Author's Notes: Wow, as much as I like this story nobody else seems to. If I don't start getting reviews soon I think I might stop writing which makes me really sad because I do like this story a lot. On a different note, who in their right mind wants concrete furniture! I just had a conversation with my daddy who spent the day moving concrete furniture for the company he works for. What the hell do you do with concrete furniture?

Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy. And if I don't get reviews soon I might not own this story any more either. (I don't know how much more unsubtle and whiny I can get but I do want some reviews.)

Chapter Four: Coming Full Circle

Catten watched her best friend pick absentmindedly at the salad in front of her. Kiri had spent the night in Catten's room crying onto her lap part of the time, and sleeping a little. Very little. Catten frowned at the memory of her friend's screaming. She knew her friend still had frequent nightmares but she had never guessed they were that bad. Though she suspected they were not all about her parents. After discovering that the only person she had ever loved felt the same way about her, and that because of a stupid rule for Angel Guard personnel they could do nothing about it, well Catten guessed it had damaged her friend's already fragile emotional psyche. Not that Kiri was truly that fragile. She knew her friend occasionally projected some false smiles, but didn't they all? However Catten knew her friend well enough to tell when she was upset, and this business with Caden was making her as upset as Catten had ever seen her.

Speaking of which Catten saw Caden walking towards them now, accompanied by Roatsen. Although the two would normally sit with Catten and Kiri, as all four were the same age, today Catten saw Caden pull Roatsen further down the table. Kiri saw as well her eyes watching Caden in...well Catten who had never been in Kiri's situation was not sure what to call it. But it broke her heart to see her best friend in that kind of emotional pain.

A flicker of a mischievous smile tugged at the corners of Catten's mouth. Einar's rule prevented Kiri and Caden from being together. But what Einar didn't know couldn't get Caden, Kiri, Catten, and whoever else would help her with this crazy scheme fired. Let's see…Briar would do anything to see his sister happy. After all, she had basically raised him after their parents died. Wherever Briar was, his faithful best friend Fudoo would follow. And you certainly couldn't get him involved without Tiauni. And the two were just as devoted to their older brother as Briar was to his sister. And how could she leave out Roatsen? He and Caden were as close as Catten and Kiri. And she knew he would enjoy the craziness of her plot. Now just to talk to them all.

"Catten? What are you smiling about?" Catten grimaced quickly. She had forgotten how in tune Kiri was into other people. Even as upset as she was, she was not so self absorbed she would not be able to converse with her best friend. By the time lunch was over, she would have her fake smile in place once more. It was unnecessary in the morning as her friend rarely dragged her ass out of bed before noon.

"I just had a great idea for the party that's all!" Similar to Garden's Festival, Angel Guard also had a party, but it had no official name as of yet.

"Oh really?" Kiri raised one eyebrow in curiosity. Catten had forced her to help plan the thing, but Kiri often backed out claiming she had to work on the uniform design for the soldiers. Since it was really only the members of their group that were fifteen and older that were officially soldiers as of yet there was no rush, and Kiri was taking her own sweet time designing the uniforms. Catten was counting on them being amazing giving Kiri's wonderful fashion sense and the time she was taking.

She looked at her friend's outfit today. Her blue jeans were tattered and beaten with a long plain white T-shirt. She wore black chucks that rose up to just below her ankle. Her hair was down and tumbled in softly curled waves to her shoulders held back from her face by a pair of black sunglasses. Numerous gold necklaces dangled around her neck, along with her Angel Guard tag, silver, with a picture of a beautiful angel on one side and the letters AG below it, and Kiri's name and vital statistics on the other. Her ears sported a set of dangly gold earrings and diamond studs in the second hole. She began to play with the ring with Griever illustrated on it that she wore on her right thumb. She had very tiny hands, even in comparison to her mother.

"Well?" Kiri prompted, wondering what her friend's idea was.

"Umm…what about the Celestial Ball for a name? I mean since the organization is called Angel Guard and all? What do you think?" Kiri pondered, nodding slowly, "I like it. You should run it past the others though."

"I have to figure out the decorations yet too. I wanted to tie them into the uniforms but not have them exactly the same so someone has to finish the uniform design first." Kiri ducked her head in false shame, grinning.

"Thanks, I should finish up soon. I'm almost done. I know I know I've said that before but I really like it this time. I just some final details to work out. Hey can you stop by tomorrow so I can start measuring everybody now?"

"I suppose I could. Anybody else you want me to ask?" Catten had forgotten that Kiri would also be making the uniforms. Although she was an amazing fighter, she also had some skills that as Einar stated were more suited for her to be married with children than to fight. Along with being a whiz making clothes, she could cook like none other. Her cleaning skills lacked somewhat however.

"I'm not sure. I think I'll ask Roatsen. I want somebody I cooperate with."

"Why not Caden? Kiri, you've got to admit that he'd be easier to cooperate with for measuring these things right away. You know how Roatsen gets with girls around. I'll even ask him if you want me to."

"I suppose…" Catten grinned delightedly. This could be just the thing to get her plan going. Just find some excuse to leave those two together while Kiri was measuring him for an outfit or something. Oh, this would be fun. "Catten, I have to go grab my stuff for the class I'm teaching. I'll see you later okay?" Catten nodded and waited until her friend was out of sigh before walking over to Briar and the other 12 year olds that as of yet were still in training to become soldiers.

"Briar, Fudoo, Tiauni, can I talk to you quick?" She was jumping from foot to foot impatiently as they nodded. She looked to see where Einar and the others were and pulled them away from there, "Listen it's about Kiri and Caden. Briar, you know how Kiri feels about Caden, right?" Briar nodded and was about to answer, but Fudoo raised a hand, "I don't."

"The same way your brother feels about her dumbass." Briar responded with a roll of his eyes. Not that she could tell with his sunglasses but she was assuming so. She was startled for a moment at his cockiness, but his two older siblings were like that as well. Their time not spent at Garden, as well as most of their childhood was spent with Laguna in Esthar. They had not had any kind of supervision or discipline exercised over them there and all three took full advantage of it. As Kiri had explained to her once "When you can do whatever you want whenever you want, it's hard not to even if you know it's wrong." She was shook out of her thoughts by Briar talking at her once more, "But what does this have to do with anything? My food's getting cold."

"You know Einar's rule keeps them from being together. But what Einar doesn't know…" the kids caught where she was going and grinned.

"So we're going to hook them up? I like the sound of this." Tiauni's eyes gleamed with excitement.

"Yeah but you can't let anyone know. Just us four and Roatsen will be in on it. Got it?"

"Yes ma'am!" They all saluted in the Angel Guard fashion, feet shoulder width apart, left hand in a fist behind their backs, and right hand in a fist over their hearts, then walked back to lunch. The first part of her plan in motion, Catten next walked over to Roatsen and Caden and slid into the seat across from her two friends.

"Hey Catten. No Kiri?" Roatsen looked at her curiously.

"She had to go get her stuff for her class this afternoon. But I needed to talk to you. Caden, Kiri claims she's almost done with the uniforms. She was wondering if you could stop by tomorrow so she could measure you."

Caden looked startled, "I thought she…never mind. I suppose I could do it." Of course he would do it. Any excuse he could take to get near Kiri, even if she did seem to hate him at the moment he would take.

"That's great! I'll tell her later. Hey Roatsen, umm…I have some stuff I need to move quick. Could you help me?"

"Caden and I were supposed to train now…" He looked to his friend hesitating.

"Go ahead. I'll just go take a nap quick okay? Wake me up when you're done." They nodded at each other and Caden watched as they walked away chatting. He rose slowly and began the walk to his room. He had not slept well last night. He had searched for Kiri within the facility, even checking her room, but had never found her. Even once he returned to his room the memory of her crying as she ran away from him floated in front of his eyes. Roatsen had dragged the story out of him that morning. His best friend's eyes had been sympathetic as his Caden had spilled the story. Why had Kiri acted like that?

Caden was so caught up in his own thoughts that he didn't pay attention to where he was going and ran into someone effectively knocking them over. He looked up and as luck would have it, it was Kiri he had knocked over. She was sitting on the ground now, rubbing her elbow where it had collided with the ground. Her Lion Heart had landed several feet away, and graded essays and new assignments were strewn everywhere. Muttering his apologies, but refusing to look Kiri in the eye he helped her clean up the mess. Similarly she refused to look him in the eye, but focused on the mess. Since they weren't looking at each other they didn't notice when they reached for the final essay at the same time. Needless to say it was a bit of a surprise to both of them to find Caden's hand resting on top of Kiri's. They both looked up and caught each other's eyes simultaneously, as Caden gently squeezed her hand. For the briefest moment she squeezed his hand back, caressing the back of his hand with her thumb. Then she seemed to realize exactly what she was doing and jerked her hand away.

"I've got to go. My class is waiting." She scooped up her gunblade and was gone a moment later.

"I don't understand what the hell is going on with her!" Caden vented at Roatsen later on while they took a break during training. "First she's depressed, then she won't come near me, then she finally speaks to me, and then she freaks out and runs away again!"

"I dunno buddy. Your face makes me want to run away sometimes too." Roatsen laughed at the acidic look Caden shot him, "Listen considering how normal Kiri is considering what happened to her parents I'd give her a break about having little moments like this. And you know Einar's rule as well as I do. He's her brother. She's going to listen to him, if only because she's worked so hard on this Angel Guard stuff. She's not going to throw it away for anything. This is her only real chance at catching the psycho who killed her parents. You know how much she wants that."

Caden knew Roatsen was right, but it didn't mean he was happy about it. He grumbled and grabbed his water bottle taking a sip. It was unusually hot out for the end of September, and Caden dehydrated rather easily. As he tipped his head up he saw Catten wandering the grounds, looking for someone. With his free hand he smacked Roatsen and pointed. His friend saw what he was looking at and waved her over.

"Hey guys! I was actually looking for you! Caden, Kiri wants you to meet her in her room at eleven tomorrow for measurements."

"She'll be up that early?" Roatsen's voice was shot through with his disbelief, and Caden chuckled knowing Kiri's habit of staying up far too late, and sleeping in.

"Yeah, I'm going to wake her up at ten."

"It's your funeral." Caden muttered remembering the last time someone had been foolish enough to wake Kiri. It had been a first year with a crush on Kiri at Garden, and he had even been kind enough to bring Kiri breakfast. Poor kid never saw the fork coming…

"I'm going to hide her gunblade before hand. I'm not planning on bringing food either." Catten responded matter of factly, apparently recalling the same incident, "Just be there at eleven okay?" Caden barely had time to nod before Catten ran off, muttering something about making sure Kiri actually was finishing the designs, instead of smoking off grounds somewhere or whatever else she chose to do in her spare time.

The next morning Caden arrived at Kiri's room a little after eleven. If Catten had forgotten to wake her up, Caden wanted her to have as much sleep as possible. He knocked on the door and when no one answered, he opened it. He couldn't help but to smile at the sight that greeted him. Kiri had been awake at one point, and lay fully dressed sleeping on her bed. She was laying on her side hugging one pillow to her chest. Her long legs were curled in front of her in the fetal position. A tape measurer and a sheet with Catten's name and measurements were written on it lay on the floor. He snuck a glance as he walked over to wake up Kiri. Hmm, he had always thought her boobs were bigger than that. He stopped at the edge of the bed just watching Kiri sleep for a moment. Her hair had been pulled into a ponytail behind her head, but strand had come loose in her sleep and hung around her face. She was wearing a typical pair of battered blue jeans with a white strapless top with a thick band around the top. He sighed after a moment and poked her shoulder fully prepared for any assault she might send his way. He waited a moment and when she did nothing he poked her again.

Kiri was only vaguely aware of being poked and slowly her eyes opened and focused on Caden. She remembered she was supposed to be measuring him for uniforms but her bed was so comfortable. She thought about telling him to come back later but then something Catten had said that morning registered, "Kiri, the boy loves you. I've been telling you that for years. He told you a couple of days ago. You know you feel the same way but he doesn't. Tell him or he might decide to move on and forget you and you'll lose him. I know you don't want that." Sighing she scooted closer to the other edge of her bed and tapped the bed next to her indicating Caden should sit with her. He looked startled and she grumbled at him, "I do not want to get out of bed so either you leave and come back later or you can sit and take a nap with me. Your choice." He continued to look surprised, but after a moment lay down next to her. She snuggled up next to his chest and immediately fell back asleep. Caden lay awake for a few moments more watching Kiri sleep then wrapped his arms around her and fell asleep as well.

It was several hours later that the two awoke. Caden stirred to find Kiri kneeling next to the bed measuring the length of his leg. He rubbed his eyes and sat up, "What are you doing?" his mind not quite having caught up to what was going on.

"I'm measuring you silly. Uniforms remember? Stand up…and arms out. That's right." Kiri mutter to herself as she dragged Caden off her bed and measured around his chest, and then his waist, "Okay, I got everything else while you were sleeping. You weigh about a ton by the way. It was a pain in the ass moving you." Kiri chatted genially at him while collecting her stuff. It was at that moment that she started to push him out of her room muttering something about getting more sleep on her day off when everything that had happened fully registered and he stopped walking suddenly causing Kiri to run into his back, "Ouch…what was that for."

"What the hell is this about? You won't talk to me, then you let me sleep on your bed with you in it, and now you're pushing me away again. What the fuck is going on with you?" Kiri's blue eyes grew huge as she backed away from him. She knew he had a temper, and had seen what he had done when upset. However Caden was not letting her go away without getting his answers. As she backed away from him he moved towards her until she ran into the bed and fell onto it abruptly. Her blue eyes remained locked on his face the whole while, waiting to see what he would do, and wondering where the hell Catten had hidden her gunblade that morning. Sure she was cranky in the morning but if she ever needed her weapon she needed it now. She was going to beat Catten when she got a hold of her. In the meantime she had other problems. Caden was still looming over her waiting for some kind of answer, but Kiri for once had no clue what to say.

"Kiri, I just need to know what's going on. How do you feel? I can't keep guessing like this." Kiri thought for a moment, but she knew what she had to say.

"Caden, I feel nothing for you beyond friendship. What you're feeling right now…it's not real. All that's real here is the battle, it's all that matters. Anything else is just an illusion." Caden took a step back in shock but everything in Kiri's manner indicated that what she said was truth. His heartbreak clear on his face he saluted to Kiri, "I'm sorry for wasting your time Ma'am. If you'll excuse me I was supposed to meet Roatsen for training almost an hour ago." Kiri waited until he was gone to lay back on her bed. She had been right hadn't she? It was true wasn't it? Her eyes hardened as she considered. All that mattered here was the battle. And anything that kept her from finding the man who haunted her nightmares as he slaughtered her parents in front of her young eyes every night was not what she wanted. Caden was only a distraction she could not afford and the sooner he learned that the better. Her conscious cleared she curled back up with her pillow and went back to sleep.

Well this is the next chapter. I don't know if anyone was expecting Kiri to do that but her reason becomes a lot clearer in the next chapter. If anyone is actually reading this review please!