Author's note: Here I am at chapter 2. I'm so glad I'm done with the first one. Now that I'm past it the whole story has been coming straight to my head. I know how frustrating it is to be reading a story and never have the writer finish it so I'm going to try to write this thing like hell. So please read and review and enjoy! > means someone's thinking (just a reminder!)

The Boarding House

Chapter 2

Tifa lay in her bed thinking. What a day it had been. First she had been cleaning the already trashed house because Laguna had wanted to impress the new girl for some reason. Sure she was nice but they may have gone a little over board.

She had spent the rest of the day cuddling with Cloud. She had known years ago that she loved him and she still did. She knew that he loved her back but she'd always been a little self conscious about herself. But she was being stupid. Why worry about things like that.

She looked at her clock and saw that it was now three a.m. She had been trying to fall asleep since ten. Ten was a little early compared to the time she normally went to bed, but she had worked most of the day. She should have fallen asleep ages ago but her eyelids weren't even a little heavy.

She sighed and shifted on her side to see the empty bed across the room. Yuna's bed. It had been near half a year since she had left for school and Tifa still missed her. Yuna had always been the best listener. Tifa heard the door open. It was Rinoa.

She sat on the chair that was near the foot of Tifa. "You can't sleep either huh?"

Tifa sat up. "Nope. I just keep thinking of things. I've gone through like eighty topics."

Rinoa leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. "So what's wrong?"

"I don't know." Tifa sighed. "I guess its Cloud I'm thinking of the most. I keep thinking that something's going to go wrong with our relationship."

"Are you serious? Why are you worried about that? You guys have a great relationship. I wish I had a relationship like that with Sqau- eep!" Rinoa covered her mouth before she said too much but Tifa wasn't stupid. She looked Rinoa dead in the eye with a surprised look on her face.

"…no way. You like-"

"Please don't tell him! Ugh! I can't believe I just said that! Dammit!"

Tifa was shocked. She definitely never expected to here that. "Wow. You really cover it up well. Normally I can tell right of the back who someone likes, especially in this house."

"Great, now everyone will know."

"Don't worry I won't tell anyone."

Rinoa chuckled. "Yeah right. When's the last time you kept a secret for longer than ten minutes?"

"Look I'll admit that I can barely keep a secret most of the time but you're like my best friend."

"Oh, thanks I feel much better. Now I can go straight to sleep."

"But really though!" Tifa clicked on the lamp. "I wasn't expecting that. I mean you and Squall. I always thought you liked Riku."

"Eew!" Rinoa squirmed in her seat. "What the hell gave you that idea?"

"Well, they say opposites attract, but we're off the subject. How long have you liked him?"

"Awhile now. One day I was just looking at him and I started getting all hot. Next thing I knew I was in the bathroom-"

"Whoa! Too much information Rinoa!" Tifa nearly yelled covering her ears.

"But really, I've never been attracted to a guy like I am to Squall."

"So what is it about him you like so much? I mean besides the body."

"He may try to cover it up but he's sweet and a nice guy. And it's like he's a warrior at heart. And he has that mystery to him but it's not just a mystery, it's like he's shy too. And the body is a big part too."

"Hmm… You know I've never figured you to want a boy friend after the last time. Most of the time you just kind of bring guys home no offense."

"You know you aren't cursed if you say his name. Yes I was with Seifer but I realized pretty fast that he wasn't right. And as for the having a different guy every night, I haven't done that in a while and I'm not going to start again."

"I think I know why you won't tell him. It's cause you don't want Seifer to freak out."

"Why would he freak out? He was the one that broke up with me."

Tifa rolled her eyes. "You really think anyone believes that? Seifer just said he left you cause the other way around would make him look bad and you pretended like it was true cause you felt sorry for him."

Rinoa looked surprised. "Everyone really knows that? I never thought it was that obvious."

Tifa laid back down. "Why don't we continue this in the morning. We really should try to get some sleep."

"Yeah. Well, see you in the morning." Rinoa got up and moved towards the door.

Tifa looked at her friend before she left the room. "Hey, if you don't tell him someone will."

Rinoa grinned at her before closing the door. She sighed and walked down the hall to her room, which she now shared with Kairi.

It was a Monday morning and that meant that the whole house was in the kitchen doing something. School was out for the summer, but they were all still going somewhere. Cloud was going to practice at a dojo. Tidus was about to go to blitz ball practice. Tifa to her waitressing job. Sora and Riku had to do community service. Squall and Seifer weren't going anywhere but Laguna made them do work in the house. Rinoa was taking out Kairi to show her around the city on her day off. You could here conversation all over.

"Where's my shoe?"

"Someone answer the phone."

"Do I smell something burning?"

"Did I leave my blitz ball outside?"

"Crap! We're late!"

"Would someone answer the phone?"

"My toast is burning!"

"Put it out!"

"It's ok it's out."

"For god sakes! I'll answer it! Hello?"

"So," Kairi sat down next to Sora and Riku. "Why do you guys have to do community service?"

Riku's pleasant look faded. "Well we know these guys who we do this stuff with. I wouldn't call them friends-"

"More like a couple of dick heads." Sora broke into the conversation.

"Right like he said. So they bet us we couldn't shoot this flare gun through the roof of this abandoned building. Well we did and as it turns out this homeless guy was in there and he pressed charges when the building came down and he broke his hip getting out. We actually got off pretty lucky."

"…Wow. You did all that just to win a bet?"

"No you don't understand." Sora's face had a look of ferocity on it. "We hate these guys they tell everyone that they're better than us. It's not that we care but it gets really annoying."

"Yeah we would never stoop to their level."

Kairi rolled her eyes and grinned. "You guys fired a flare gun through a roof brought down a building and broke a homeless man's hip."

Sora and Riku's mouths opened but nothing came out.

"Oh my god you guys!" Everyone turned towards Tifa who was holding the phone. "That was Yuna she's coming back for the summer!"

Tidus coughed and felt his burnt toast fall out of his mouth. "What!"

Outside there was a honk of a car. "Oh I'll tell you when you get back Tidus, that's Wakka and we all know how he doesn't like to be late."

"NO! His fat ass can wait! Talk!"

"Ok, ok. She says that her school's out for the summer and she's coming back here until it starts!"

"But wait," Cloud said. "I thought they still let you stay in the dorms when school gets out there."

"They do! But she said she'd rather stay here!"

Wakka busted through the door. "What the fuck Tidus! We're gonna be late!"

Since they only had one car, everyone would cram in every morning and get dropped of at where they were going. Tifa was always first because the restaurant slash bar that she worked at was closest. The car arrived and she heard a sigh of relief from the back seat as some of the pressure was taken off.

She ducked her way inside hoping that her boss Mr. Wallace wouldn't see her.

"TIFA!"

Tifa cursed under hr breath and tried to make it look like she wasn't trying to hide. "Yes Mr. Wallace?" She said putting on a fake smile.

"Look whatever you do in your time at that piece of shit boarding house is none of my business, but hen you come here late three days in a row it becomes my business. So if I were you I would step up my game or go home. Do you understand?"

"Yes Mr. Wallace! It won't happen again sir." Tifa kept up here fake smile until he turned around. Then it turned into a really pissed of look. She walked back into the kitchen.

"Hey! Where've you been?"

Tifa looked to see her fellow waitress Aeris coming up to her. "It was a pretty crazy morning. Hey guess what? Yuna's coming back for the summer."

"Really? Wow I haven't seen her in forever."

"Yeah I know. The whole house is so excited. You think she'll have changed?"

"Who Yuna? Yeah right. I can't imagine her any different."

Tifa put on her apron. "Yeah… Hey let's go out tonight! We haven't gone anywhere in a while."

"That's because you're always busy with you know who. By the way, how are things going with you and Cloud anyway?"

"Good I suppose."

Aries cocked her eyebrow. "You suppose?"

"They're going good. It's just I worry. I've had so many boyfriends and everyone seems to turn out the same. I catch him with some girl and end up kicking his ass and sending him to the hospital."

Aeris let out a laugh. "Tifa take it from me. It may have been brief but I was with Cloud and the last thing he would do is cheat on a girl that he was with. Cloud knows that if he has an overwhelming urge to cheat on you than he shouldn't be with you in the first place. And you guys have been together eight months now."

Tifa sighed. "Aeris your right. You always are."

Aeris giggled. "You just know figured that out?"

I cannot believe I'm doing this were the only words slipping back and forth through Sora's mind. Picking up garbage on the side of the road just because of a stupid bet. Why the hell had he fired off that flare gun in the first place? It had all been Riku's fault (It hadn't been but it made Sora feel better to think so).

Riku stood up and stuffed a plastic cup in his bag. "Do you remember the moment just before we fired that gun where I said I'm not sure this is a good idea and then you said what's the worst that could happen?"

Sora paused for a second. "Yeah. Why?"

"Oh I'm just making sure you remember."

"Hey don't you try to pin this on me! We both know that after I said that you said 'duuuuh gee Sora I guess your right'."

"I didn't say gee and I didn't say duh!"

"Look, we both know you were dying to see that gun go off just like I was." Riku put on a pissed of face and went back to picking up garbage. Sora was right about that and he knew that Riku couldn't deny it.

For that little moment they had been enemies but they knew that they were about to be allies again because they could both here it. That car coming down the road towards them. They both stood up together and gave a quick exchange saying to each other 'I've got your back'. The yellow sports car pulled in front of them and they could see they're enemies faces now. Irvine with his stupid cowboy hat and Zell with his jelled up hair.

"So," Riku decided to talk first. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Uh oh, Zell I think he's mad at me what will I do?" They both started busting out laughing.

Riku let out a mocking fake laugh. "You guys really are funny."

"You're a couple of low sons of bitches too! It should be you guys here cleaning up this shit instead of us!" Sora screamed nearly at the top of his lungs.

"Hey don't get mad at us," Zell said with a cocky grin on his face. "Maybe if you guys had known where to go so the cops didn't catch you."

"But we aren't really here to talk about that," Irvine had a sly look on his face. "We have a proposition to make."

Though Riku and Sora were thoroughly pissed they couldn't help but be interested. "What sort of proposition?" they said together.

"We," Irvine pulled out a bag of cold hard cash. "Are willing to pay off all of the fees that you have been so wrongly sued for."

Sora and Riku looked at the bag in disbelief. "Wait," Riku said. "This better be legit."

"Oh don't worry it's totally legal, but what you have to do to get it. Well that's another story, isn't that right Zell?"

"That's right Irvine. If you guys want this money we can't just hand it over. You gotta do something for us."

Sora had an interested look on his face. "And what is that?"

Irvine's grin got bigger. "You guys have to get the head of the statue of Jecht.

Riku stayed silent for a minute. "…You can't be serious."

"Oh don't worry we're real serious."

Sora wasn't sure what to think.

Zell started laughing. "Look at their faces! Ha! Ha! So you shit heads know where we live let us know. Are you in or out?" They started their car and started driving away. "Hey Sora! Your hair looks cheaper than usual!" Zell yelled towards them with a laugh.

"Not as cheap as your rub on tattoo!" Sora thought he heard a shut up from Zell while they sped off. "You here what I said? I totally called him on it."

"Sora shut up. Do you think they were serious?"

"Who knows but if they are, they're talking about desecrating a national monument. You think that's worth the money?"

"I don't know, but I do know I'm sick of picking up garbage already."

"Yeah me too. You think that money's really legal?"

"Don't know. Come on let's finish this crap. Well talk about it at home later."

Squall was finally done. He had just finished painting the side of the house, moping the floors cleaning the windows, washing he dishes, putting the laundry in the dryer and unclogging the toilet. He could now finally relax. He flopped down on his bed and grabbed his sketchbook out from under his bed. Squall had been drawing since he was a little boy and had only gotten better.

He searched his floor for a pencil and began on more of his art. He was getting somewhere in it when he realized there was someone in the doorway. He tilted his head back to see that it was Seifer. It was nothing out of the ordinary since he shared the room with Seifer so he looked back at his sketch and continued. He kept at it until realized that Seifer was still there. He glanced back at him and saw that he was staring at him.

"…can I help you Seifer?" Seifer kept staring for a few seconds before speaking.

"Last night I heard something interesting. You see I was on my way to the bathroom when I passed by Tifa's room and heard my name mentioned. I decided to stay and listen for a minute."

"So why the hell are you telling me?"

Seifer ignored Squall and kept going. "Turns out it was Rinoa that Tifa was talking to, and I heard something about you."

Now Squall was interested. "What did she say?"

"She said she liked you."

Squall was silent and shocked. That didn't seem possible. Rinoa had never showed signs of interest in Squall before. Seifer didn't look like he was lying. Squall had always known when he was lying. Squall didn't know what to think. He was so awe struck that he hadn't even realized until know that Seifer had gotten closer to him and had a look of extreme anger on his face.

"If I were you Squall, I'd stay away from Rinoa. She's my girl do you understand? My girl and no one else's. Don't let me catch you trying to make a move on her or something." Seifer looked Squall dead in the eye for a moment. "I'm glad we had this talk." He got up and left, the look of anger still on his face.

Seifer's stupid threats were the least of Squall's problems. He wasn't scared of Seifer so he didn't really care what he said. But Rinoa liking him was big. He had no idea what to think. This bothered him. It really bothered him. He heard the door open downstairs. He didn't bother to get up. He knew that it was probably Laguna. He said he'd be back around that time.

What would he do? This was very very unexpected. He had always thought that Rinoa thought of him like a good friend. Wait. What am I talking about? It's not like she's in love with me. There's a pretty big difference. Maybe she just likes my body or something. That's it.> Squall discarded that thought and was about to go back to his drawing when he heard the door open. Squall turned around again and this time saw the boarding houses ecstatic owner Laguna at the door.

"My god Squall is it good to be back! How are you?"

Squall was not surprised to see that Laguna's cheery persona had not changed within the last few days. "I guess I'm alright. The new girl came yesterday."

"So Seifer tells me." Laguna walked around to Seifer's bed and took a seat on it. "You guys were on your best behavior right?"

"Yeah, yeah. Relax. Why were you freaking out about her coming here in the first place?"

Laguna smiled to himself. "I knew her mother. She was a good friend of mine back when I was with the Galbadian army. We trusted each other with everything. We agreed that if I died she would take over the boarding house and if things went in the opposite direction, I would take Kairi and let her live here until she was the right age."

"I see. Well everyone seems to be getting along with her. I'm sure she'll be ok. And what do you mean the right age?"

"Her mom is pretty rich. When Kairi gets older she gets all of her mother's belongings."

"So when you say rich?"

"I mean her house has a name rich. It's called the Hollow Bastion. Why are you thinking about making a move on her?"

"No Sora's into her. Besides I'm not really looking for a girl friend right now."

Laguna laughed. "Whatever you say."

"Kairi! Come on let's go!"

Kairi hurried to the car that was now occupied by Cloud. She had just been all over Luca getting a tour from Rinoa, who knew the city like the back of her hand. She was now ready to go home and relax. They went on to pick up Sora and Riku. They got in the car and Kairi could see that they were planning something and listened in on their conversation.

"Look, if the money isn't legal, no big deal. At least our rep goes up high." Riku said in a whispered tone.

"Rep? What rep? Since when do we have a rep at all!" Sora said also whispering.

Now Kairi decided to step in. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Uh nothing. Just trying to decide what our favorite ice cream is." Riku said in a very panicky manner.

Sora looked at him like he was stupid. "Smooth, Riku. Real Smooth."

"Shut up Sora! Now like I said, our rep goes up, but if the money is legit we've paid off everything! You know that's worth it."

Now Kairi realized what was going on. "I can't believe you guys. After you got caught and sued last time you're going to do another pointless bet?"

"What? What are you talking about?" Riku was getting nervous again.

Now Cloud entered the conversation. "She's right. Every time you do something like this you get your arm broken."

"Hey that was one time!" Sora countered.

"Nevertheless, Something is going to go wrong, just like always."

Sora and Riku couldn't deny that. Something always did go wrong. The car headed to pick up Tifa now. They pulled up to her and Aeris.

"Hey guys. Aeris is gonna ride with us today. That was normally no big deal but since Kairi was there now, it was established that Aeris would have to sit on someone's lap.

Since Sora and Riku were on the side Aeris was getting in, they did a game of rock, paper, scissors to find out who it would be. Riku lost but he didn't really mind, that is until she actually sat down. She sat and he leaned back so less of her long braided hair hit his face.

Riku had never been able to really examine Aeris until now. He also never realized what a great body she had. Every little portion on her seemed perfect. Especially her ass. Riku couldn't help but think to himself My god, what a luscious ass.> He stared at her perfect ass in that tight pink dress she was in. Riku started to feel himself get hard. He had to think of something else before she noticed, but he could already tell it was to late.

He could see her shifting in her seat and hear her giggling. No one was telling any jokes. What else could it be? Riku kept thinking about this the whole way home. He couldn't seem to calm himself down at all. When they got home and she got out of the car, she looked at him and giggled again. There was no mistake about it now.

Kairi entered the house and Squall walked up to her.

"Laguna's out in the garden. He says he wants to talk to you."

He was here right now. This guy that her mom trusted so much that she would send her here to live with if she died. Kairi cautiously went out the back door and saw a longhaired man with a blue jacket sitting on the bench nearby. She went up to him. He looked up as she got in front of him.

"Ah. You must be Kairi!"

And there goes the second chapter. I hope that you started to get everyone's plots in his chapter. By the way, Tifa's boss Mr. Wallace was Barret from FF7 if you forgot that was his last name. Chapter three is on its way and shouldn't take too long to write since I'm on a role. Hope you enjoyed!