Birthday Special

Sahrah rode the elevator to the penthouse of the office building, her binder clutched lovingly in her hands. She knew that no one would dare forget her birthday again, but no one was ever going to do the same thing twice.

No surprise parties allowed for at least three more years.

She brushed a few strands of brown hair behind her ear and sighed. She had most recently become greatly infatuated with Squall Leonhart, the protagonist of Final Fantasy VIII, and a crossover character in Kingdom Hearts and KH2. She blushed at the thought of him in all his extreme hotness. In her opinion, of course.

Once at the penthouse, she stepped out of the elevator and into the lounge. A few characters from FFX were lounging about, waiting for the next chapter, and Diane was running about with the base of a blender for no particular reason, and Harhas was attempting to retrieve it.

Sahrah's editor was sitting off to the side with a laptop. Leeza was having some target practice in a separate room. When Sahrah walked in, everyone looked up and exclaimed, "Happy birthday, Sahrah!"

Sahrah smiled. "Thanks, everyone. So, what's the plan for the party?"

"Take it up with your boy toy," Harhas answered as she grabbed Diane and wrapped the blender cord around the poor Psycho-human's neck. Of course, the whole choking thing didn't have much of an effect…

"He's not a boy toy!"

"Oh, right, right. He's a man," teased Yuna from FFX-2.

Sahrah handed the binder to her editor and crossed her arms. "Damn right he is."

"Well, that's good to hear," commented a sarcastic voice from across the room. She turned to see Leon, in all his Kingdom Hearts II outfitted glory, leaning against the doorframe smirking.

"Ah! Yo, Leon," Diane waved at him. He nodded and turned back to Sahrah.

"Sahrah-chan. Put on something cute and be ready in twenty minutes," he commanded and walked back into one of the various rooms.

"Something… cute?" Sahrah asked as she turned in horror to YRP plus L2 (see fanfiction titled, 'A Leap of Faith'), who were grinning ear-to-ear. Rikku stood up and yelled, "TO THE BOX!"

So, they went to the box. And twenty minutes later, Sahrah's brown hair was brushed and braided into two low pigtails. She sported a pair of short denim shorts, a loosely fitting black leather belt, and a red beater with fancy black lettering reading, 'Caution: Plays Dirty.'

A pair of knee-high socks and brown leather boots accessorized her legs, and a bunch of silver, wooden, and golden bracelets (bangles) graced her left wrist. On her right wrist was a black wristband that said, 'Nintendo' on one side, and 'Game Over' on the other.

The girls clapped their hands together.

"He asked for cute. We gave him sexy," Lenne confirmed.

"One more thing!" Lulu exclaimed. She pulled out a pretty blue scarf and wound it loosely around Sahrah's neck.

"Now it's perfect." Everyone agreed.

Sahrah strolled confidently into the hallway with her index fingers looped into the belt loops on her shorts. Leon's jaw nearly hit the floor.

"P-perfect," he said once he regained composure. Sahrah waved goodbye as he escorted her onto the elevator and the doors popped shut.

"Well then, Squall, where are we going?" giggled Sahrah.

"It's Leon," Leon replied. "And it's a surprise."

"We did surprises last year."

"This is a different kind."

The two drove silently in Leon's red '07 Corvette, and at one point, Leon pulled to the side of the road.

"Cover your eyes," he said gently.

"Um… okay," Sahrah was confused, but did as she was told. Five minutes later, Leon told her to open her eyes.

When she did, it was dark outside. Pitch black. Except the huge carnival up in brilliant neon lights, of course. Across the giant Ferris wheel, it read, 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SAHRAH!' in enormous, vibrant lights that were blinking and flashing in various arrays of color and light.

"Oh!" Sahrah clapped her hands over her mouth in jubilation.

"Do you like it?"

"Oh! I love it, Leon!"

The pair spent several hours in the great park on rides, playing games, eating junk food, and holding hands. At midnight, all the light in the park went out, except for the 150 foot high Ferris wheel. At that moment, Leon and Sahrah were at the very tippy-top.

"Holy shit, Leon… this is amazing!" she squealed, leaning her head against his shoulder.

"I hoped you might say that," he murmured. "Happy birthday, Sah-chan."

I will officially be 14 tonight at 10:28, PM. Thanks for all your birthday reviews and e-mails! They made me smile.