Disclaimer: Look! I actually updated! Again, I do not own any of the final fantasy games, nor do I own any of their characters. If the characters are a little out of character, that is to be expected. In fact, that is the point that I wrote this story with. I WANTED them to be OOC. And because I am writing THIS story, I CAN DO THAT! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA- *chokes and dies for the second time*

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Kuja had been sitting at his first hour desk since the doors had been opened early that morning. He sat there quietly, ignoring the world, even as his fellow students filed into the classroom, not even noticing the dirty looks or snickering glances that were tossed in his direction. His entire mind was focused on perfecting the dance moves inside his head to the music that was playing from his headphones to his mind. He lost himself to the music, he danced to the music, he became one with the music . . . . . 'I am the music . . . .'

And then it ended. He fell out of his chair as his world snapped into the here and now of his present day life. And with this, he proceeded to glare at the source of his abrupt interruption, who was currently taking hold atop his desk.

"Good morning, Yuffie. Why are you standing on my desk?" Yuffie smiled down at him brightly enough to have been in second place with the sun (or at least she seemed to be starting a rivalry). Kuja cringed, taking out his earphones before carefully placing them safely within his book bag.

"Well, you see, I'm keeping an eye out for Yuna and Rikku, because coach said he wanted to talk to Yuna, and Yuna's always hanging out with Rikku," she face scowled slightly at this. "I figured all I had to do was look for Rikku. She's really hard to miss, you know!" All the others entering the classroom for their first hour class barely even gave Yuffie a second glance. This behavior was hardly new. She most likely would have received more looks had she NOT done something like this.

Kuja sighed while pulling a hand through his hair, having long ago accepted the freshman cheerleader's astute form of 'perkiness' that never seemed to fail . . . Rain or shine . . . It was always there. Unfortunately.

The second bell rang and the teacher dragged herself in, looking far more bedraggled than any teacher ought to look. Yuffie took no mind, jumping up and down, waving her hand frantically. "Oh! Oh! Can I take role call?! Can I?! Can I?!"

The teacher sighed, pulling a hand through her still shower-wet hair. "Go ahead Yuffie." Miss Trepe sat down at her desk with a face of resignation. As the rest of the school board had, she had gotten used to Yuffie's antics. However, considering this was her first year teaching and her extremely young age, Kuja could only sigh in pity for the poor woman. The rest of her teaching career was going to be permanently scarred by this first year . . . and of all the students she could have received . . . she had to get Yuffie.

And THAT just sucked.

A few faces looked up from where they were copying the assignment, as the door slammed open, signaling the arrival of the only student tardy that morning.

"Ooooh! You're in trouble now, Vinnie!" Yuffie and a couple other freshman who hadn't been awake long enough to realize not to giggled at her outburst while Vincent ignored them, walking straight to his seat, in the back row next to Kuja.

Miss Trepe sighed. "I assume you had car trouble, Vincent? You're excused," she said at his affirmative nod. Kuja looked over his tightly pulled features and immediately recognized the look.

"The bitch was molesting your brother again, I take it."

" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ."

Kuja sighed. "So your brother is dating a skank, who is trying to get in his pants for the only reason that he's a thousand times smarter than she is. Big deal. It's not a common thing for younger brothers to try and protect their older siblings. He's a big boy. He can take care of himself."

Vincent sighed, placing his head down against the coolness of the desk. " . . . . . He has NO idea what she's doing . . . that's what bothers me." He frowned slightly. "Can you imagine what would happen if he realized? He truly loves her, I think. And maybe she truly loves him back, in her own sick, twisted kind of way. But she's been doing this for years . . . . I just don't think it's wise for her to be doing this. For him AND her."

Kuja clicked his tongue. "Come, come now. Don't lie. You don't give a rat's ass about that bitch. Your just worried your brother will break down if he finds out." Kuja rolled his eyes. "You are SUCH a loving brother . . . . ."

Vincent muttered, burying his face in his arms. "Not like he even needs help having mental breakdowns . . . . . ."

~*~*~

Hojo glanced at his Lucrecia and smiled slightly as she toiled over the class work he had completed a while ago. She barely noticed as he rose a hand quietly to play with a stray lock of her hair that had escaped the confines of her ponytail. ' . . . . . . So beautiful . . . . .'

"Mister Valentine, since you obviously have so much time on your hands, don't you think you should be doing something productive like studying? An alternative to molesting Miss Sobrenine's hair?" Professor Garland said coldly, casting him a glance that promised nothing more than ultimate humiliation. The old mans promise proved true as the snickers of a few of his classmates floated in the air, and he felt his cheeks heat up with a flush of embarrassment. He obviously was not the only one, as his Lucy quickly jerked her hair from his grasp and turned to glare and hiss at him quietly.

"What do you think you're doing?!" With a look that was more irritated than the one before (if that was even possible) and turned back to her work, sparing him no more than that.

Hojo sighed. Well, what should he have expected? A sweet blush and giggle at him doing something so pathetically romantic one might as well have laughed? A tight smile stretched across his face as he determined that it was a foolish action, worth condemnation. After all, he was distracting his fair Lucy away from her work!

He nodded, accepting his verdict as he pulled out the notes on the 'top-secret' project he and Lucrecia had working dedicatedly on for months . . . . .

'It's almost done now . . . . Almost . . . . . But not quite.' He smiled brightly to no one but himself as he envisioned how happy things would be upon the completion of the project . . . .

How happy his Lucy would be.

~*~*~

Yuna sighed as she slowly piled her books in her locker for the fifth time that morning. Things just weren't going her way . . . . Again.

'Then again,' she thought bitterly. 'When was the last time the went my way?' Turning to her backpack, she put inside it her advanced chemistry book, ignoring the nasty look she received from her fellow freshman as they took this action as a way of gloating. She found it no wonder she had no friends. If she were them, she wouldn't want to be her friend either, and as her books once again tumbled from her overstuffed locker, she could only add it to the list of her unforgivable faults: clumsiness, intelligence and worst of all, glasses.

She sighed, pushing them up to the bridge of her nose before zipping up her bag and turning to cram her locker shut with the unbelievable amount of books contained within. As she slowly forced it closed, in the corner of her eyes, she caught a shock of blond, bobbing up and down in her direction as it raced down the halls, crowds no thinning as the time for the bell to ring grew near.

"YUUUNIIIIIE!"

It was official. The shock of blond, as it rammed into her, was none other than Rikku. Her cousin and only . . . . . friend. Yuna sighed.

"Good morning, Rikku. How are you?"

Rikku giggled in a way that only one on a perpetual sugar high could accomplish.

"Great! And you? Did you sleep well? Oh! All the stuff keeps falling out of your locker again! Here! Let me help!" As Rikku proceeded to help (which consisted of ramming everything into her locker with dangerous speed and pressure), Yuna dredged up a smile to appear on her face for no one else but her cousin. She was, after all, Rikku's favorite cousin.

'More like the only one who can stand her cheerfulness in the morning,' Yuna thought wryly before picking up her bag and smiling at her green-eyed cousin softly. "Come on, Rikku. We have to get to class."

"Righty-Oh!" She jumped up, grabbing her own bag and wrenched her cousins wrist, leading her down the hall at a speed no less than mind blowing as the bell began to ring.

As she was dragged along, her eyes wandered across the faces of those sitting amongst the couches in the commons. As if in slow motion, she scanned every student's facial expression, seeing the dark, light and grumpy looks about them until . . . . .

Grey eyes, cold as winter, she met from their position of staring directly at her.

'It's him . . . . He's staring at me . . . . . Again.' She felt a chill run up her spine like a rake of icy fingers. From beneath that gentle fall of pale brown hair, those eyes had stared at her every time she became aware of their owner, and had been doing so since the beginning of that year. Probably even when she was not aware of it . . . .

She shuddered, tearing her eyes from his, and forcing herself to focus on the hall ahead of her.

'Face ever expressionless, and yet his eyes are ever watchful . . . .' She only wished she knew this person's name. Maybe he would seem more human, then, and less of the phantom he so closely resembled in actions alone. A blush fought its way to the surface of her cheek. 'No . . . . Certainly not a phantom n appearance- STOP! He's stalking you! Banish him from your thoughts!' With a stubborn chin set forward, she set to focus on the things far more important to the there and then.

And yet, as she ran to the safety of her first hour class, she was unable to banish the closed expression about her phantoms elfin face . . . .

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E-san: Hey! Here I am! Look at me! I UPDATED! *Waits for applause and scowls when she doesn't get it* Any-ways, I'm waiting for reviews. Want reviews. NEED reviews. Can TASTE the REVIEWS!!! (Okie, so that was a bit dramatic.) I have no idea where this story is going, by the way, so if you have any ideas, just leave them in the REVIEW area. I'll take all into consideration and give due rights to those who offered used ideas. Thanks a lot. Btw, REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!