At times like these, Zack often wondered if he was just doomed to get in trouble. Back against the wall, hands beside his ears and a long red Rapier sword at his neck-Yeah, it was safe to say Zack Fair never escaped mischief. If only he knew what he had done wrong.

"Where is she?" The furious auburn haired man snarled out as he continued to press his sword against the Second Class's esophagus, who in turn was franticly searching the room for any sign of his mentor or any kind of help at all. Genesis Rhapsodos wasn't a patient man. He could barely tolerate the cadets, but when it came down to Zack Fair, otherwise known as the puppy, patience was a thing of myth for him.

"I know you helped her escape, Fair." Genesis bit out as he continued to loom over the innocent teen. "I want her location now or else Angeal will have burry his precious puppy in a cardboard box. Now talk."

"L-Look! The last time I saw Arinna- I think you're talking about Arinna, right?" Zack said pausing a moment to clarify what girl they were talking about and by the irate glare in the First Class's eyes, he'd take that as a yes. "She was leaving the apartment to take that paper work to you. I have no idea where she is. But if you want I can help you search for- Angeal!"

The sight of the bury dark haired SOLDIER soothed all of Zack's frantic nerves of being sliced to pieces by the fiery lieutenant. He knew his mentor wouldn't let him get killed…unless he really deserved it. But he was innocent and all he had to do was wiggle away from Genesis and dash over to his mentor, flashing his famous puppy dog eyes and he'd be in the clear. Especially since after eating breakfast with Arinna he went straight to training with Angeal.

"What did Zack do this time?" Angeal asked as his mouth quirked up at the side while he imagined what his student could have done to invoke the anger of his childhood friend. It could be anything. Bumping into him, cracking a joke, or even just flashing him a funny face. Genesis wasn't a patient man. Nor was he used to being patronized. Genesis's eyes narrowed at Angeal then removed his blade away from Zack before addressing the other SOLDIER.

"Arinna is missing and I had a hunch that your puppy helped her escape-"

"Angeal, the last time I saw Ari was at the apartment when she left to take the papers to Gen!" Zack piped up in his defense only earning another fierce glare from Genesis, who in turn continued his explanation.

"I've told you those two were in cohorts. Now their puppy love has made your student help Arinna out of the tracking device and away from the building! Now either you make that mongrel talk or I will." Genesis snarled out taking a step towards the hapless student, who dashed behind his large mentor in retaliation. If he wanted to hurt a single hair on his spiky head, he'd have to go through Angeal first. Whether Angeal liked it or not.

"Zack if you know where she is then you need to tell us-"

"I'm telling you, Angeal, I don't know where she is!"

"Okay then. Genesis when was the last time you saw her?" Angeal said turning the question to Genesis who was more than angry that Angeal had simply believed Zack's excuse. Then it made him think back. The last time he had seen her was-

"She had just given me the paperwork. And I told her she had precisely three minutes to get back to the apartment before the device went back online." Genesis murmured more to himself than Angeal and Zack and the more he thought about it more of the details of that encounter came back to him. "She was out of breath. Like she was running from something or someone."

"Our best option is to check the surveillance cameras…however, that would alert Director Lazard to our current situation and I have a feeling he wouldn't be pleased." Angeal said glancing up at the security camera in their current room. His deep azure eyes darted to the floor as his hands subconsciously moved behind his back; he hated keeping things secret from the director of SOLDIER, but if it'd keep Arinna out of the Turk's hands, then it must be done. "I think we should ask Seph-"

"No!" Genesis growled out but was stopped by a stern look from Angeal.

"You and I both know that he's more than capable of tracking someone down-"

"He doesn't even know her."

"You have a picture of her on your PHS."

"I do not!"

"Genesis, this isn't the time to be particular about things. Arinna is missing and very possibly in the Turks hands at the moment. I say we go to Sephiroth, have him track down her whereabouts and bring her back."

"What makes you think that the General will want to help us? He's already frustrated as it is about your-"

"Our, Genesis. We've both talked about them. Sephiroth is our best hope at finding her." Angeal corrected the cross lieutenant who rolled his eyes but sighed in agreement. Angeal was the strategist. Sephiroth was the tracker and Genesis was the Intel. That was why they worked so well together. They were the best of the best. The three SOLDIERs that nearly every male on the planet idolized. Now if only the people knew just how normal they actually were…

"So where is our mighty general anyway?" Genesis sneered wondering just what Sephiroth did in his free time, because it certainly wasn't spend among friends. Especially since his only friends were standing together in the same room.

"He said after the spar that he had a bit of paper work to do, but most of it could be done in his quarters. You know how fond he is of locking himself away."

"Why is that he gets less work than us?"

"Because he's the General and his work may be less, but much more rests on his shoulders than on ours. I for one, don't envy him. We think that we're in the public eye so much, Sephiroth doesn't know any other life. You would do well to remember that. He may have the fame now, but not without a heavy price." Angeal scolded the older man then glanced over to his student who was fidgeting with his Shinra issued belt, looking like the picture of innocence. Until you saw the mischief in his blue mako eyes. It makes one wonder what Zachariah Fair was up to next.

"Soo, do you want me to do a ground search for Ari while you guys look for the general?" Zack offered helpfully, or rather not so helpfully. While he did want to advance to First Class, he also wanted to slack off a bit after all he was just sixteen years old. It was no wonder Zack's parents never had anymore children after Zack, he was enough trouble as it is. However, his mentor wasn't stupid. He knew just what Zack was up to and he wasn't about to let him get away with it.

"No, Zack. I think we can handle this on our own. I want you to finish that report on our last mission-"

"Awww, but Angeal, I wanna help find Arinna-"

"No. That report needs to done and turned in to the director's office."

"Fine." Zack pouted before he marched out of the room, head down and shoulders slumped earning the quiet chuckles from both First Class SOLDIERs then they returned to the matter at hand.

"Genesis go check Sephiroth's office and I'll head up to his quarters to see if he's in. It better not to waste time-"

"Especially since you're the only one Sephiroth has ever let into his room. Honestly it makes a person wonder what he keeps in there-"

"That's because I don't judge him as the General. He's our friend. That's all he is to me. A close comrade and he appreciates the sentiment of having a friend who isn't trying to oust him out of job." Angeal retorted as Genesis snorted at the comment then began to casually stroll out of the room. He hated it when Angeal was right. And it happened oh so often. He was about to step out the door when another thought crossed his mind and he paused.

"I do not have a picture of Arinna on my PHS!"

She felt so sore. It was like she went through the beating of her life and then some. At first she didn't dare open her eyes, she was simply exhausted and at the moment whatever she was laying on felt like heaven. Almost better than Genesis's bed. She laid there silently willing to be swallowed up in the softness of what she slept on. But then reality began to settle in on her 7th heaven. Where was she? What had happened? The only way to get those answers was to open her eyes and find out. She shifted a bit, hearing the soft sound of rustling fabric…silk. She identified. Pure cool silk rested against her body and only furthered her questioning. How on Gaia was she laying on silk? Or what seemed to be silk.

Stretching out a bit, she then came to conclusion that she indeed was laying on a bed. A very large one to boot. Her lips felt chapped as cold air seemed to flow into the room and ever so slowly she opened her eyes. Her world seemed be laying on its side or rather, because of her current position it seemed that way. Every part of her ached as she carefully began to sit up in bed while taking in all her surroundings. Dark grey silk cover sheet covered the lower half of her body protecting her from the chill of the room. But how had she gotten there? It was obvious that this was someone's room-correction. A man's room. The room had a very definitive masculine taste to it. Very simple black furniture, grey bedding which matched the sheets and pillow cases. The bed was frameless and simply pushed against a wall with one nightstand on each side of the bed. Both nightstands had an ebony lamp sitting on top with yet another gray shade. The room was completely devoid of color and one other thing…personalization. There were no pictures to give Arinna a clue of who's room she was in and no trinkets or anything to give off a personality to match some one. Then the door to the room opened.

After seeing the man at the door the memories came flooding back to Arinna's mind. Oh…my god. She thought as she remembered what had happened. The monitoring device went off before she had the chance to fully explain herself or get back to the apartment. He wanted to talk to me. I don't remember why though. She briefly pondered then finally acknowledged the silver haired SOLDIER standing just two feet away. She wanted to say something but it seemed like words were part of a foreign language she had yet to learn.

"How are you feeling?" He asked quietly before taking another step towards the confused teen who just looked down at the sheets sprawled across her legs. Her lower lip trembled as she tried to force out an answer then after a gulp full of oxygen she looked up at the general.

"O-Okay, I g-guess." She replied back then her cheeks reddened at the sudden revelation. Before she had the electrocution of her life, Sephiroth had said that he wanted to speak with her in his personal quarters, then she woke up in a plain, masculine bed which probably belonged to-

She quickly climbed out of the bed and onto the floor, realizing that her sandals were no longer on her feet and that she had completely messed up the sheets. While she was a deep sleeper, she was also a fit full dreamer. Tossing and turning was something that lasted all night long and by morning her sheets were usually in a bundle at her feet. Upset that she had completely twisted up the sheets, she franticly moved to straighten out her mess and remake the bed all the while stammering out apologies.

"I'm sorry. I just- I'm sorry. I don't know what I was…I mean because I-…I'm really sorry." She said over and over again tripping over her words as she dashed from one side of the bed to the other to fix it to the way she imagined it was supposed to be done. Just as she was running back to the other side of the bedroom a sharp gasp escaped from her when a strong hand gently grasped her arm and stopping her pursuit of fixing the bed. She froze in her place as she stared up at emerald green eyes which were seemingly searching her mousy brown ones.

"Its…alright. Leave it be." He said then released her arm as he turned away from her and strode towards the door. Unsure of what else to do, Arinna followed him out of the room and into what seemed to be a living room. Again it lacked color and personality. A simple black leather sofa, a glass table, a simple TV and one single potted plant in the far corner of the room. The Demon of Wutai gestured for her to take a seat as he settled down on one side of the couch. Feeling awkward just standing there she sat across from him as her hands tightly clenched each other in anticipation.

"W-Why am I here?" She blurted out before she could think about how to properly address the general but in her confusion and anxiety she lost all reasoning. His cat like eyes narrowed at the question and Arinna began to fear for her life. Her mother had always told her that her bluntness would get her into trouble…she just never imagined it like this.

"I-I just don't remember what you said before." She stuttered out in her defense wondering how much longer she had to live. However, if she had personally knew the General and all his quirks, she'd have noticed the small glimmer of amusement in his emerald cat like eyes. The miniscule twitch of a smile at the corners of his lips. At that moment all she could concentrate on was that she was in the personal quarters of Sephiroth and the fact that she was still breathing.

"I never said what I wanted to speak about." He replied coolly as he brought up his hand up, lightly brushing against his pale lips which for anyone else would have been a simple gesture but for someone like him, it was anything but simple. It was like everything he did was beyond human. No amount of gracefulness and tact could replicate the same movement, the same flickering glance, the structured arch of an eyebrow.

She could have just melted right then and there. And she could have just had a heart attack right then and there at her stupidity. Oh my god, Arinna, you idiot! You should have remembered that! She mentally screamed at herself as her face began to burn in embarrassment and dark hazelnut eyes suddenly darting to stare at the hardwood floors. The utter embarrassment made her wish she was so much more than what she was. The last thing she wanted him to think of her was that she was a stammering idiot of a fan girl. Which she was, but she didn't want him to know that. She didn't dream of a romance (not much of one anyways), she didn't even quite consider a friendship with him either. She just wanted to find someway that she could change what would happen to the man before her. She didn't want him to turn into a pyro-mother-loving-town-burning-maniac. She wanted to save him. The urge to laugh at the idea was almost unbearable. Her? Really? Tiny little sixteen year old Arinna Griffith save the world's greatest swordman. It was like some twisted David and Goliath story-Final Fantasy VII Style. But if there was one thing Arinna had gleaned from her mother was that if she had an idea then she would do anything to achieve it. Lord, help the person (s) who got in her way.

"Tell me about yourself." Arinna blinked once. Then three times at the sound of the question. It was the absolute last question she had ever thought he'd ask her. It was one few sentences she thought would ever leave the Silver SOLDIER's mouth. And yet he had and she wasn't sure how to answer him.

"Um…" She said as she uncrossed her legs then tightly clenched her hands. "W-What do you want to know?"

"How many siblings do you have?" He asked as he kept his stern gaze on her features which only added to her weight of stress settling over her nerves.

"I have two- I mean one little brother." She replied then winced at her mistake and familiar stabbing pain at her heart, the heaviness that rested on her chest at the memory which did not go unnoticed by the General of SOLDIER. His colored eyes narrowed at the answer then ever so slowly began to shift closer to the teen who was beginning to move farther and farther away from him. It was obvious that it was a topic she didn't want to discuss…but he need to hear every detail of her life. It couldn't simply be a coincidence at the resemblance. It was far too great a similarity that it was just a chance encounter.

"Care to elaborate?" He said as his voice seemingly softening after seeing the pained look on Arinna's features. She forced herself to look up at the silver haired man then instantly regretted it when she caught sight of the burning curiosity within them. Instantly she turned her gaze away from him quietly murmuring about the abrupt death of her littlest brother. He didn't question it any further, simply took it for what it was. It was far too easy to see the jarring pain in her almond eyes. No one can fake pain like that.

"You have no older sisters?"

"No, sir. I'm the oldest." She replied again, slightly taking pride that her voice wasn't cracking like it had been just moments ago. Sephiroth looked over the nervous girl then moved onto his next question which would certainly surprise the young woman, but if he wanted to find out how and why she resembled his former caretaker then he'd go to the ends of Gaia to do so.

"Do you have any cousins or family members that resemble you? Like a…twin." He asked slowly as Arinna's brow furrowed at the question then shook her head slowly. Everything was so confusing to her. Why did he want to know such personal details?

"No, sir. No one that I can think of." She replied back completely and utterly weirded out by the odd questions. Was there some doppleganger masquerading as her? Did he think she did something when it actually wasn't her? So many questions and no answers. And she wasn't about to start questioning him. She wasn't ready to die just yet.

"I see." He murmured then glanced back as though he expected someone to enter the room but after a moment he turned his attentions back to Arinna who was ready to bolt out the door and back to Genesis's apartment. Heck, she'd even be more than elated to see Genesis step into the General's apartment. She'd run up to him throwing her arms around him, clinging to the iconic red leather coat and plead with him to take her back to the apartment, promising to never gripe and complain or make fun of his stupid dumb apple references. But sadly Genesis wasn't trying for his chance to be a hero to his employed damsel in distress and Arinna was left to figure out why Sephiroth was asking such odd questions and how to live through the next few hours.

"What is the name given to you at birth?" Arinna's eyes snapped up to Sephiroth's gaze. It was here that she drew the line. He said he knew her name before, so why was he asking her again? However, due to her cowardice and wanting to live to see tomorrow she answered his question.

"Arinna Celine Griffith."

"Where were you born?"

"Um…well…" She stammered out as she saw her life flash before her eyes. She wasn't quite expecting this. And now she couldn't exactly remember what alias she had given the Turks as far as a hometown.

"Where I'm from…is a really small remote village." She said slowly as she tried to piece together what scatter brained thoughts she could before she saw the glint of Masamune slash towards her throat. "So small and remote that we never actually gave it a name. Very few people know about the village. My father-" She bit back the incentive to wince at the mention of her father but never the less she continued.

"-my father would often travel to Midgar to buy things that our region didn't have. He'd come back with materia and other objects along with rumors about the outside world and-" She rambled out unsure of exactly how much detail the General wanted and when she was supposed to stop talking and then it came. Her savior. The soft beep then the abrupt rapt that sounded from the front of the apartment. With a sigh Sephiroth lifted himself from his spot then proceeded to leave the room and out of Arinna's line of sight…but not sound.

"What is it?" She could hear Sephiroth bite out rather harshly then she heard voice of her fantasies and he couldn't have come at a better time.

"Sephiroth, I need your help." That was all the man at the door had to say before Arinna nearly leapt over the sofa, ran down the small hallway and literally threw her arms around the broad-shouldered First Class SOLDIER.

"Angeal!" She cried out as she hugged him as tight as she possibly could. If there was someone who could stop Sephiroth from killing her, it was Angeal Hewley. For those moments, Arinna forgot that Angeal was her all time crush because at the moment he was her savior and nothing would make her part from his protective demeanor. Honestly, she could have cried in joy. To say the least, Sephiroth was scary as hell. Maybe worse. Simply knowing Angeal was there made her feel all the more safer and less scared.

"Arinna? What are you doing here?" Angeal questioned completely shocked at the appearance of the formerly-missing teenager, but was a bit glad to see she had gotten over her shyness of being near him. Perhaps a bit too much-He thought to himself as he felt Arinna's arms tighten around him, but in the least it wasn't uncomfortable. Not like Zack's exuberant way of hugging people. The science department needs to lower his Mako intake after so much strength. His thoughts briefly roamed but didn't wander too far as the feel of Arinna's arms around him which brought him back to another thought-

"Do you have any idea how worried Genesis is? I haven't seen him so upset since the day he thought he had lost one of his copies of LOVELESS." He said in an attempt to scold the young woman but it came out in a chuckle of some sort and more fondly than he had originally anticipated. A look of fear crossed Arinna's chestnut eyes then a look of disappointment as she glanced to the floor, obviously saddened at the idea that she had anyone worried about her.

"I'm afraid I kept her occupied after an…incident with her monitoring device. I thought it'd be best not to draw attention to her so I brought her back here. Had I known that you and Genesis would be so…distraught then I'd have spoken to you earlier." Sephiroth said as he noticed the look on Arinna's face and the look of relief in Angeal's. He really hadn't thought Angeal would get so upset about the girl. She was simply an employee of Genesis's, but for her to be so close to the dark haired man then obviously she had something that interested the SOLDIER.

"Thank you for watching over her in the meanwhile. The Turk's haven't quite gotten over their failed mission to re-capture her and…I'd hate to imagine what would have happened if the science department had gotten a hold of her." Angeal replied back as his hand gently pried Arinna off him but settled on her shoulder instead.

"Indeed." The silver haired man murmured then glanced down at Arinna again, who was seemingly trying to move farther and farther away from him. "I'd like to continue our discussion another time, Arinna. It seems as though you're wanted else where and I have some more…paperwork to deal with."

Damn him for having such a dreamy voice! Arinna thought as her knees nearly buckled at the sound of her name spoke by the SOLDIER General. She was a fan girl. What else could she do? Arinna nodded in reply and continued to keep a firm grip on Angeal before he led her out of Sephiroth's apartment and into the outer hallway, after another brief thanks. It seemed as though Sephiroth had this level completely to himself…that is until Angeal pulled out a keycard and opened another door just a little ways down from Sephiroth's door. Without another word Angeal continued to led Arinna inside the darkened room then with the flick of a switch, bright lights illuminated the room and revealed another apartment.

"You know you're safe now?" Angeal chuckled lightly motioning to Arinna's death grip on his shirt. Then everything came whirling back to her. The apartment was Angeal's. She was standing in Angeal Hewley's apartment…and she hadn't let go of him. With a high pitched yelp she leapt away from him as her cheeks and ears burned far worse than they had in Sephiroth's quarters.

"I'm so sorry! I just- And he was so- I'm so sorry! I don't know what I was- I was just so-I'm sorry!" It was then that Arinna figured that she'd never be completely comfortable around Angeal. Never.

And so ends another chapter of Arinna bumbling everything up and Gen-gen actually proving that he cares about things other than LOVELESS *We all knew he had it in him...even if it was in his toes* Thank you everyone for the lovely reviews! It keeps me running to update this faster!

Okay, I'm seeing one vote per couple of ArinnxCannon, so I will post a poll because I can go EITHER WAY with this! I can so see her with anyone of them. So check out the poll on my profile and we'll see who wins her hand in the end!

Also! Another question. I've been told that I've expressed the character's personalities very well, but I want YOU to tell me if Arinna or Aaron are *dun, dun, dun!* Mary-Sue-ish because that's every writer's worst nightmare.

And IF I've kept the cannon characters *Zack, Angeal, Genesis, Sephiroth, Cloud, Lazard, Reno* in character because I DO NOT want them to become too OCC.

So please keep up the reviews and ~God Bless!~