Chapter 1- The Runaway
"Alright men, you know what you have to do. Tranquilize and capture this murderous demon!" A large man spoke angrily, but slightly motivationally into a police scanner. Numerous large trucks pulled up in front of a grim looking mansion. Men and women wearing heavy armor and carrying an assortment of guns trooped out of the back of the trucks. Helicopters flew low above the building shinning spotlights on the dark place. "This freak is wanted alive!" The man shouted again into the scanner that was amplified with a large speaker so that all of the troops could hear him.
"Team Alpha, in position." A brawny woman said into her head set. "Team Beta standing by." Another man said.
"Alright, target is lethal and must not be taken lightly. Appearance is unknown but life signal scanner show there is a body on the fourth floor by the west corridor." The man that had spoken first clarified to his troops. Team alpha, consisting of 30 recruits, broke down the front door and headed up the fourth floor. Team Beta covered the proximity of the mansion to ensure that there was no escape. The woman who had spoken into the head set led the group accordingly to her life signal tracker. She heard a sound she wasn't expecting; the sound of someone playing a piano. Her team crept closer to the door where the music was coming from. There was no moon to illuminate the night so the only source of light came from the spotlights being cast down by the roaring helicopters from above. A faint silhouette could be made out in the corner of the room in front of an old fashioned piano. The group of people spread out into the room with large, portable guns.
"Put your hands behind your head and turn around slowly," The woman ordered the person playing the piano. The person stopped playing but made no effort to turn around or put his hands behind his head. "Do it!" The woman shouted louder than before. The person slowly swiveled around on the piano bench. He had his hands resting on his thighs, his pale, slender fingers caught in the spot light. His fiery red eyes catching a small portion of light were glowing slightly. The person blinked at the woman but said nothing. She motioned for some of her men to get closer and eventually grab the person in the corner. Before they could get to him, the person slowly withdrew what little bit of him was in the light and closed his eyes. Stepping into the shadows, his form completely disappeared.
"We've lost visual, is there still a life sign in the area?" The woman shouted into her microphone as some of her crew went to examine the piano area.
"Negative, target appears to be- hold on, he's on the run. Turn around he's right behind you!" The leader of Team Beta responded.
The woman spun around to face the door she had just entered and saw a shadow move quickly out the door into the hall. She shouted for her team to follow him, only it was too late. They lost visual on him again and there was no other life signal reading apart from them.
It had been happening for a while now. I can't quite remember when exactly it started. I always knew my body was different from that of a regular person. The first memory I have of it is when I was 5 years old, looking into a mirror seeing a… monster staring back at me. Luminescent golden eyes glistening back at me, penetrating my flesh with but a single glace. All I remember from that instance is that my skin felt as if it were stretching into pieces and my bones were rearranging themselves so that something could protrude on either side of my spinal cord. That's about the time I black out.
Every time I felt my body change in a horrific demon, my real self seems to loose consciousness. Only remembering bits and pieces of what happens before I return to normal form. My father said I shouldn't be in public places. Said, I was a danger to society and myself if I let my guard down. I've worked on forcing back the other side of me, resisting letting it take over me. My father is a scientist, and he studied me… or rather my other side. He wrote reports about me and brought me to his lab where people in white coats could take a look at me. After that; I haven't the slightest idea what happened, but 4 out 5 of the white coats died. It was then that my father had to hide me from the world. He preformed his own secret tests on me in our house. He said he needed to go away for a while for work.
I haven't seen my father or heard anything from him in 5 years. I lived alone in our old mansion. However, for some reason people invaded my house and tried to capture me. I managed to get away, but I can't go back there. I'm on the run; so I decided to go a public school, Neibelheim Secondary School to be exact. It's a boarding school, which is good, the commute from Edge to Neibelheim every day wouldn't be a huge time waster.
Today is the first time I've been outside of Edge. At this current time I'm on a train heading to my new school. I can feel the anxiety curling up in the pit of my stomach. Perhaps this was a bad idea, but I've never felt this much alone as I have in the past few years. My biggest fear would be hurting some one else. The blood of those scientists still stain my hands and my memories. If I did something like that once, I'm sure I'll do it once again. It's just a matter of where and when.
The train rolled into the Neibelheim station. I felt my heart stop. Whether I was feeling 98% excited and 2% nervous or 98% nervous and 2% excited, I could not tell. I grabbed my bags off the over head rack and steadily got off the train. There was a man standing holding a sign on the platform. The sign read my name, V-A-L-E-N-T-I-N-E. As I cautiously approached the man, I inspected him closely. He had pale skin and dark hair that was pulled back into a ponytail; the dark blue suit he was wearing made him look less like some one who worked at a high school and more like some one who one would find in court.
"Mr. Valentine?" The man said as he arched his eye brows upward, I noticed some sort of a birth mark on his forehead. It was odd because it was exactly dead centre.
I nodded.
"My name is Tseng." He extended a hand for me to shake. I glanced down at his hand for a moment. I've learned that contact with people I'm uncomfortable with sets my "other side" off. I merely nodded again to acknowledge his gesture. He continued, after awkwardly putting his arms and the sign he was holding down by his sides, "Follow me with your things; there's a car waiting for us." He led me to the other side of the platform, where sure enough, a slick black car was waiting our arrival. Tseng helped me load up my suitcases into the trunk of the car and then I hoped into the back seat while he himself claimed shot gun. A woman was sitting in the driver's seat, I could only see the back of her blonde head but I did also notice she was wearing the same type of uniform as Tseng. Tseng introduced her as Elena, but other then that, the rest of the 10 minute drives went by in silence.
Once we reached the school, Tseng took my bags to my new dorm while Elena took me to the head master to official introduce myself and get my schedule. She showed me to the office and that's where we went our separate ways. I entered the reception area and saw a young man with flaming red hair. He was talking on the phone with his back to the door. I didn't want to bother him so I headed straight for the Headmasters door. Right before I reached the door knob, I heard the phone click back on its rocker and I paused for a moment.
The red head cleared his throat. "And where do you think your going boy?"
I turned to face him, but said nothing. I don't enjoy meeting new people. I noticed that he had baby blue eyes, two scar-like red-orange tattoos on both his cheek bones, and was also wearing a similar uniform to Tseng and Elena; with a few alterations of course. (His had no tie, the jacket buttons were undone and the top 5 buttons on the dress shirt were missing. Also his sleeves were rolled past his elbows)
Apparently, I had done something that was funny because the hot head burst into laughter. "I'm just messing with you, go on inside. Oh, your face was priceless." I narrowed my eyes at him in anger and confusion. I hadn't changed my expression the slightest degree. I can tell he was going to make this experience for me rather difficult. Just then the door of the head masters office opened and a medium build man with strawberry blond hair and eyes just a few shades darker then the man with the flaming hair.
"Oh, I didn't expect you here so soon. Come on in Mr. Valentine." The man led me into the headmaster's office and motioned for me to sit down in a dark leather chair in front of the desk. The Room was packed with books, papers, filing cabinets. The desk however was neat with papers and folders stacked evenly in piles. There was a large porcelain pot in the corner with a monochromatic color scheme of blue. Inside the pot was a small fern, behind the desk were certificates and awards for various educational events. I sat down on one of the leather chairs and noticed a girl, probably about 17, my own age, sitting in the leather chair next to me. I hadn't seen her at first because her lengthy, dark chocolate hair blended into the chair. She looked up at me and I said she had deep burgundy eyes. Her skin was fair, except under her eyes where there were dark circles that looked like she hadn't slept in quite some time. She was wearing a plain low cut white tank top, a tight black mini skirt that came down to mid-thigh, a pair of rather large brown work boots, and black fingerless gloves. The man sat down at his desk and adjusted his name plate so I could see it. "Headmaster R. Shinra"
"Good to see you made it safely to my school. I've had the faculty take your things to your dorm as well as given them some folders for you to take a peek at abut our school with your things."
I nodded. I hope he isn't going to question or even bring up the fact that I had no records of schooling prior to this school. Or records of anything to be more precise.
"Now, Miss Lockhart, as your punishment, I'd like you to give Mr. Valentine a tour of the school." Headmaster Shinra folded his hands on his desk.
"What?! You're kidding me right?" She lurched forward on her chair.
He held his hand up gesturing that she stop talking. "You know the consequences of your actions, now get to it."
The girl scowled and rose from her seat. She grabbed my wrist and pulled me out of the office and into the hall. Her grip tightened as she passed the man with the red hair and relaxed as soon as she was clear of him. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. My skin started stretching and I could feel my bones start to shift. I bit down as hard as I cold on my bottom lip and clutched my chest to prevent the transformation. Finally, she let go. I sighed in relief and dropped my hands down to my sides. My bones and skin retained their original form and we continued to walk down a long hallway.
"Man, it's good to get out of there." She sighed as soon as we were out of ear shot of the front office. "These are the first floor bathrooms," she pointed to two doors with men and woman painted on in the middle. "Down there is the library. There are books and computers in there for all students." She pointed down a narrow hallway to the left that had two large double doors at the end. We continued walking through the building; she showed me the science department, math centre, creative arts hallway, the cafeteria, more bathrooms, Language rooms, the indoor pool, the gym and the change rooms.
"Name's Tifa by the way." She said as we climbed the stairs toward where the dorms were.
"Vincent." I was never much for words. We finally reached the top of the stairs.
"Everyone else is in class so we should be able to get through without anyone else stopping us." She walked down a long, carpeted hallway up to a room with the number 666. Figures they'd put me in there. The door was unlocked so we entered the room. My bags were sitting next to an empty bed in the room. Apparently I had a roommate. Half the room looked lived in, the other half was vacant. I'm guessing the vacant side was mine. I started to unpack my cloths and what not when Tifa picked up one of the folders the Headmaster had mentioned earlier. "Math, science, phys ed. and art." She read out loud. "Same subjects as me. It's almost lunch time, so there's not much point in going to science. I'd just chill out here if I were you and wait it out." She seemed really nice. Maybe it was something about authority that she had a problem with. Or… maybe it was the Headmaster…or the red head. I had just finished putting my cloths into the drawers, my all black wardrobe, (Black pants, black socks, black sweaters, black boots, black sneakers, black boxers- You get the point. Everything black other then the jacket I was currently wearing which was crimson. I don't actually own any t-shirts or shorts. The only skin I show is my face and my hands; and I even wear a crimson bandana over my forehead- keep sake from my father.) When I realized Tifa was staring at me as she sat on my new bed.
"You just brought cloths and school supplies?" She questioned.
I nodded and then shoved my now empty bags under the bed. Our eyes lock for a couple of minutes.
"Do you live in the area?"
I shook my head from side to side as I took my jacket off and hung it on a hanger in the closet on my side of the room.
"Alright, I guess you're not one for words. I'll respect that." She smiled sincerely.
I picked up the folders that she had put back on my bedside table and shuffled through them as I leaned against a wall. There was a room key included in the pile so I put it in my pocket. Truth be, told I was starting to feel a little bit uncomfortable. Okay… a lot uncomfortable. Not because of the fact that I was alone in a room with a girl sitting on my bed; but more so the fact that I was alone with anyone. The thing that terrifies me most is that I might loose control and take an innocent life away... again. I glanced and my hands.
I heard some sort of ringing just then; which was probably the school bell. I'm not completely sure though… never been to a public school, remember?
"Well, I should go. That's the lunch bell. I'll see you in the cafe. I'll save you a seat." She winked at me as she trotted out of my room.
Wait… she winked at me? That's new. I'd never thought of myself appealing towards the opposite sex. But I guess anything's possible. I was about to head down to the cafeteria when I noticed something on the hardwood floor of my room. I bent down to examine it and picked it up between my long, slender index finger. It was a hair… a long, silver hair about 5 feet long. What kind of roommate did I have?
I walked around and managed to find my way back to the main floor and into the cafe. I was starving, but… no matter how much food I eat it wouldn't help. I'd just end up throwing it up later anyways. Food and I have never been on a first name basis. I looked for that girl who said she'd save me a seat. What was her name again… -oh yea, Tifa. There were at least 500 kids in the cafeteria. Some were lined up with tray at a counter where rather prosperous middle aged women in hairnets and aprons were plopping mush onto their trays. I don't get it, that doesn't look edible. A walk into the cafe a little farther and felt the eyes of 95% of the student body (and most of the teachers) staring at me. I happened to catch numerous whispers about me, whether they were good or bad I did not know, or want to for that matter. Just then I saw… Tifa waving her hand in the air at me. I walked swiftly over to the long table she was sitting at. There were other people sitting there too. On the left side of the table was a rather large boy, not large as in heavy but rather large as in pumped, he had dark brown skin and his hair was braided tightly to his head. He wore a mess shirt underneath a white vest as if too illuminate his muscular form. Next to him was a young girl, probably in her freshman year with short black hair and dark brown eyes. She wore a tight shirt that showed her midriff and was sleeveless. Next to the girl was a bland young man who looked a little bit older then the rest of them. He had short blond hair and wore a pale blue shirt with a couple of dog tags around his neck. There was an empty seat on his other side. Across from him on the right side of the table, was a girl with auburn hair and bright green eyes. Her bang fell on either side of her face and the rest of her hair was tied back into a low braid that was held in a red bow. She wore a pink dress with a small sleeveless jacket. On her far side was another empty seat. On the side that was closer to me sat Tifa who scooted over on the bench to make room for me.
"You guys, this was who I was telling you about he's new here and-"She turned to the people she was sitting with to introduce me but didn't get a change to finish her sentence.
"He?! I thought he was a girl for a few minutes there." The blond hair guy cut her off in a mockingly tone and started laughing. This caused the girl with short brown hair to laugh too.
"Put a quark in it Cid!" The dark man made a fist at the blond guy. His rough, booming voice startled me a little bit.
Slightly irritated, Tifa continued, "This is Vincent, Vincent this is Barret," She pointed to the man who had made that fist. "Yuffie," She pointed at the girl sitting next to Barret who waved excitedly, "Cid," Pointing to the blond one, "and Aerith," She gestured at the delicate female with auburn hair.
I sat down without saying anything. I still felt eyes on me… and it was still uncomfortable. Just then the doors to the cafeteria flew open and two 17ish boys came running into the room. One of them had dark hair that was spiked backwards, behind his head with a single strand dangling in front of his face and the other had an extremely light shade of blond hair that was spiked in every which way that for some reason looked a bit similar to that of a Chocabo's head. Both were wearing different colors of baggy jeans and t-shirts. Their eyes were both a bold and vibrant blue. The blonde one grabbed an apple of some other kid's tray and starting running towards the table I was currently located at. The other one didn't stop to grab anything just ran straight for the table. He jumped up on the table and ran towards one of the empty seats, almost spilling some ones tray of food in the process. He jumped into the seat next to the girl named Aerith while the other one skidded to a halt and sat down across from him. They looked at each other and flashed a toothy smile then stared intently at the double doors they had just burst through.
"Wait … wait for it…" The Blonde one whispered in a low voice. There was a small explosion on the other side of the door. A man burst through the door, all of his features suggested that he was angry. His face was covered in charcoal but I could tell the he had a reddish-brown color of hair that was about shoulder length. The two boys that had sat at the end of the table laughed and gave each other a high five. The man was probably a student and he was headed in our direction. His mouth was drawn up in a grimace. I felt so out of place. I had no idea what was going on, nor did I enjoy watching other people's misfortune.
"Hey Genesis, Big G. What happened to you?" The dark hair boy acted as if he were innocent and had no idea what had just happened.
"You know very well what happened Fair!" the man, Genesis, I guess his name was, grabbed onto the dark haired boys shirt and pulled him up to his face.
"Moi? Whatever do you mean? I was in here the entire time," The boy gave a smile that looked more mischievous then innocent.
"You're lucky your girlfriends watching, otherwise I'd-"Genesis was cut off in mid sentence
"Genesis!" A Stern voice shouted from the other side of the cafe which caused him to turn and look at who was calling him. "Detention, after class!" Headmaster Shinra called out. Genesis let go of the boy and trudged angrily out of the cafe. I turned to look at the other two boys who were continuing to laugh.
Tifa introduced me to the two newest members at the table, the blond one was Cloud and the one with dark hair was Zack. The rest of lunch went by quickly; people still watched me but didn't attempt to engage me in any conversation. I guess Tifa had told them I didn't talk much. I was grateful for that. After a while I left the cafe to head back to my room to get changed for gym. I grab a long pair of black pants, my black sneakers, and a black shirt with long sleeves. I threw them on and headed down to the gym. The gym lights were bright and they blinded me for a brief moment. I walked into the gym and saw some familiar faces, Cloud, Zack, Barret, Cid, and Genesis (who had cleaned up since the first time I saw him). Then some other ones I didn't recognize. One had chin length dark hair that was evenly parted in the middle and then other had long silver hair that come close to his ankles. Then a group of girls walked into the gym. Among them were Tifa, Yuffie, and Aerith. Some other girls I hadn't met yet trotted in. The only one that stood out though was a girl with bold yellow hair and bright red lipstick. Everyone was wearing shorts and a t-shirt except for the silver haired man and myself. He was wearing pants and a long sleeved shirt also.
"Settle down." A bald man with dark skin, just a tint or so lighter then Barret's walked into the room wearing the same style of uniform Tseng had been wearing and a pair of dark purple sunglasses, even though we were indoors.
Tifa walked over to me and whispered something, "That's coach Rude; don't get on his bad side. He has a temper like you wouldn't believe." I nodded slightly to acknowledge that I had heard her without making eye contact with any one else.
"Today's activity is dodge ball," He said unloading a sack of foam balls he had been carrying. "Boys vs. Girls… and new kid."
The girls went to one side of the gym while the boys when to the other. The Coach passed 10ish balls out and to us to have at. Then he left the gym. I trudged to the back of my side of the gym. I didn't want to get hit.
"Let's see what this new kid can do." One of the guys said. I didn't see who though. All I knew was the all the foam balls went for me at once. Naturally, because I didn't want to get hit, I dodged them all.
"What the hell was that?" The blond girl on my team shouted at me. "Stupid, you didn't even catch one." I'd never played this… game before. Or even knew what it was other then what the Coach had called it.
"Let it go Scarlet!" Tifa shouted as she pegged Barret in the back as he turned to pick up a ball. "Yes!" She jumped in the air in triumph. Barret threw the ball he had just picked up as hard as he could on the ground from defeat. Cid jumped into the air aiming for the girl named Scarlet and flung another ball. As he was intently focused on hitting Scarlet, the young girl known as Yuffie burst out of no wear and chucked a bright red ball at him. She threw it slightly too high to the right and just missed Cid's shoulder. Zack dropped to his knees and caught the ball before it hit the ground. Their team cheered as Barret came back into the play. The man with silver hair threw a ball and it nailed Yuffie in the stomach. I heard the sound of the wind being knocked out of her then she went to sit on the sidelines. Aerith passed a couple of the foam balls to Tifa who ran up to the halfway line and whipped them at a few people. One hit Cloud, the second hit Genesis and the third hit the man with the black hair that went down to his chin and was parted evenly in the middle. None of them got off the floor.
"You guys are out!" Tifa shouted.
The three guys looked at each other in false confusion. "No we're not." The one with dark hair spoke. I noticed that his face seemed extremely hard, stern and rough. His brow was arched downward and he looked as if he were about to kill some in the room.
"You are too Angeal!" I hadn't seen Yuffie move, but she was suddenly in the dark haired boy's face and she poked him in his chest with her index finger. "Stop cheating!"
"Yuffie it's only a game." Aerith said in a soft, gentle voice. I could tell by the way she sounded, that she was a patient person.
"He's cheating though…" Yuffie's voice was higher and slightly exaggerated on the sadness factor. She heaved a heavy sigh and retreated back to the side lines.
Coach Rude came back into the gym and told us to hit the showers, which meant, you smell, stop stinking up the gym. Unfortunately, the bathrooms were for more then just one person. The showers didn't have any sort of privacy. I didn't want any one bothering me about what was under my clothes. I defiantly knew that there'd be questions. I'd have to wait for the showers to be empty to get cleaned up, probably early in the morning or late, late at night. I skipped the shower and went back to my room to change clothes. More black attire, well, the same out fit I'd been wearing before gym. I grabbed my pencil case equip with all my artistic needs and scuttled down to room 10, the art room. I didn't recognize most of the other kids there. The only ones I did recognize were Tifa and Aerith. Aerith was painting with water colors on a canvas in the back of the room. Tifa was sketching something in a large artist's sketch book. I walked in silently and glanced over her shoulder to see what she was drawing. Still in the rough outline, I could tell it was of a person with their arms around their knees under a tree. I couldn't tell what else was in the sketch because the lines were too faint. I sat down next to her and open my own sketchpad.
"Do you like it?" She held up her in-progress sketch. I nodded. "I wish I had wings. Then I could fly away." She said in a day dream-like voice. I learned something in art; people tend to get into some sort of zone when they're doing something creative. I myself was oblivious to my surroundings. I just sort of, kept drawing. I'd been drawing ever since I was put on lock down by my father. I had nothing else to do so it seemed like a good idea. I was somewhat startled when the bell rang for class to finish.
"You want to hang out after school?" Tifa smiled, breaking my trance. "Just me and you though, so you don't have to worry about being uncomfortable." Her kindness was warming.
I nodded. She must be getting frustrated with that. "Go put your things away and meet me outside the cafe." I did what she said. Ran up to my room, shoved my things away, and then met her down by the cafe. I was just coming down the stairs when I saw that red haired teacher talking to her, remember, the funny one? I was just close enough to overhear their conversation but not close enough that they could sense my presence.
"Hello Miss Lockhart," The red haired man said in a tone I couldn't quite place.
"Go away Reno," Tifa's back straightened and she clenched her fists.
"Oh, now don't be like that. I noticed you're spending a lot of new time with that new kid. I'd almost thought you had replaced me." He said in a mocking tone.
Tifa bit her lip. I could see the fire in her eyes. The man, Reno I guess, gave a smug smile and leant down close to her ear. He whispered something to her that I didn't hear and then walked away, triumphant. Tifa's face turned a ghostly white and she stood motionless for a few moments. When I was sure that Reno had left, I approached Tifa. She turned to face me and forced a smile on her face.
"Ready?" She acted as if the whole conversation hadn't happened.
We left the school grounds and headed towards town. There were children laughing and running around and adults shopping and chatting with each other. Neibelheim was quite like Edge. It was shabby, but at the same time... cosy.
"This is where I grew up," Tifa broke the silence. "My house is way on the other side, I'll show you!"
I followed her down the main street of Neibelheim and towards a few houses that were set of from the rest of two. Hers was the smallest. It was more like a multi-story shack, but I wasn't going to tell her that. The windows were dark and the shingles on the roof needed to be redone. She unlocked the front door and we entered the house.
"This was my mom," She picked up a picture frame that looked like an older version of Tifa. "She died when I was just 8."
"How-?" I began ask when a man walked down the stairs of her house. He was probably in his early 50's. The man had dark grey hair and was large in stature.
"Hello Tifa and Clo-," The man said to us.
"Hey dad, this is Vincent. He's new here."
"Hello there." He extended a hand towards me. I didn't take it, I just exchanged a greeting. "Tifa, where's Cloud?" He pulled his daughter aside to talk to her in a low voice. I pretended not to hear.
"He's with Zack and Aerith," she matched his tone. "Hey Vincent, let's get out of here," she spoke up and turned toward me.
I nodded and we left her place. We walked along a path and soon found ourselves under an orchard. The trees looked like they had apples in them... only they were purple. I had never seen that before. Weird.
"You know, that's the first time I've ever heard you speak," Tifa said as she sat down in the shade with her back against a tree trunk.
I sat down as well, but said nothing. I felt, well, embarrassed.
"Cloud and I grew up together. I met shortly after my mother passed away. I thought if I could climb high enough, I could see her with the angels on top of Neibelheim Mountain. Cloud told me not to, but I wouldn't listen to him. So he tagged along. There was a rockslide and I fell. I broke my arm, but the worst part was that Cloud still blames himself. After that Cloud and I were best friends. But... then Aerith came to school here and he doesn't seem to care about me anymore. Aerith is with Zack, but in a way, Cloud idolizes Zack. I haven't told my dad about Cloud and I going our separate ways yet. But I think he might have guessed it when he saw you instead of Cloud today. It's been just my dad and I living in that house. It's not the nicest house on the block but its shelter and that's all I really need."
I picked up a blade of grass and was twirling it between my fingers, just thinking over the story she had told me. "Alright, now spill. I told you my story, let's hear yours." She broke my train of thought.
"Well... what did you want to know...?" I said in my deep, low voice hesitantly.
"Anything! Everything!" She smiled.
"My home is in edge... my mother died giving birth to me. My father is a scientist...." I wasn't sure what exactly she wanted to hear.
"What's edge like?" She asked.
I was silent. I actually hadn't really been outside too much as I was growing up. Sure I knew what it looked like, but that was about it.
"Alright then... Sensitive subject. I got it."
I smirked to myself. She had no idea.
"I'm sorry. I'm just not... comfortable with sharing that stuff just yet."
"It's fine. If you need some one to talk I'm always here," Her smile reached her eyes, she was very beautiful. She leaned in really close to my face. "I never realized you have red eyes."
"Hey... Tifa!" A male voice shouted out. "Where have you been baby?" I looked up to see three... thugs headed in our direction. They looked like clones of each other; the same blue-green eyes and the same silver hair. The one that had shouted at us was in the middle; he had strait shoulder length hair. The one to his right had silver hair that went down to his lower back and the one to his left had short hair that was slicked back.
Tifa stood up immediately. The three boys continued to walk closer. The one with short hair chuckled when Tifa balled her fist and stood in a martial arts stance. "This should be fun." He said.
"Hey Kadaj, think she's happy to see us?" The one with the longest hair said in a tired, exasperated voice.
"Not a chance," The one in the middle said as he flicked head in our direction, signalling the other two boys. There was something about them that I did not like at all, or maybe it was them in general. The once with short hair ran up to Tifa and caused a distraction by throwing punches that Tifa easily blocked. The long haired one snuck up from behind and grabbed her in a bear hug, immobilizing her. I should probably do something. But I knew if I did, I would go too for and end up maiming or even killing some one. Tifa used the long haired guy as leverage and brought her knees up to her chest. With all her energy, she booted the short haired one in the chest while pushing her way out of the grasp of the other male. Tifa landed soundly on the ground while the two men stumbled backwards, gasping for air. Tifa ran towards the short haired one and punched him squarely in the nose. She cried out in pain as he rebounded and grabbed her hair. That cry was what set me off.
"Enough," I said in an even voice. I stood up as they flung Tifa to the side. She had fallen unconscious and lay motionless on the ground other then here torso moving up and down with each rugged breath.
The short haired one chuckled. "So you wanna play too?"
"Leave," I said. I felt my anger turning up inside me.
"What? You aren't up for the game?" The long haired one said.
The short haired male ran at me at lightning speed and grabbed my shirt in a stone hard grip. Subconsciously, I grabbed his arm and flipped him on his back. I just needed to hold back so I didn't go completely demon…
"Vincent, this is where I work; in this big laboratory. Would you like to see some things I do in here?" A prosperous man with bold crimson eyes, long dark hair, and a black cloak stood in front of a locked door.
The little boy the man had with him nodded a shy smile. The Little boy was a younger and thinner replica of the man. The man unlocked the door and entered the room. The little boy was amazed at all the vials, potions and ongoing experiments he saw in the room once the man had flicked on the light switch. One in particular caught his eye. An orb slightly bigger then a tennis ball floated inside a glass container. Tubes ran from the container to a variety of different machines that we spitting out data by the second.
"Father? What's this?" The boy asked as he pointed to the glowing teal orb.
"That would my latest discovery. It's called the protomateria-" The man put his hand on the boy's shoulder.
The door opened and a beautiful woman entered the room. She had long sandy brown hair, green eyes and a bright smile.
"Professor Valentine, I heard you arrive and was hoping you could-," She paused for a moment noticing that there was more then one other person in the room. "Hello," She beamed a large, brilliant smile towards the young boy who hid behind his father's cloak in shyness. "You must be Vincent, my name's Lucrecia. Professeur Valentine I didn't realize you brought your son in today. Does this mean I should get my equipment?"
"Yes, Vincent is eager to see what we do here." The man ruffled the young boys hair. The boy looked up at his father both anxiously and excitedly as the woman left the room. "Here, sit down on this chair and relax." The boy sat down in a chair one would usually find in a dentists office. The woman returned with a large bag that she gently emptied out on the table. She pulled up a chair close to the boy and pulled out a long, empty needle.
"Vincent, is it alright if I take a sample of your blood? I'll be gentle." She asked the boy. The boy nodded.
The man shut and locked the door to be careful no one else would enter. The boy shook violently as the needle broke skin. The woman cried for the man to assist her. He rushed over to her aid and pinned the boy down. The boy's eyes had rolled back in his head, his teeth were clenched together, and his fingers curled around the chair's armrests so hard that his hands were turning white. The boy snarled as his eyes flicked back around front again, only instead of the crimson they were bright gold.
"Hurry Lucrecia!" The man shouted as restraining the boy grew harder and harder.
"I'm almost done." She said. "There!" She pulled the needle out of his skin. The young boy over powered the man and started howling in pain and thrashing around the room, looking for an escape.
"Vincent! Come back!" The man shouted as he lunged at the boy holding him tightly in a bear hug so he couldn't get free. The man whispered the boys name in his ear several times. The boy go loose of his grip and slashed at the door leaving long, unbroken claw marks imprinted.
"Vincent!" The woman let out a long, drawn out cry, hoping to snap him out of it. The boy started choking and fell to the floor. Neither the man nor the woman helped him. The boy rested his entire body on the ground after a few drops of blood fell out of his mouth and onto the floor. The man cautiously stepped towards the boy while the woman remained frozen in fear. The young boy slowly extended his arm towards the man.
"Fa..ther, what's wrong with me?" The boy's crimson eyes closed shut as he drifted out of consciousness.
My head felt as if I had just hit it with a lead pipe. I pulled my fingers to my face to cover the blinding sunlight. It felt as if I had been in dark solitude for hours. Wait... I remember now, Tifa... three boys. I pulled my hands away and looked around. My eyes had just finished adjusting when I noticed blood everywhere. On my hands... all over the grass... and on my clothes. I felt my heart racing in fear. Four bodies lay motionless on the ground. The three men that had attacked Tifa were sprawled across the grass. I couldn't believe how barbaric they looked, claw marks all over them. The short haired one's neck was bent in an odd way, the one with shoulder length hair's eyes were open and I say the looked of pain horror and shock still on his face, the third one was laying at the base of a large tree, his blood running down the trunk. Their chests had been shredded to peaces. Most of their ribs were protruding from what was left of their rendered torsos.
Then it hit me. This feeling... I wasn't starving anymore. Somehow my hunger had been satisfied. My never-ending thirst had been quenched. I touched my hands to my mouth. I almost jumped out of my skull when I lowered my hand so I could see the wet crimson running down my fingers.
I was horrified. I couldn't... I didn't want to be this monster. I can't control myself. I have to hide this. Perhaps no one saw what had happened. I had forgotten about Tifa lying on the ground, I ran to her; a little bit of dried blood ran down her head from when she had been thrown. She was still passed out. I scooped her up in my arms and brought her to a pond away from any houses or people, away from the mess I had made. I cleaned off the blood on her face first and then the blood on me.
Silently, moving in the shadows so no one could see me carrying the body of a teenage girl, I headed back towards Tifa's house. I listened for to hear where her father was. When I heard him in the kitchen, I climbed into one of the upstairs windows in Tifa's home. Luckily for me, I had entered her room. I placed her on the bed as soon as I heard her father call out and ask who was upstairs. I must've made too much noise trying to pry open the window. I hoped out the open window and hid in the shadows careful not to let her father see me. I saw him look out the window confused then he left. The sun was still up so I wondered around town for a while. I saw a tall building half covered in ivy with a large stain glass window. There was a cross on the roof. It intrigued me. I'd never been in a church before, so I wondered in. There were a few holes in the roof and cobwebs all over the place. The benches were askew and covered in dust. Looked to me like no one had been in there for a while. I walked into the church a little further and saw some one sitting in the front row. I was able to make out her form as a girl I had first met at lunch, Aerith.
"Hello Vincent," She turned to me with a gentle smile. "What brings you here?"
"I don't know; it looked like a place I needed to be."
"I feel the same way. Also, I don't like the sky, it, well, scares me." She looked away shyly.
"Why is that?" I looked around then church some more, my eyes sweeping my surroundings.
"It feels like its trying to pull me into it; like it's sucking me in." She continued to look in the other direction. Scared… of the sky? I've never heard that one before. Just then I heard some sirens go off and people shouting in town. "We'd better get back to the school," she said, I agreed with her. As quickly and with as little attention as possible we crept back into the school grounds. When we arrived, we found that everyone was running about in a panic. I wondered what had happened, but I think I already knew the answer. Those three guys by the orchard, no doubt some one had found their bodies by now. I hope Tifa was alright and that her dad wasn't asking her too many questions. A voice sounded over the intercom instructing all faculty to head to the front office and all students to return to their door. I thought that it was Headmaster Shinra's voice over the P.A. but it sounded too flustered to clearly identify whose it was. I headed up to my room before anyone saw me. I wasn't in the mood to talk. I felt my head racing and my fingers shaking. What if the found out it want me. What would they do? Send me back to the lab? Expose me to everyone? Kill me? Enslave me? I could hardly grab the handle to my dorm with my fingers shaking uncontrollably. I popped into my room and closed the door. I noticed the lights were already on and that there was some one else in my room. One of the boys I had seen when I had gym. I can't remember his name but he had long silver hair all the way down to his ankles, a slender face, and a narrow nose. His eyes were mako blue with slit pupils that had a greenish tint around them. I noticed that his eyes were red around the edges, wither it was from lack of sleep or he had been crying, I could not identify. He was lying on his back on the other bed in the room that had already been claimed when I unpacked. He was reading a book but didn't look at me as I entered the room. I flopped down on my bed and rolled over; no wanting to talk to whoever this person was.
"Would the following students please report to the main office; Tifa Lockhart, Aerith Gainsborough, Yuffie Kisargri, Zack Fair, Cloud Strife, and Vincent Valentine." My eyes widened. They knew, they knew, they knew, they knew, they knew….! Alright, I'll just go down to the main office and see what's going on. If it goes south, I'll run back to my room, pack my stuff and take the first train out of here. That sounds good… I got up off my bed and strolled out the door, fists clenched tight. I just got here; and, truth be told, I kind of liked it. As calmly as I could, I went down to the office were I was supposed to report to. Apparently I was the last one. Tifa, Aerith, Yuffie, Zack, and cloud were all sitting on the bench outside the office. I sat down in the only open spot next to Tifa. I leaned in towards her and asked her what was going on.
"I don't know." She whispered back looking away she looked anxious. Tifa pulled her knees up to her chest and looked as if she were deep in thought. She stared into the distance, long intervals passed between her blinking. A few teacher walked out of the office and stood in front of us. One teacher was that obnoxious red head I had first seen on the from when I got here then again talking to Tifa, my gym teacher, Coach Rude, Tseng, Elena, Headmaster Shinra, and a small woman with wavy dark red hair and emerald green eyes. Each of them held a clip board in their hands as well as a pen.
"Aerith, would you follow me?" Elena asked and she headed down the hall into an open classroom.
"Zack," the small woman with dark red hair motioned for him to follow her.
"Yuffie, please step into my office," Headmaster Shinra opened the office door and Yuffie stood up.
"Strife." Was all Coach Rude said and walked into another vacant classroom.
"Miss Lockhart," The red haired man smirked to himself and proceeded down the hall. She gave me a horrified look and followed him.
"Alright, that leaves just you and me Vincent. Follow me." Tseng turned to me. So I followed him. We entered a classroom that had 3 windows, about 25 desks, 4 black boards, 8 lights, marble floor tiles, beige coloured walls, a large wooden teachers desk and several posters saying not to drink and drive, no love without a glove, smoking a cigarette is putting one foot in the grave, etc, etc. Tseng sat down on one of the front row desks with on foot on the seat and the other on the floor. He motioned for me to sit on one of the desks in front of him. Nervously, I sat down in a desk two rows in front of him.
"Vincent, do you know why you're here?" Tseng asked, meeting me eyes. I noticed that his were stone cold. I shock my head a few times. "This afternoon three boys that went to this school were found dead outside of school grounds. According to our perimeter surveillance you were seen leaving school ground before they were murdered with Miss Lockhart and were seen returning to school after they had died with Miss Gainsborough. What can you tell me about this?"
"I was with Cloud the entire time. I never saw those guys. What beef would I have with freshman?" Zack said to the dark redheaded woman.
"Can you tell me anything that will help us find the real culprit?" She asked, writing something down on her clipboard.
"Naw, I don't know anything. I was just hanging out with Zack at the park, just east of the orchards. When we heard the sirens getting close we got out of there and came back to school." Cloud spoke smoothly in his interrogation.
"And you didn't hear anything, being right next to the orchard and all?" Rude raised his eye brows from behind his purple glasses.
"I was no where near the Orchard! I hate Dumbapples!" Yuffie exclaimed in outrage.
"Noted, where were you then?" Headmaster Shinra showing no emotion as he said this.
"I was… in the old church in town." Aerith smiled timidly, innocence reflecting in her eyes.
"Alright can you tell me what you do know?" Elena asked.
"Tifa showed me around town, then she said she was tired and needed a nap so I took back to her place and left. That's when I heard the sirens and went back to school." Okay, so I left out a few minor details. I was never going to confess to it. It's my burden to carry, and mine alone. I'm not going to tell him that it was really me all along. Hopefully in a little while people would forget it even happened. I doubt it though. There is nothing anyone could do or say that would make me feel guiltier. I need to control myself.
"Alright then, you're free to go for now. However the investigation is still ongoing so you might get called down the office later on."
I left the room and once again headed back to my bedroom. I guess the interview had run through dinner and I had missed the food. I wasn't hungry so I didn't bother even looking for any leftovers. The lights were out in my dorm so I silently entered and slipped into a clean long-sleeved shirt and baggy pyjama bottoms. I crawled under the blanket, lay my head on the pillow and closed.
...
"Vincent? Are you awake? You're father's filling out some forums and he sent me to check on you." A woman with long sandy brown hair, bright green eyes and a bright smile kneeled over a young boy who was lying with his eyes closed under a tree. The boy had dark raven hair, ghostly white skin, and bold crimson eyes that looked up at the woman when she began to talk. The boy gave a timid smile and sat up. "Mind if I sit with you?" The woman asked.
"Go ahead," He continued to stair at her.
"You know, I have a son too. He's the same age as you, 8. You two might get along." She smiled. "He's quiet at first but then again, you two have much more in common then you would think at first. I shall have to bring him to work one day so that you two can finally meet. You're hear practically everyday with nothing to do. I feel bad about it."
"I would like to meet him some day." The boy turned to her, eyes beaming with excitement.
…
"Grimoire! You have to hide him! If Hojo finds out about Vincent, you might never get to see your son again." The woman with sandy brown hair started crying. "He won't even let me see my own son." Tears streamed down her soft cheeks as she buried herself in the chest of the man she was talking to. "He's a monster!"
"Lucrecia, Hojo will not get Vincent and I will not rest until you get your son back into your arms. That's a promise." The man embraced her.
…
"Experiment 413 A is progressing nicely. However, there are certain aspects that need work. Subject is resisting all attempts to transform and is refusing to eat when given the chance to." A man examined the young boy closely. "If 413 A continues to exhibit such behaviour, a more physical approach will be made."
…
"Vincent! Don't kill me! Please, I want to live." A girl with dark brown hair and chocolate eyes pleaded on the floor. Blood ran down her body, seeping out of massive claws marks. "Please… Please…" She cried. I leaned in for a final swipe to the throat. With all my force, my claws made contact with her skin.
…
I woke up in a pool of sweat, my heart exhilarating and my panting quick and rigid. I felt my pulse all the way down to my finger tips. My head felt as if it had gotten hit by a train. I looked at my alarm clock to see what time it was, 5:30 in the morning. The showers would most likely be empty by now and I probably would get back to sleep again so I may as well go get cleaned up. I walked into the bathroom with my toiletries and picked the shower in the farthest corner. After undressing, I wrapped a towel around my waist, grabbed a bar of soap and some shampoo from my bag. I took my towel off and started the water. It was steaming hot. I let it run down my skin. I winced as the boiling water rolled down my back and onto my scars, some recent, some old.
I'm now sitting in math class. My teacher is that dark red head woman, Cissnei I discovered her name to be as it was on her front desk and written at a far corner of the black board. Nothing too interesting happened there. Just a lecture about some useless calculation formula that I would have no use for. I stole glances at Tifa every now and then. The dark circles around her eyes were the first thing I noticed. She had probably been up all night, worrying. I wasn't sure how to start a conversation with her after what had went down in the orchard. Did she know? God, I hope not. She's a nice girl and I shouldn't drag her into my problems.
"Alright class, remember to finish pages 345-350 for tomorrows lesson." Cissnei said as the bell rang to change classes.
I noticed Tifa taking her own sweet time packing up her things. So I waited patiently. She strolled out in to the hallway where I met up with her so we could walk to science together.
"Morning Tifa." I said in a low voice.
"Hey Vincent," She gave me a meek smile that didn't quite reach her eyes and looked as if she was forcing it.
"What's wrong?" I asked stopping her in the hall.
She paused for a moment and then opened her mouth to say something and then closed it when nothing came out. After a few more moments of silence, Tifa looked up at me and said, "Do you want to ditch?" I agreed with some hesitation. I didn't know what ditch meant, but I soon found out that it meant skipping all classes. We put our stuff away and left school grounds. She brought me back to her place and opened up her garage. A shiny black motorcycle lay inside.
"Hope on!" She gave me a black helmet and put one on herself. Tifa threw one leg over her bike and started it up. I hoped on to her bike, carefully keeping as much space as possible from her without falling off. She revved the engine and we were off. She took a gravel road out of town. There was a large pothole in the ground and I fell backwards, luckily Tifa grabbed onto my shirt and pulled me back on the bike. I took the time to intake my surroundings. We drove down a narrow gravel road where full and thick trees isolated the path from the rest of the world. It was… calming. Gradually the trees faded away and revealed a large ocean on the other side. A building was slowly coming up in the distance. I wasn't close enough to make out what it said but I guessed that it was some sort of beach resort, what with all the beach umbrellas, lawn chairs, beach balls, etc. Costa de Sol was what I was finally able to read on the side of the building. I noticed that some other people were waiting in the parking lot by a big white van and a couple more motorcycles. Zack, Aerith, Cloud, Barrett, Yuffie and Cid we standing there, talking to one another. Yuffie was the first to see us and she franticly waved to us, or rather Tifa. Tifa pulled up her bike next to one of the other bikes and shut it off.
"Yo," She smiled warmly at her friends.
"Tifa!" Yuffie ran up and gave her a big hug. I dismounted the bike, hoping silently that I would not become the centre of attention.
"Alright, everything's in the van! Let's grab it and hit the beach." Barrettes motioned towards his van and slid open the door. Everyone, including myself grabbed arms full of chairs, towels, sand toys, and umbrellas. Aerith grabbed a large picnic basket while Zack and Cloud brought out a large blue cooler. Cid dropped off his load of beach assortments in the spot he declared to da best spot on the whole dang beach. The girls, Tifa, Aerith, and Yuffie, got busy setting up their stuff. Barrett when back to the parking lot to lock up his truck, Cid had wandered off to pick up chicks or something like that; Zack and Cloud had striped down to their bathing suits and ran into the water already. I didn't own a bathing suit; I'd never owned a bathing suit. The girls went off to get changed in the change rooms which left me there by myself... alone. I stood there for a moment and then eventually sat down. I'd never felt sand before...never. I picked up a handful and held it at eye level. I slightly parted my fingers and l left each grain fall back to the ground in small rivers of sand. It felt... good. Lately though, a lot of things seem good. Ever since I wasn't starving anymore...I seemed... almost happy. Happy in a dark way. Not enough to show anyone though, not enough to smile or even laugh. I picked up another handful of sand and repeated the process I had done just moments ago. I repeated it once more. Truly sand was a marvellous thing-
"Oooff!" I felt my breath rush out of my body as I was hit in the back by a large object. I turned around to examine what had hit me. A large-and heavy I might add, egg shaped brown ball with white plastic stitching down one part. I rolled it from hand to hand. It seemed to be full of air. A soccer ball...?
"Heads up!" Barrett yelled. I flinched again trying not to get hit a second time. "I meant from before yo!" He burst out laughing. I looked over at him and noticed that he too was only in his swimming attire. "Pass back!"
I stood up with the ball in my and arched my brow at it.
"You've never thrown a foot ball?!" Barrett's jaw practically dropped to the sand.
"Foot ... ball...?" I mumbled to myself.
"Alright, I'll show you," He took the ball from my hand and positioned his hand on the ball. "Keep one hand on the laces and spin when you through it," The football spiral across the sand and landed a foot away from Cid who was talking to some lady at the snack shack.
"Watch it!" Cid grabbed the ball and threw it back at me. I was busy gawking at the nice spiral it had to it when suddenly it hit me square in the chest. I fell on my back on top of the sand.
The girls had just returned in time to see me land flat on my back. Perfect... you know you're cool when... The girls burst into laughter. My face felt hot, I didn't like the feeling. I got up back on my feet, took off my long red jacked and discarded it carelessly on the sand somewhere. I also kicked off my boots. That was all the skin I was going to show.
"You just gunna take that man?! Show him up, throw it back at him!" Barrett egged me on.
I gripped the ball tightly in my hands and wiped it with all my force at Cid. I called out his name. He turned around to get the ball squarely in his face. He threw his arms up in fury and ran at Barrett and myself with the ball. Barrett and I looked at each other for a moment and the started to sprint in opposite directions. Well... he jogged, I actually sprinted. Everyone stopped what they were doing and gawked at me.
"Holy shit!" Yuffie exclaimed.
I checked my body to make sure there was nothing wrong with my appearance. "What?" I finally asked when I couldn't see anything wrong. Cid, Barrett, Tifa, Yuffie and Aerith were all staring wide eyed at me. I titled my head from side to side.
"I've never seen anyone that fast," Tifa finally broke the awkward silence.
"That was cool!" Aerith smiled excitedly.
Zack and Cloud came running back to the beach to see what all the commotion was about. I walked quickly back towards the group of teenagers.
"You're my Hero!" Yuffie ran up and hugged my waist since that was all she could reach. My body went rigged underneath her hug. My teeth clamped tightly together and my eyes slammed tightly shut as I awaited the feeling of my demon surfacing. My hands ran up to cover my face. But there was nothing. No pain, no bones shifting, no transformation, nothing. What was different about all my other human contact...? Was it because I wasn't starving...? "Geez! It was just a hug!" She peeled herself off of me and I stumbled back a bit; still deep in thought.
"You guys want to play a game of football?" Tifa changed the subject, some how sensing my discomfort.
"Yea, but us guys don't want to hurt you girls. You know, you might break a nail or something." Cid put his face in Tifa's.
Tifa held up her finger to show that they were clipped quite short. "Shove it; I don't have any nails to break. Barrett and Yuffie are team captains."
Yuffie Squealed in delight. "I pick Vincent!"
"Hey! Who said you get to pick first?!" Barrett exclaimed.
"Because I'm awesome like that." She stuck her tongue out at him. Aerith stifled a giggle.
Barrett rolled his eyes. "Tifa."
"Zack." Yuffie smirked.
"Cloud."
"Cid."
"Aerith."
As the team went to the respective sides, Cid gave me the debriefing on how to play. I just had to get the ball to the other end. He said some other stuff that I didn't really understand, and probably never will. He just told me what my job was. Zack grabbed an umbrella and drew a halfway line in the sand.
"Ready, set-" Barrett grunted as he charged forward with the ball under his arms.
"I'm open!" Tifa ran up past the center and caught the ball Barrett had thrown. Yuffie dove out of no where and tackled Tifa to the ground. Yuffie seized the ball and told me to go long. I decided to run down the field. Yuffie threw the ball to Zack who passed it to me and I just kept running. Running to the opposite side of the beach. Cloud stepped in front of me, I had no time to stop and we collided. He started laughing when I seized the opportunity to get up, run some more and throw the ball on the ground as Cid directed.
The game went well. Barrett stepped on my wrist and I think he broke it. I can't really feel anything from my left elbow down, and it was a purple tint which didn't look too good. Fortunately Aerith found some gauze in Barrett's van. I refused to left her wrap it because she call all my scars into question, so I wrapped it my self when no one was watching and pulled my sleeve back over it and tied it all up in a sling. Aerith and Zack went for a walk along the shore to get some alone time. Barrett and Cid had gone to light up a cigarette by the van. Yuffie and Cloud were attempting to construct and elaborate sand castle. This left Tifa and I sitting on the beach.
"How's your arm, Vincent?" She smiled cheerfully.
"Numb..." I replied, looking at it in disgust.
She laughed. "We should take you to see the nurse when we get back to school."
"It's fine. I heal quickly." I wasn't lying to her. I do heal quickly... but I hate/fear anything along the lines of a hospital or a laboratory.
"So do you like Neibelheim?"
"I do."
"You seem happier today. I know it's only your second day here, but... well I guess it's too early to know exactly what you're like."
"Everything is new to me." I mentally kicked myself for saying that. She's going to think I'm a freak. Well, I am but there's not much point in letting her know that.
"You've never been to school before? We you home schooled?"
"Something like that..."
"That's cool. So was I up until grade 9. That's when I started high school."
I broke my gaze away from Tifa and stared at the rolling waves on the sea.
"You know..." I turned to meet her deep mahogany eyes as she continued the conversation. "You're one of the only guys that hasn't tried anything on me."
"What...?" I gave her a shocked and confused glare.
"You know... you haven't hit on me, or flirted with me or tried any cheesy pick up lines."
"I've lived a sheltered life..." I hesitated as I thoughtfully chose my words. "Even if I knew how to do any of that stuff..."
She flashed a pearly white smile. "You're blushing!"
I turned away quickly. The hotness in my face started up once again.
"You're kinda cute, you know that right? Not knowing how to play foot ball, never going to a real school, first time to a beach. I like watching the expression on your face when you discover something new."
... What was she trying to get at here?
"Don't worry, you're secrets are safe with me." She smiled even brighter then she had a moment ago.
"Thanks..." I said sourly. "And what about yours?" I changed the focus of the conversation back onto her.
Her face sadden, the smile vanished as if it were never there. "What secrets were you referring to?"
"You know secret things about me, but I don't know that many about you."
"What did you want to know...?"
"That red haired man... what is he to you?" I met her gaze dead on.
"... he..." Her eyes seemed to glaze over before she could finish.
"You don't have to answer if you do not wish to. It's none of my business-" I was cut short by a loud, sharp, shriek.
"GET IT OFF!" Yuffie ran up to Tifa flailing her arms in the air as if she were doing some sort of interpretative dance. A Large red crab was attached to the back of her bathing suit.
"I'm not touching that!" Tifa looked disgusted at it.
"GET IT OFF ME TIFA!" Yuffie Grabbed Tifa by the shoulder and pressed their foreheads together. I saw this opportunity to snatch the crab off and place it back in the water myself.
"Phew! Thanks Vinnie! You're a real life saver!" She skipped back to her sand castle building partner and acted as if nothing had happened.
The sun was starting to set when everyone had come back to beach from the various activities they'd been doing. All the stuff was packed up in Barrett's van. Cloud hoped on a motorcycle and sped off back to the school after saying good bye. Zack and Aerith shared a motorcycle and followed Cloud out of the parking lot. Barrett, Yuffie, and Cid all squished into the front compartment of his van. They waved us off as the left the beach also.
"Ready?" She asked me gingerly as she hopped on the remaining motorcycle. I climbed on the back, sitting much closer then I had before. The bike jolted to a start and I soon found myself with my non-broken arm wrapped around her waist.