Elena gave herself a once-over in the mirror before her as dawn slipped over Costa del Sol. She started fussing with her hair and reviewed the conversation she had held with Reno via phone the night prior.

"Reno," came his greeting.

"It's me. Sorry about earlier," she began, but she was soon cut off.

"What, about that guy telling me what he told me? How you're 'sick and tired' of me? Nah, I'm not holding that against you." The tone in his voice was obviously dripping with sarcasm, however.

"If it makes you feel any better, I didn't know the guy, and I told him NOT to answer my phone! He did anyway!"

"So you're letting perfect strangers answer your phone for you now, eh? Weird; you won't let me so much as touch your phone."

She sighed and gave her head a defeated shake. "Forget it for now. What'd you call for earlier?"

"Wanted to know what you were up to. Figured if you were up to nothing, we could hang out?"

"Please, Reno. We've never hung out before, and we both know why. As it is, though, I'm in Costa del Sol right now."

"Taking a vacation?"

"Mm, kinda, kinda not."

"...What's that supposed to mean?" he finally asked, obviously stumped.

"I'm... helping Chocobohead with something," she replied.

"Wait... You're in Costa del Sol with Chocobohead right now? Uh, at risk of sounding like I'm over-defensive of you... What the fuck? Did he drag you along?"

She wondered how best to word this to her colleague. "Not quite. I sorta kinda dragged him along. See, I'm--"

She heard him whistle, and groaned softly. "Oh man, this is rich. You and Chocobohead together? Who'd've thunk it?"

"Reno--"

"Hey, whatever. Congrats on landing yourself the biggest, most selfish chocobo ever, Laney. Guess you two want time together, huh?"

She started to protest, but he hung up on her. She pulled the phone from her ear and glared at it for a moment, then closed it and tossed it rather violently on the mattress of her bed. "Stupid prick..." she muttered, flopping backward onto her bed.

She finished with her hair and let a drawn-out sigh escape her. "Well, that makes two people who think Cloud and I are together..." She took to drumming her fingers on the dresser below the mirror, reflecting on everything she had said and done since she had arrived. Granted, Tifa thinking we're together was my bad. But Reno's just stubborn and hates to be told he's wrong. But have I done anything to make other people around us believe it too...? She thought briefly of the moment in which she had placed her hand upon his shoulder and dismissed that, as he had forcefully removed her hand from his shoulder at that moment.

"Screw it," she muttered, giving the dresser a gentle pound with both hands. "Just need to hook Chocobohead up with someone and be on my way, then." She looked outside the window and noted the early morning weather, then looked in the mirror. Her eyes skimmed the white sleeveless shirt she was wearing, then flicked to the light blue jeans she was wearing. "Not like I'm dressing to impress," she decided. A sudden thought hit her mind, and she looked to her door. "But he probably should." She opened the door and stepped outside her room, proceeding to Cloud's room.

"Yo, Cloud!" she said, throwing the door open without any other warning. "We need to..." She faltered, and felt her face burn and eyes widen as she looked inside.

She had just inadvertantly seen Cloud Strife in nothing but boxers.

He turned to glare at her, not even bothering to cover up; he figured there was no point. "Get. OUT!" he shouted, grasping the hilt of the sword he had since taken to leaving in the hotel room. "NOW!"

She complied instantly and shut the door, leaning her back against it, the image burning vividly in her mind. "Not how I wanted to start my day..." she said, eyes still wide.

A few minutes later, the door clicked behind her, and she moved away from the door as it opened behind her. She was now facing a fully clothed Cloud, though the image of earlier was still at the front of her mind. "Good morning," she finally said, eager to break the tension.

"Don't you knock?" he said furiously, keeping his voice down.

"Figured you'd still be in bed, to be honest." She shook her head and tried rubbing her eyes. All this did was make the image more visible behind her eyelids. "That will forever scar my memory..." she muttered.

He rolled his eyes. "What was so important that you had to barge in on me while I was getting dressed?"

"Uh..." She fought to recall what it was, and looked down at the floor for a moment. "Oh, right. You can't expect to find a decent girl wearing that get-up all the time. You need a new look, Cloud, so you'll want to work on that today."

"That's what was so pressing?" he said, glaring at her. "Seriously?"

She gave her eyes another rub and sighed. "Well, we know it's true." She blinked a few times and resigned herself to the fate bestowed upon her. "Great, can't get rid of that image now..."

"You're not exactly a looker yourself, Elena."

"I'm not trying to impress anyone, Chocobohead. There's the key difference." She looked away from him pointedly. "Well, if you're ready to go, it's time to get this day started."

--

He had since been gone for at least a couple hours at Elena's behest to shop for at least two different outfits to wear, and she had since flopped lazily into the beach chair she had occupied a couple days straight. She rested her forearm across her eyes and let a long sigh escape her. "Still can't get that out of my mind..." she muttered to herself. She dropped her arm and looked around the beach momentarily, looking at the other people on the beach.

There weren't many people on the beach that early in the morning, but there were definitely a few people. She noted, with much amusement, one man whose beer belly stuck out like a sore thumb. She watched as he walked into the waters and turned onto his back, allowing himself to float on the water, carefree. She pondered the idea of swimming at some point while she was here, however briefly it may be.

"You and Chocobohead together? Who'd've thunk it?" She let Reno's words echo in her mind for a while, then shut it out. No way. I mean, sure, Cloud and I get along just a little better than when I first pitched the idea of hooking him up, but we're definitely not interested in one another... She looked out over the waters. Least, I'm not. And as far as he goes, I'd be amazed if he felt that way...

A shriek sounded from somewhere behind her, making her jump. She turned quickly to face the source and let a relieved sigh escape her as laughter followed. Just some kid surprised at the tickling antics of their parent. She gave her head a small shake, as though clearing out the thoughts cluttering her mind. Nah, I'm overthinking things. He's not interested, I'm not interested. Simple as that, nothing to worry about. Time to think about something else now.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stray her mind from what Reno had said and what Tifa had undoubtedly suspected. Alright. Rose wasn't his type, but she was close, I think. So if not her, then who...?

She never heard Cloud come up behind her, and jumped when she heard him say "Elena."

"By the gods, Cloud! Warn a girl next time!" she exclaimed, turning her head to face him, an annoyed look on her face. "Can't you at least do that much for me?"

"Bite my head off, will you... Even though this was nothing compared to earlier..."

Her mind flashed the image once more, and she subsided any argument. "...Well? How'd it turn out?"

He held up his hands. Both were empty.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You seriously bought nothing?"

"Didn't think I needed it. Neither did the woman who helped me out while I was there." He took up the beach chair that he had occupied for the last two days. "She said I was fine with navy blue like this and black pants. The navy brings out the blue in my eyes, even if they're touched by Mako. Least, that's what she said."

"..." Elena looked at him, as though to find some fault with the argument now presented before her. It wasn't until she looked up to his eyes that she realized that indeed, navy blue did bring out the blue in his eyes.

"...You okay, Elena?" He fixed his eyes upon her, a look of mixed concern and amusement on his face. "You just stopped breathing."

"Oh, shut up," she said, looking away, realizing he held a point. He's right, I did. But why? It's not like... But could it have been...?

"I rendered you breathless? Wow, never thought it possible," Cloud mused.

Shit, he's got it head on. "Don't get full of yourself, Chocobohead. Remember, you're trying to impress people. That just means it works in your favor." She looked out over the waves and let her eyes wander to two young children starting on a sand castle. "Incidentally, I haven't found anyone else for you to try."

"That right?" He sighed. "So I'm stuck here until someone for me turns up, huh?"

"Pretty much. Oh, don't give me that tone," she added, noting the resignation in his tone. "I'm stuck here with you as well. How do you think I feel?"

They sat in silence for a while, each lost in their own thoughts. Elena was wondering who would work best for Cloud, Cloud was wondering when he'd be free of Costa del Sol and Elena.

"...Suppose we tried someone other than a brunette," she finally said, breaking the silence between them. "Would you be up for trying it? Actually, no. You don't get any say in this matter. I'll see where I can go with someone who's not a brunette."

"Fine."

She looked over at him. "With that in mind, I'm off to get something to eat. Missed breakfast, and lunch is coming up on us fast here." She stood and slid her feet into her sandals. "Looks like you need a pick-me-up as well. You coming or staying here?"

He gave her a suspicious look, but ultimately let it slide. "Now that you mention it, I am fairly hungry as well." He planted his feet on the sand and regarded her momentarily. "The cafe?"

"Sure." The two set off for the steps leading to what Elena had since dubbed 'Costa del Sol proper'.

--

"So," she said simply, looking down toward the beach as they waited for their food.

"What's up?" he asked her.

"If not a brunette, who would you like to see yourself next to? Remember, Tifa and Aeris are off-limits."

He snorted at the comment. "Like I forgot that." He leaned back slightly in his chair and closed his eyes. "...Black hair, possibly."

"Alright, now I have something else to work with..."

"...Elena, something's bugging you." He opened his eyes and met hers, examined them. "I've been stuck with you for the last two days, and I've never seen you like this."

"Not your business," she said matter-of-factly.

"Not my business, least not until it starts to affect your ability to match me up with someone. Remember, you said earlier that we're both pretty much stuck here."

She sighed and tore her gaze from the beach to look at him. "Fine, you got me there. It's just..." She wondered how best to word it. "...Reno thinks we're together as well."

"Oh, for the greater love of..." Cloud smacked his forehead with his palm. "What in hell did you say to him to make him think that?"

"That I dragged you along to Costa del Sol. He didn't give me a chance to say why I dragged you here, though, and you know how stubborn he gets."

"Why'd you even bother? Dd you really need to tell him you dragged me along?"

She opened her mouth to respond, but felt it slip closed. "Not really... Should've just let him think I was on vacation here..."

He looked ready to smack her upside the head. "If you don't want people thinking we're together, don't say things that could work against that!" he finally said, crossing his arms. "And you haven't had a chance to tell Tifa yet, have you?"

"Have you tried looking for one person out of all Costa del Sol? It's difficult, you know. Haven't seen her since day before last, same time you saw her."

Silence settled between them for a moment.

"Both counts have been your fault, you know," he finally said, giving the waitress a smile as their food came.

"Tell me something I don't know," Elena muttered, nodding her head to the waitress before she grasped the edge of her plate. "And here I thought I had finally gotten over talking too much..."

"Yeah, you wish." Cloud picked up the fork before him and began eating the tilapia before him.

She looked at him, tempted to say something in response, but settled for eating instead. She gave her salmon a rather savage stab with her fork.

He noted this and gave a small sigh. "Sorry if I said anything that, well... pissed you off."

"..." She mulled this over in her mind for a moment, then poked her fish for a moment. "...Nah, it's fine. The truth hurts sometimes, but hey, whatever. Sometimes, the truth needs to be heard. I think it's safe to say this is one of those times."

"And you know what that means, right?"

"Stop blabbing?"

He grinned. "There you go." He resumed eating.

"...You say that like it's so easy to do. The thing is, though, that I've always been really talkative, and it's tough for me to supress it. Kind of like your constant infatuation with Tifa, in a way, even though she's married."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Who said I was--"

"Stop trying to hide it, Cloud. We both know it's the truth. My point is that there are some things people can't control about themselves. For me, it's being too talkative sometimes. It's different for each person you see, but there's always going to be that one thing they have absolutely no control over. It's just part of who they are, and you learn to accept it over time."

Her words seemed to render them both silent for the duration of their lunch, and neither of them said a word until Elena had paid for their lunch.

"Elena."

"Yo."

"I know you don't want me to say it, but we both know I'll never stop it all the same. Thank you."

She gave a small smile. "Nah, it's fine. It's just something else about you that you have no control over; I've since learned to accept that.

He chuckled. "And you being too talkative isn't too bad, either. Even if it makes people think the wrong thing about us."

"Careful, now. Saying things like that makes it sound like you don't mind if people think we're together." She grinned.

"Of course I mind that!" he retorted, giving her a small glare. "We're not, and it'll never happen, so there's no point letting people believe otherwise!"

"We agree for once," she mused, standing. "Well, this should be easier now. I feel loads better now that I've cleared my mind." She regarded the swordsman before her for a moment. "Hey, thanks."

He gave her a quizzical look. "For what?"

She grinned. "If you don't know why I'm thanking you, I guess I'll let you flop around hopelessly for a while."

The snow is piling up, and I walked through it for an hour. My eyes are still adjusting slightly, and I came indoors about 15 minutes ago. Gotta love winter.

My creativity has hit a peak, which is good. The BAD thing is that I've picked up Warcraft III and the expansion. The expansion has a map editor that lets me make my own maps. Guess where most of my creativity's gone as of late? Yeah, it's definitely cut into my writing, not to mention my sleep. I've been pulling all-nighters recently, which is not good... My custom map better be worth the lost sleep, or I'm going to be so ticked... For those of you who play World of Warcraft, my custom map is inspired by the battle between the Kirin Tor of Dalaran and the Blue Dragonflight. Name of the map is Dalaran Overrun. You probably got it from there.

That's not to say I haven't started chapter 5. It's not much right now, but I HAVE started it. I know what the basis of it will be, as the 'Next chapter' bit will prove. I also know what chapter 6 is going to be about, but I'll keep that quiet for now.

Let's see... oh, I've hit the level cap in World of Warcraft! Ilyasviel is now level 80! Of course, now the journey's just begun... I have much to do now that I've hit 80, and form an arena team with a guildmate is one of many things to do. The road is long, but the possibilities are infinite.

Still awaiting recommendations for where to take Hiding Secrets. The next chapter's been far overdue, and that means it's basically out of my hands at this point... Which is sad, considering I'm the author...

I'll try and keep this brief by ending it with...

Next chapter, Elena's luck finding someone for Cloud goes downhill. And yet, after a swim and some contemplation, she realizes that Cloud seems to have an interest of his own, one that ISN'T Tifa... -Spiritslayer