~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~PROLOGUE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

His blue eyes lingered, watching her. She had beautiful straight black hair, that fell just past her shoulders and wennt wild in the wind as she ran around with her friends. He looked down at his feet which were swinging around. He hated this swing. He spent every recess sitting here, watching her play with her friends.

He hated her friends even more than the swing. They spent so much time insulting him, making him feel worse that he thought possible. And they always did it in front of her. She never insulted him, she was not like them. Instead she looked at him with sympathy and curiousity as she wondered who he was.

He never really talked to her, she once said hi to him as she passed him in the hallways. He remembered that day well. That's when he looked into her eyes and saw she was a kind person, none like anyone else in the school. She was the perfect girl. Smart, pretty, kind, not at all like the people she spent her time with.

He'd often wondered why she hung out with those people.

"Yo, Spike."

Cloud looked up to see a fist swinging at him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I CAN SEE IT IN YOUR EYES~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Just put some ice on it, try a heal materia if possible, and it should clear up in a little while." said the school attendant as he opened the door for Cloud to go out. "And try not to start these fights anymore, alright?" Cloud nodded.

He closed the door and Cloud stuck his tongue out. He'd long given up trying to explain that they hurt him for no reason, but they won't listen. If a little boy keeps coming into the first aid room with some injury, they'll assume it's his fault. He always did hate people with authority.

"Are you ok?" asked a friendly voice.

Cloud spun around to see her. There she stood, the prettiest girl in school. He stuttered. "Yeah, I-I'm fine."

Tifa leaned close to look at his black eye. "You don't look fine. What happened?"

"Nothin'." he said, "Wha'cha doing out here anyway?"

Tifa smiled. "The teacher was wondering why you were taking so long, so I volunteered to come get ya. You're not going to tell me what happened?" Slowly they started walking to their classroom.

He looked into her eyes, and knew he'd say it. When she looked at him with those pleading eyes, she could get him to say anything. He looked to his feet. "Some kid hit me."

"It was one of my friends, wasn't it?"

Cloud nodded.

"Which one?"

"I don't know which one it was this time."

"You mean everyone hurts you?"

"Yeah, but I don't care. When my daddy gets back, he'll show them not to be mean to me."

Tifa looked at him, trying to fight back the tears. The whole town knew Cloud's father was gone. She wondered if Cloud really believed he was coming back or if he was trying to lower the pain. "You don't have any friends here, do you?"

"What's it to you?"

"Cause I don't understand why a nice person like doesn't have any friends."

"So?"

"So why don't you and I become friends?"

Cloud looked at her. "Huh?"

"I wanna be friends with you. Can I be your friend?"

He stopped, and she looked in his eyes. She didn't see the punching bag everyone else did. Deep within the blueness, she saw kindness, someone very very loney. It always hurt her to see him with such sad eyes.

"Please?" she asked.

Inwardly, Cloud smiled. It was refreshing having someone worry about him. Her eyes were so pleading, and he couldn't believe she wanted to be friends with him. Tifa Lockheart, the sweetest girl in all of Nibleheim, befriending Cloud Strife, the town's loner.

"Sure." he said, and she smiled. The teacher chose that time to come out of the classroom into the hallway. "Finally." she said. "I was beginning to think you fell into a hole, Cloud, and that you fell in too Tifa."

The children smiled. The teacher always said cute stuff like that, trying to cheer Cloud up at anytime he looked like he needed it. Cloud especially liked it this time, because is sounded like Tifa would save him if he was ever in trouble. They giggled and followed her into the classroom.

"Yo Spike." said one of the kids. Cloud's smile faded as he looked at the guy. "Did ya wake up like that and not brush your hair?"

There it was, the pain of insults returning. Cloud could fell his dignity dying once more, but suddenly, "Hey come on, leave him alone." said Tifa. Cloud looked at her, his eyes thankful. She smiled back at him.

She looked into his wonderful eyes, and nearly fainted. She finally saw the happiness she always longed to see. Secretly, she vowed right then and there to always help him, and never let those eyes show pain.


Always.


THE END
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I don't know exactly why I wrote this fic. I was looking at a picture of Cloud when I was looking through the stratagy guide for a pic to scan to put on my site, and I just realised how much his funky blue eyes looked like mine, except for the glowing part. I've got weird blue eyes that aren't really common. People started complimenting me on them a year ago, and that was the first time I ever noticed them. They're a funky blue color that turns greenish in some lighting. Anyways, I just wanted to write a fic that centers his eyes. Hope ya liked it.




~*~Casey~*~






p.s. Any responsible readers out there?