Title: First Impressions: Cloud Strife

Rating: R (Just in case…)

Theme: Insights

Pairings/Characters: Dart Feld and Cloud Strife

Spoilers/Warnings: Anything from either game. You have been warned.

Time Period: N/A

Summary: When we first met… I thought he was an exotic cactus. Now, I kinda wish he was. Most exotic cactuses don't want to kill me, for one. Though on another note, I have the feeling they'd make better conversation than him too. But hey! He can't be all that bad, right?

Word Count: 869

Dedication: To the boys. Because you're both so special to Rain and me. We love you dearly.

Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of Dragoon or Final Fantasy VII. But I own my imagination, and that'll be quite enough for what I have in mind. ;3

A/N: Believe it or not, this is a more serious addition to the fic Secret Stardust that I'm writing with PorcupineCuty (Rain) (which can be found on her profile by the way—check it out!). I know it doesn't seem that way right now, but hey! All we have to go on is crack for the time being! Still, I think you'll find these little trips into the minds of Dart and Cloud to be quite enlightening if you give them the chance.

. . . . . . .

Chapter One: Cactus Head

. . . . . . .

I can't say our way of meeting was exactly…ah…preferred. Nothing about it turned out well. Though I guess I can't say my day was going good to begin with. Then again, no one expects a small tug at your pants to be a perfectly innocent looking bunny. Let alone suddenly being surrounded by the critters and then promptly abducted by them. Yeah…definitely can't say it was one of my better experiences with small animals.

At first I freaked out, of course. Then I tried begging, pleading—heck, I even tried to bribe the little rainbow-riding guys. Told 'em I knew this small brunette that would love to have them stay forever in her room. But uh…maybe that last part didn't sound too good to them either. Some of the dread must have come across in my voice when I told them that, because they…well…they…dropped me.

To be quite honest, I brushed off my landing like nothing…but I was embarrassed. To land on him like that! I'm not exactly a lightweight, and that guy's got to weigh less than me. Not to mention how he rubbed it in. Geez…give a guy a break why don't yah! It wasn't my fault they dropped me there! …or…maybe it was. But, uh…I don't think I'll be telling him that any time soon.

Point is…we started off on the wrong foot. And yeah, it was kind of fun pushing his buttons once I figured out how easily he got ticked off—that's always fun. Meru taught me that much. It was I that taught her the fun starts to go away when the Must-Kill-Dirty-Blonde-Spiky-Haired-Annoyance mode gets activated. Or, in her case, Blue-Ponytailed-Annoyance. But who's checking?

When things reached that point, it was deeeeefinitely not going to be good. Who knew I'd actually be glad to see those rabbits again? Not me, that's for sure. Though that still doesn't bode well for the future if we get dropped off in the same place together again. Plus side is, this time I'll try not to aim for the blonde. Down side, if he lands on me, I'm about 96% sure he's going to try to strangle me. Aaaaannnd that won't be good.

I don't know how strong he is yet, but hey—in the middle of running away from a giant, green octopus monster, I did notice that he was….

From the very beginning I could tell he wasn't your average man. It wasn't his clothing, weapon, or appearance otherwise that gave it away. It wasn't the lithe body he clearly had under those clothes—I mean, hello. I fell on the guy. You can tell. Don't ask me how. That's ah…something for another time. …I didn't do anything weird, okay. So stop thinking that.

But even before I saw the way he fought, or the speed and skills he had, you could tell where he'd been. Sure, the first look out of them was a glare, but his eyes and his face gave it away. He'd been through stuff. Quite a bit of stuff. Nothing I know about, and nothing I expect I'll ever know about. But he's…got a lot behind him, and still in him. Don't ask me how I know. It's just…something you can tell. Without being smart or experienced like I am, and I'm not saying that to sound arrogant. I've been through my fights, and I've had my big issues come and go. My life's been changed drastically from how things once were…and I can tell that he's not too far out of the same situation himself.

…still, I hope he doesn't kill me. The man's got some serious issues still clinging to him if he wants to kick my ass for just being…well…SOCIABLE.

Soa! I never knew a man that adamant about wanting to be alone! Come on! How bad can company be? …on second thought, maybe it's a woman in his life. Soa knows they can be…ach…painstaking and…yeesh. Okay, forget I brought it up. Let's not talk about women, huh? They're just…too big a subject to get into right now.

…on a completely different side note though, do you think he'll kill me if I asked what was up with his hair? Not that my hair's much better, but still. His seems to have a bit more…boing to it, to put it one way. Till it got wet. Heh heh….

Anyway! All joking aside, the man confuses me. I don't really know what to think of him besides the obvious. And it doesn't look like his shell's going to be cracking anytime soon. Not sure if I want it to though, all things considered. He reminds me almost too much of…yeah….

What do you think? If I mention Rose, will she kill me? …ah well! Guess I'll find out the hard way. In the meantime, I'm just going to try to live for the time being. Maybe push a few more buttons…! And if I start losing body parts, well…! That's my cue to stop! Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go and try to direct my flight path away from the blonde porcupine. 'Scuse me!

Author's Note: So this is the first sneak-peak into what's going on in Dart's mind about Cloudy! Mwahahahaha! What'd you think? If you want to talk directly to Dart about anything he said, go ahead and ask him in your review! He'll be happy to answer it in the next chapter!

Remember! This fic is one out of a pair! For the other one, trot over to check out PorcupineCuty's profile and her counterpart fic First Impressions: Dart Feld. Now we get to see what Cloud thinks about Dart! Ha-ha! XD And remember, these two fics are based off of Rain's and my co-authored fic Secret Stardust! If you want to know what the boys are referencing, go ahead and check it out on Rain's profile!