Hello, I'm back, sort of. As promised this one isn't near as dark or sad as the last one. Actually something I just threw together for Fangrai February. Barely made it, I know. Sorry I haven't updated my other fics. I AM working on them, i promise, but my hard drive crashed and I lost the next chaps of both of them! :( Trying to work around school to get them remade though. Neither was finished, but they were getting there. Until then, enjoy this one shot. Hope you like it.


It had taken three days for the moving process to get finished. Lightning had never heard of such a thing. The only thing she knew about the person moving in next to her was that she was from Gran Pulse, so she just had to assume that was somehow the cause of the amount of time it took. That had been a few days ago however, and so far the only other complaint she had was the occasional Pulsian music coming through the walls. This would be the real test though; she had today off so she would find out if her new neighbor was as calm during the day as she was at night.

Well, she wasn't going to be inside all day. That wasn't her idea of a good day off. Instead she headed out the door to go for a run. She didn't bother locking the door behind her, the complex was fairly strict about who they allowed in anyway, so there was no need. Reaching the lobby and heading out she saw two people she didn't recognize, a small redheaded girl and a taller very tan woman with a large tattoo.

She ignored them and continued on, leaving the building and heading along her usual path. She wasn't in a hurry so she decided on a fairly leisurely pace, at least for her. Even so she was still surprised when, about halfway through her run, she heard footsteps running up behind her. It wasn't long after that they caught up to her. They ran behind her for a moment before making a move to pass.

"Coming around." She heard a heavily accented voice say before the woman started around her. It was then that she saw it was the same tall woman that she had seen in her building. Lightning held her pace as the runner put distance between them, her longer legs easily outpacing Lightning's relaxed stride. Lightning's path took her in a circle around her building so she ended up right back at home after her run. Despite her exertion she was still doing fairly well, her breathing slow and measured, if a little heavier than normal.

Unlocking the lobby door she started up towards her apartment. Reaching her floor she moved down the hall and realized she could smell something. As she kept moving it got stronger and she realized what it was, pancakes. She ignored it for the most part as she finally found her apartment. Then she was disturbed when she heard sounds that seemed to be coming from the other side, and she regretted not taking her gunblade with her on the run, even if it did bounce against her legs.

Gently, so as not to make a lot of noise, she turned the door handle. Stopping to listen, the noises continued unchanged. She opened the door slowly, yet tensed and prepared to throw it open at a moment's notice. Stepping in she didn't see anyone in the small apartment at first, however the noises became clearer, and more confusing. A few steps were all it took to see she was right, there was someone in her kitchen, and they were cooking while singing.

Moving closer she recognized the person. It was the small redheaded girl from the lobby, the one who had been talking to the runner that passed her. Was this some kind of set-up? Were they a team trying to get something from her? If so then what; and why make pancakes?

She decided to just get the answers to those questions. Grabbing a knife off the counter she moved closer, the girl still didn't seem to know she was there. She crouched low and slowly eased her way forward. When she was within arm's reach she stood up, ready to grab her. It was only her reflexes that saved her then.

Just as she was about to grab ahold of the young woman, she spun around, taking the hot skillet off the stove and swinging it at Lightning's head. Lightning ducked, and then used her hands to block a knee that came up. She side stepped as the pan came swinging down at her head, and then stepped in, shoving the other woman against the counter and pinning her arms, blocking her movement by pressing against her.

"Who are you and what do you want?" She asked as she struggled against Lightning's hold.

"I was just about to ask you the same thing." Lightning countered, "And why are you in my apartment?"

Her brow furrowed. "Your apartment?" She said. After a moment her eyes got wide, "Oh my gods! I knew this was too organized to be Fang's!"

"Excuse me?" Lightning asked.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I got the wrong apartment. I meant to go to my friend's, she just moved in you see, and I was gonna make her some breakfast while she went out for a run. I guess I got the wrong one, but the door was unlocked. I knew something felt off but I figured it was just because she hadn't had a chance to really move in and wow I'm so sorry!"

Lightning was momentarily stunned by the amount of words the girl had put out in such a short span of time. Coming back to her senses she backed off, letting the other woman free. "So, wrong apartment? You must mean the one over there." She pointed behind her towards the adjoining wall.

"I guess so." She said, giggling slightly and putting her free hand on the back of her neck. "Oh, by the way, I'm Vanille, nice to meet you!" She added, holding the hand out now.

"Lightning." She answered, shaking Vanille's hand. "So, your friend, she wouldn't be the tall woman you were talking with before, would she?"

"Yes! That's her. Have you not met yet? That's odd, Fang's usually so friendly."

"I've been busy." Lightning said, though she wasn't sure why she was making an excuse for a woman she had only seen twice and never met.

"Oh, that makes sense. I guess so has she, you know with moving and all. Especially since she didn't really want to, but not like she had much of a choice. She's not a big fan of Cocoon anyway, so that probably doesn't help. Anyway I'm sure she'll adjust at some point. Of course she'll complain the whole time; talking about how much better Gran Pulse is than Cocoon. Oh, that reminds me, when you meet her, remember to say Gran Pulse and not just Pulse, or she'll get mad. It's kind of a pet peeve of hers."

Lightning simply stared as Vanille rambled on, seemingly not caring that they had just met under odd circumstances. She was about to speak up before she learned the whole life story of her new neighbor when they heard yelling from the adjoining wall.

"Vanille? You here?" Came a muffled and accented voice through the wall.

"I'm over here, Fang!" Vanille yelled.

"What in the, where are you? I can hear you."

"I'm next door, talking to your neighbor."

"Why are you…?" A loud sigh was heard even through the wall, "Well am I at least invited to your little party?"

Vanille opened her mouth to speak, and then stopped, looking at Lightning, who threw her hands in the air, "Why not? This is weird enough anyway." She said.

"Alright, coming over." It was just a few seconds later they heard footsteps and Fang arrived in the kitchen. "What the hell happened here? Looks like someone murdered a bakery." She said as she looked around. Lightning and Vanille copied her actions, noticing for the first time the half cooked pancake batter stuck all over the kitchen.

"Um, oops. Guess that's my fault." Vanille said, smiling nervously and looking at the skillet before setting it back on the stove and turning it off.

Lightning sighed and put her hand on her face, this day was not going well. She then turned and put the knife away before she was tempted to use it. That was when Fang spoke up. "Hey, it's you." Lightning turned back around to look at her.

"Yes, I'm me. What's your point?"

"No, I mean I recognize you. I passed you on my run."

"Yes you did. You were moving pretty good."

"Well, wanted to get back before The Tiny Terror here could rearrange my new place. Guess she did that to yours instead." She said, grinning and gesturing towards Vanille.

"Hey!" the woman in question objected, "I am not a terror, I am wonderful. Also, how did she get back before you if you passed her?"

"Well I guess I just took a longer route."

"When you were trying to get back quickly? Yeah right. You got lost, didn't you?" Vanille said, pointing an accusing finger at Fang. To her credit Fang managed to hold out for at least a few seconds before hanging her head and saying "Yeah."

"That's what I thought." Vanille said as she crossed her arms smugly.

"Well it ain't my fault, I can't navigate these damn cities."

"Only been here a few days and already got lost. I knew you weren't ready to live on your own. You can't take care of yourself." Vanille said, earning her a glare from Fang, which she countered with one of her own.

Despite the two strangers standing in her kitchen, Lightning couldn't stop herself from a small chuckle at the two of them. When she did they both looked at her, confused. "Sorry." She said, clearing her throat, "It's just, me and my younger sister had almost the exact same argument a few times after I moved in here. Except instead of getting lost, she said I wasn't able to feed myself."

"Well, Fang doesn't have that problem. She eats like a behemoth. Now if only she would learn how to read road signs."

"Hey," Fang objected, "I didn't need to learn signs in Oerba and I got around just fine."

"Yes, but we're not in Oerba anymore. This is a big city on Cocoon. You will get lost… Again."

"Hey, if she can feed herself, then I can navigate. Right?" She said, looking to Lightning for affirmation.

"Well…" Lightning said, letting her sentence trail off, which got their attention. "You might want to listen to her. I hate to admit it, but Serah wasn't actually wrong. There were a few occasions where I just forgot to eat, or was too busy, or didn't have any food in the house I could cook." They both just stared for a moment before Vanille sprang into action.

"Ha!" she announced, "I told you, you need to listen to me. You saw this apartment, it's as organized as a place can get. Yet she couldn't remember to eat. Her sister was right, and so am I."

Fang let out a sigh. "Alright, let's assume you're right." She shot a glare at Lightning as she said it, "What do you want to do about it? Have me wear a little tracking color like a dog so you can find me when I get lost? It's not like you can just show me around, you don't know this place any better than I do."

Vanille seemed to lose her steam for a moment at this. "Oh, you're right." She hummed to herself for a moment, appearing in thought, as Fang waited confidently for what she assumed would be an insane answer. Eventually she sprang back into her animated self with an answer.

"I've got it!" She declared, "Lightning can show you the way around."

"You want me to go outside in the rain?" Fang asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

"I think she means me." Lightning said, holding out a hand, "My name's Lightning."

"Oh," Fang said, shaking her hand, "Nice to meet you, Oerba Yun Fang at your service, though you probably already knew that."

"Just the Fang part."

"See, there, you're all introduced. Now, she can show you around the city. Then you won't have to get lost." She clapped her hands together like she had just come up with the greatest plan ever, smiling at the two older women.

"Now why would she do that after you broke into her apartment and messed up her kitchen? Besides, what if I don't want some stranger chauffeuring me around town like an idiot?"

"I didn't mean that. I meant that she could just show you how to navigate around on your own. As for why, well your neighbors, you should know each other. I'm sure she knew the other person who lived in your place, right?" She looked at Lightning expectantly.

"Never met them, don't even know if it was a guy or a girl." Vanille's face dropped at this, her clearly excellent plan to help Fang falling apart. Then Lightning spoke up again. "However, I can already hear my sister yelling at me that I'm being stubborn. She tells me to socialize more anyway, maybe this will get her off my back."

"Yay!" Vanille cried out, hopping slightly.

"Now wait just a moment. Just cause she's willing doesn't mean I agreed to this." Fang interrupted.

"You're going to let her show you around and that's final. If you get lost again I won't come find you." Vanille said sternly. Unfortunately it had no effect at all.

"Ha, yeah right. You'd be worried sick and wouldn't stop looking at all." Fang grinned as she said it, knowing she was right.

"Yeah well, do you really want me to have to come and find you, and then be able to tell everyone about that? Including you, often, anytime you try to say I'm wrong?"

Fang only considered for a moment before turning to Lightning, "So, what time can you teach me the lay of the land?" Vanille once again crossed her arms and smiled, quite proud of herself.

Lightning couldn't help a small smirk. "She reminds me a lot of my sister. How does tomorrow work? I'm going for a run in the morning again, and if you would like to as well then you can join me and I'll make sure you don't get lost."

"Yes, I am awesome at plans, and now you got to know each other. See, everything worked out. Now let's have pancakes." Vanille said, turning around to get the finished pancakes on the counter next to the stove.

"About that." Lightning interrupted, "I do have one condition."

"What?" Fang and Vanille asked in sync.

"Well, I wasn't going to make pancakes for breakfast, but I also wasn't going to sling batter all over someone else's apartment. Since it's my day off, I don't want to spend it cleaning my counters either. However, I'm not going to be able to go for a run tomorrow if I'm thinking about food all over my counters. So if somebody wants me to go out tomorrow it would be much better for them to clean up the mess they made. Of course, that's their choice though."

Fang grinned broadly and Lightning smirked as a distraught Vanille looked back and forth between the two of them. Finally she hung her head. "Fine, I'll clean them up today." She said. Then, as if nothing happened, she sprang up and grabbed the plate, "But first, pancakes."

They ended up having breakfast together, and Lightning found out Vanille could make really good pancakes. Even better though, was watching Vanille scrub dried pancake batter off the counters. Despite saying they wouldn't, Lightning and Fang both ended up helping and the place was clean in no time. After that they ended up sitting in Lightning's living room getting to know each other. While apprehensive at first, Lightning calmed down when she realized she didn't really have to talk much, Vanille was content to talk for all them, even if she mostly told embarrassing stories about Fang, usually causing some mild argument between the two of them. Before they realized it they had spent almost the entire day there. Fang and Vanille left together to go about their own business, but Fang made sure to promise that she would be ready for their run the next day. Overall, Lightning was looking forward to the run more than she had expected herself too. It just took one day, but she was already starting to like this new neighbor of hers.


Hope you liked that. I'm just glad i managed to write anything. As always, please review, good or bad, long or short, I always enjoy reading them. They really motivate me too, so if you want to see more from me, definitely review. As always, enjoy FLight responsibly, lest it control you life. Have a nice day.