"I'm back!" Zack called as he came into the apartment with Aerith.
"Zack, you're back!" Anne cried as she ran out of the bedroom to greet him.
She yelped when she saw Aerith and dove behind the sofa, staring at Aerith suspiciously from the top of it with narrowed eyes. Zack gave a reassuring smile.
"This is Aerith, Anne," he said while gesturing to the flower girl "Aerith, this is Anne."
Aerith smiled kindly to the teenager.
"Nice to meet you," she said.
Anne hissed warily.
"Aerith is a funny name," she grumbled.
Zack chuckled.
"She's not too keen in meeting strangers," he explained and Aerith giggled.
"I'm not a stranger, Anne," she said as she slowly advanced to her "I'm Zack's friend."
Anne still hissed and stared at her warily, crawling away from Aerith when she came closer.
"Aerith, you need to let her come to you to gain her trust," Zack took Aerith's hand and led her away "Aerith's going to make us lunch today, Anne."
Anne hissed in displeasure and Zack grinned nervously as they went into the kitchen.
"She'll get used to you, don't worry," he said as they unpacked their shopping bags "Hopefully your stew will gain you brownie points."
"I think she looks cute," Aerith commented and looked over her shoulder "And a bit quirky."
Zack turned his head to see Anne watching them from the doorway, her tongue waving in the air as if to try and taste Aerith's scent.
"You'll get used to her eventually, don't worry," he whispered.
"Oh, I almost forgot."
When Aerith turned around fully, Anne scarpered back behind the sofa, hissing warily when Aerith came out with something.
"Anne, I heard that you like soft white clothes," she smiled kindly.
Anne went silent, staring at her with suspicious red eyes when Aerith unfolded her dress.
"I thought you might want to wear my spare dress," she held up a white dress with blue ribbons, similar to the one she was wearing now "I'll just leave it here so you can look at it."
She placed it on Zack's armchair and walked back into the kitchen. Anne stared at it thoughtfully, as if it might explode or turn into a monster or something. She slowly crawled over the sofa, crawled across the living room and sat herself in front of the dress. She hissed in disappointment when she realised that it wasn't completely pure white. She carefully began feeling the rim of the skirt and rubbed it against her cheek when she thought that it was soft enough to wear. She turned her head suddenly and Zack and Aerith ducked out of view from their watching places by the kitchen door. Hissing questioningly, Anne shrugged and began taking off Zack's shirt, throwing it onto the sofa and stood up. She carefully picked the dress up and slipped it on her, hissing happily when it fit her. Aerith smiled from her place and left her to examine the dress further.
"I'm glad she likes it," she said as Zack chopped up the vegetables.
"Does she have it on?" Zack asked while she got down the saucepans to fill with water.
"Yes, it suits her," Aerith smiled as she turned around to go to the sink.
She jumped slightly when she saw Anne right in front of her, looking up at her with scrutinizing glowing red eyes.
"You're different to Zack and Sephiroth and everyone else," she commented.
"Am I?" Aerith tilted her head.
"The first thing is that you have breasts like me," Anne said and pulled Aerith's dress down to take a look.
"Anne!" Zack exclaimed as he dropped his knife and quickly pulled Aerith's dress up "We do not do that to other women!"
Anne shrugged and looked up at Aerith who had slightly flushed cheeks now.
"And you…just feel different."
Anne shrugged and smiled.
"Thank you for buying me a pretty dress," she said and hugged her gratefully.
Aerith smiled and hugged her back.
"Aw, you're sweet," she commented and Anne hissed happily.
"Aerith may be a funny name but it sounds pretty," she chirruped "Because you're pretty."
"Aw, Anne you're pretty too," Aerith complimented back.
"Sephiroth says I'm cute because Anne's a cute name," Anne smiled.
"And you are cute, the cutest little…teenager I've had the pleasure in meeting."
"Now, Anne, we're cooking lunch," Zack said while Anne poked and prodded Aerith curiously with her tongue "Aren't you hungry?"
Anne froze when her stomach grumbled and pouted.
"Aw…"
Anne wasn't allowed in the kitchen while someone was cooking, not since she cut herself with one of Zack's knives then burnt her hand on something. Zack held up a new drawing pad and a new set of colouring pens which made her perk up happily.
"Why don't you go and draw Aerith some pretty pictures?" he suggested and Anne grabbed the utensils eagerly, throwing herself through the kitchen door and onto the sofa, scribbling away happily.
Aerith simpered as she heard the pens scratching against the paper and smiled at Zack.
"She's just so adorable," she squealed and filled the saucepan with water "I think she could be my little sister, what do you think?"
"If you're suggesting that you have a long forked tongue hidden in that mouth and suspicious looking blue spots on your thighs then yeah, I think you could be sisters," Zack grinned mischievously, making Aerith frown.
He sighed wistfully while picking up his knife and continued chopping the vegetables after giving it a quick rinse.
"Two weeks she's been here and I feel like she's my little sister," he murmured "I've always wanted one but we were always too poor to feed just the three of us."
"If you want, I could take her off your hands for a while," Aerith suggested.
"You're going to have to consult with Seph on that, he'll murder me if I let her out of this apartment without him knowing," Zack raised an eyebrow "And would your mum be alright with that?"
"Of course, I'm not entirely sure if she would mind Anne's…quirkiness but I'm sure she wouldn't mind looking after her," Aerith shrugged.
"Well, let me give you a head's up. She'll draw on anything that she can find, she can only consume liquids and she's been locked up in a lab since she was three so she's dead curious."
Aerith cooed softly.
"Aw, she's just like a child," she murmured "We should get married so we can adopt her."
Zack chuckled.
"Seph will not be happy," he warned.
"We can convince him," Aerith giggled.
As the couple laughed and joked further about married life, Anne scribbled a picture of her and Aerith holding hands. She winced, dropping her pen and rubbed her stomach tenderly.
"Zack!" she wailed "My stomach hurts!"
"You're probably just hungry!" Zack shouted and a bottle of ketchup was tossed out of the kitchen.
Anne snatched the bottle, ripped the cap off and began drinking eagerly. The cramps in her stomach ceased eventually but unbeknownst to Anne, they would come back very soon.
