect? It was 5:30 in the morning.

Feeling the stiff texture of denim against her fingertips, she reached out and took the outfit from the dresser. Noting to herself that she would have to turn on the light if the sun hadn't rose by the time she returned, she stepped out of her room quietly and slipped down the hall to the bathroom, hoping that she wasn't being loud enough to wake either of her parents up, knowing what a light sleeper her father was.

A partial sigh escaped her mouth as she made it into the bathroom, flipping on the light switch. Her eyes then shut tight when met with light for the first time that day.

I have to stop putting my homework off until 9...

Almost disconnected from the world around her, she automatically began to follow the routine she had set out for herself every morning from the time she had began puberty.

Set the clothes down on the sink, grab a towel and put it next to the shower curtain, strip and get into the shower, turn on the water and hope it's at a temperature that could awake the dead.

She restrained from letting out a yelp as the freezing water poured out of the shower-head down onto her tangled shoulder length hair. She remembered looking into the mirror yesterday and spying the dark chestnut roots wanting to grow out the artificial white bleach and silver highlights. She made another note to get her hair redone.

Then it hit her. She had left the radio on in her room.

Oh well, a minor inconvenience.

Once the temperature of the water had warmed up to a more comfortable temperature, the teenaged girl took the plastic shampoo bottle in her hand and squirted out the recommended quarter sized amount that never seemed to be enough into her hand.

Her thoughts proceeded to become aimless once again, knowing that she wouldn't be able to recall what she had been thinking that morning at all once she had gotten some coffee into her system. She didn't even give a thought to the thin scars that marred the skin of her inner thigh and wrist from two years past. Her mind was elsewhere, hoping that the day would serve to be better than her morning seemed.

After finally getting out of the shower, the girl dressed, putting on the dark denim jeans and black zip up hoodie, a stark contrast to her fair skin. She once again looked into the mirror, reaffirming her previous thoughts of getting her hair redone. She'd have to schedule it after school. Then she did a quick job of applying cover up under her eyes to hide the discolored skin that displayed how truly tired she was, followed by dark gray eyeshadow, black eyeliner, and mascara. All in all it remarkably complemented her -if anything- unique eye color. Not many people suffered from Ocular Albinism, and she was going to live it up.

Finally finishing up in her bedroom, she made her way into the kitchen where she immediately made herself some coffee. While waiting for the coffee to finish up, however, she popped her breakfast of choice, Pop Tarts, into the toaster. Now waiting for the "toaster pastries", she had taken the coffee and poured some into a travel mug. Then she spotted the small orange container on the counter. Nonchalantly, she pulled it over and pushed down on the child-safe cap, unlocking it and taking it off. She tipped the container into her palm until a few small pills slid out. Not stopping to cover the container again she popped the pills into her mouth followed by a swig of coffee from her travel mug. The Pop Tarts sprang out of the toaster.

Quickly taking them out and ignoring how they were burning her fingers, she slipped them into a waiting napkin and toted them out along with her travel mug full of coffee into the hallway. She stopped next to her bookbag which waited next to the front door. Somehow managing the task of never putting down either her breakfast or coffee and getting her bookbag on at the same time, she then opened the front door. Making sure she had shut it behind her, she came to a realization.

"Damn it."

Her car had been taken to the shop yesterday for repairs. If she hurried, it was possible that she might be able to make the next train.

Before another moment passed by, she had started running.

Her combat boots seemed heavier than usual once she had stepped on campus, despite the fact that she still had twenty minutes before class began. She was able to immediately spot her group of friends right outside the main lobby's entrance. She gave a small smile to herself as she made her way over to them. One of them saw her coming and waved her over.

"Hey Paine! What's up?"