Vincent'sGirl06: sits on ground, toasting marshmallows over first review Hello…I feel so special…my first review is a flame! Starlit Anabelle comes over Please meet my co-author. Want some?

Starlit Anabelle: sweatdrop You posted our work on Pouts Yea…so?

Starlit Anabelle: I told you this would happen….

Vincent'sGirl06: I know, I know…

I would like to thank my first reviewer for the beautiful and creative flame…and just as a key note…I'm a dudette, not a dude.

Okay….lets start the show…

What do you mean? What disclaimer?...Fine.

Disclaimer: All FFVII characters…not mine….all other characters belong either to me or Starlit Anabelle…

sighed as she leaned against the door frame; Yukiro was rummaging through a chest filled with clothes. " I passed this room earlier and figured it was a girl's room…guess I was right." Yukiro said as he pulled out an outfit, it consisted of a purple shirt and a dark blue skirt that had one side longer than the other. "This is it…all the others have been eating by moths." He said as he handed them to Amanda, she raised an eyebrow to the skirt.

"I don't wear skirts…" Amanda stated, Yukiro sweatdropped.

"I don't think you have much of a choice." Yukiro said as he waved a hand toward her, blushing slightly. Amanda narrowed her eyes.

"I hate you." Amanda said as she took the clothes from the boy, she tried them on and was surprised when they fit. The shirt, however, was too big. Amanda heard a rustle of movement by the door, she looked up and saw Jessica dressed up in a white blouse and black pants.

Jessica twitched slightly. "…Stop complaining…" she grumbled.

Amanda sweatdropped, looking from one twin to the other. "Ah…what's she all ticked off about now…?"

Connor sweatdropped and sighed a little. "We couldn't find any clothes at fit her in this room or any other room, so…we had to get her some clothes from a children's roo-"

"SHUT UP!" Jessica shouted, flailing. …And it was at that point that she began to go into Edo mode from Fullmetal Alchemist. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING A LITTLE PIPSQUEAK THIRD-GRADER! I'M EIGHT-FREAKING-TEEN AND IN MY SENIOR YEAR-I AM NOT A CHIBIIII!"

Connor sweatdropped, eyes a bit wide. "Alright, alright, I apologize…" he said, taking a small step back and holding his hands up in defense. Yukiro seemed to edge away a little also, but Amanda-who was used to this-calmly walked over and grabbed the petite girl around the arms, much like Alu would do whenever Edo had an outburst like this.

"Calm. Down." Amanda said. She sighed, turning to the others. "So…where's home?"

"Indeed. Where /is/ home…?" Yukiro muttered. He then looked up at the girls. "You two don't know where you live?"

Jessica stopped for a moment and sweatdropped, her ADD switching her mind over to an entirely different subject. "Eh? Oh, no. We don't even know where the hell we are…" she replied with a small shrug.

"Oh…this is Nibelheim…" Yukiro replied. He then sighed slightly. "I guess you two should come with us, then…we don't really have much of a home, but…it'll do, I suppose." He then blinked. "Which reminds me-we don't even know your names…"

Jessica blinked for a moment, thinking. Of course, her semi-paranoid mind was thinking, 'Don'ttrustthemdont'ttrustthemdon'ttrustthem…!' so she grinned slightly and replied, "Kaori…Kaori McTavish! And this is…um…" She looked over at Amanda, sweatdropping. "Dena! …Yeah…"

Amanda sweatdropped, 'She used one of my character's names…' She thought, "Yea…My names is Dena Morala. Nice to meet ya'." Amanda said smiling.

Kaori looked around, "This is where you live?" She asked, Yukiro and Conner nodded. Their home was a dead end alleyway that had been transformed in to some sort of make shift home. The space was big enough to hold a cot, a sofa, and a small kitchen type area; the front door was just a simple sheet.

"Its not much…but it's home." Conner said as he made his way over to the sofa, he sat down and leaned his staff against the wall. "We've been here ever since we could remember." He said. Dena nodded.

"So…I guess you two can get the cot and sofa…Conner and I can sleep on the floor." Yukiro said as he rubbed the back of his head. The two brothers had never really had any company come over and stay the night before.

Dena smiled and shook her head. "It's okay…Kaori and I really don't sleep much now a days." She said, Yukiro blinked.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

Kaori ticked the days off of her fingers as she thought. "Hm…seven, eight, nine…ten! Hah! In your face!" she said, pointing to Dena and flailing the pointing arm a bit.

Connor sweatdropped. "Wh…what…?"

"…Contest. I won," Kaori replied with a shrug. "There's not much that you can do in a test tube for who-knows-how-long, and we stayed up a whole lot and made it into a contest of who could stay up the longest, so…I WIN!"

"…Calm down, crazy lady…" Dena said, waving a hand somewhat as she smiled and sweatdropped at Kaori.

Yukiro raised an eyebrow. "…Right…" he said. He sat down on the arm of the sofa. "Well…this is the way it'll be tomorrow, just in case you two start wondering what all is going on. I'm going to be working all day, Connor is going to be going to school…um…I suppose you can go with him and enroll."

Kaori went a little bug-eyed. "Oh shit…that's right…school…AP English…" She sort of fell back onto her butt in a small daze. "I…I think I failed my senior year and…high school, and…" She paused for a moment, then shrugged. "Oh well. No point in going back home now. We can start over here!"

Dena sweatdropped, "Sorry to disappoint…but I just graduated. I'm not ready to go back to school anytime soon." Dena said as she crossed her arms and shook her head. "Too much drama."

Several days later

Dena sat nervously on a bar stool, the bar's manager frowned as he read the slip of paper. She wore the blue shirt and purple skirt that she had gotten from the mansion, they were the only she had. The bar manager sighed and laid the paper down, " No references, no phone number, nothing…why should I hire you?" He asked as he laid his elbow on the table and rested his head in his hand.

"Because…everyone wants a waitress with a cute ass….?" Kaori said as she peaked her head in the bar, Dena turned to her with wide eyes.

'What in the HELL are you doing?' She mouthed, Kaori smiled. They had gotten very good at reading lips during their time in the…cough…tubes.

The bar manager blinked at the sudden appearance of the new girl, he turned to Dena. " I guess…I could hire you…but if you start any trouble. You're fired. Understand?"

Dena smiled and resisted the urge to hug the older man, "Thank you sir. Um…Boss." She said as she jumped off, the man scribbled something down on a piece of paper and gave it to Dena.

"Here is the schedule for this next week." He said, Dena nodded and left with Kaori.

Kaori frowned slightly and sighed. "Meh…I guess I should get a job, too. It's not right making you and Yukiro earn all the money…" she said. After all, Connor had an excuse-nobody would hire him because he couldn't see. Her on the other hand… "Bah…whoever thought that my first job would be in a bar…?"

Dena shrugged and sweatdropped. "You're gonna work there, too? You literally don't have any references…" she said.

"I do! …I was art editor of the Valhalla/Crimson Times. School newspaper and magazine. It was a big responsibility, so…take that!" Kaori replied, huffing and crossing her arms.

Dena chuckled, "So what are you going to do if the owner does hire you?" She said as she crossed her arms and just looked at her friend. Kaori sweatdropped. "Um...work?" she said, blinking. She shook her head. "And I guess do homework during my break time... Why?"

Dena scratched her head, "Well...what are your talents? What do you think you would be good at?" Dena asked, she was drawing a blank when she envisioned Kaori working.

"Um...I can cook, I can draw, I can sing, and I can bounce. It all kind of depends. If they have entertainment, I may sing. If they're low on security, I could bounce...or something. If none of those, then I can cook," Kaori replied with a shrug.

Dena laughed when she heard the word 'bounce.' She wiped away a tear, "Sorry, Kaori...I really can't envision you a bouncer." She said as she patted Kaori on the head, who was a half a head shorter than her. Kaori narrowed her eyes when Dena patted her on the head, "Who in the hell are you calling short!" She screamed as she swiped at Dena; her friend jumped back, smiling the entire way. She loved getting under her friend's skin...somebody had to.

Kaori pointed to her. "Ha! You see! I almost bounced you right then. Take that!" Dena took one of her hands, placed her the tip of her thumb on her nose and wiggled her fingers. "Nya nya...can't catch me!" She sang, an angry vein appeared next to Kaori's head. "GET BACK HERE, BITCH!" She screamed as she chased her friend down the streets.

Dena suddenly tried to skid to a stop as she thought she saw someone in front of her, but couldn't do so in time. CRASH! When she regained her bearings, she saw that she was lying right on top of a swirly-eyed Connor. Huh...she thought something had broken her fall...

Dena's hand shot to her mouth as she gasped, "Oh Connor...are you okay!" She asked as she sat him up, she heard a scream; she turned her head only to see Kaori blow right in to her, shoving her face in to the dirt. "Owww..."Dena moaned.

"Oro..." Kaori groaned, now also with swirly-eyes. Connor sweatdropped, lifting his head slightly. "Um...either of you er...mind getting off...?" Dena groaned as she rolled the dead weight she called a friend off of her, "Sorry..." She sighed as she was able to sit up and help Connor sit up as well.

Connor smiled and sweatdropped. "No problem..." he replied. "I really should've been paying better attention, anyway... So how has the job search been going?" he asked. Dena smiled, "Well...I was able to get a job at the Sunset Bar as a waitress..." She replied, she then dropped her head. "But if I mess up once than I'm out..." She sighed.

Connor reached out groping for his staff, "I'm sure...you'll do fine." He said as his hand brushed along, he smiled in satisfaction as his fingers brushed against smooth wood. "When do you start work?" He asked as he stood, Dena stood up and brushed the dirt off of her skirt (which she still hated by the way). "I start tomorrow night." She replied.

"Pretty harsh that they're giving you only one chance..." Connor commented. "Maybe if you explain why you need the gil... But maybe if that doesn't work out, you could get a mercenary job or something..."

Dena nodded, "The mercenary job would be a good choice if the waitress job at the bar fell through. I'm pretty good with my hands..." She said as she placed her hands behind her head, "Oi...pipsqueak...wake up." Dena said as she nudged her friend in the side with her foot. Kaori shot up to her feet, "Who are you calling a pipsqueak..." She growled, Dena shrugged.

Kaori pointed at her. "You know what? Know what? I will smite yooou!" she said. Connor shook his head as he smiled, " Come on...we need to find some food for dinner." He said as he started walking down the street, his staff tapping lightly in front of him as he went.

Kaori rubbed the back of her head. "Meh...I think just a little bit of fruit would work for me..." she said. Dena nodded, "Sounds good to me...I saw some fruit the other day that looked interesting..." She said as they made their way to the market place.

Kaori looked down at herself. "Ya know... I think that's the one good thing I can say about the test tube thing. It really helped give my little weight-watchers diet a push in the right direction..." she commented. She sweatdropped. "Not that locking yourself up in a test tube is part of that diet, but I think I'm actually at a healthy weight for someone of my height now... I did need to drop about fifteen more pounds, after all..."

Connor blinked and then smiled, "You two are strange." Both girls blinked, "Tell us something we don't know..." They both answered. Connor shook his head but continued to smile, reaching into the pocket of his jeans and beginning to count out the gil in his hand, judging any different coins by size.

"I think we'll have just enough for some food..." Connor replied. He seemed to glance back at them. "Sorry if we seem a bit sparse with our gil. We're trying to save up enough for a real apartment," he explained.

Kaori blinked, tilting her head a little. "Huh...that actually kind of reminds me. Why /do/ you and your brother live in the back of that little alleyway thing? Don't you two have parents...?"

Connor frowned slightly. "Not...really..." he replied a bit hesitantly. He shook his head. "Either way... What matters is that Yukiro and I can look after each other well enough on our own. We've never really needed parents, nor really ever wanted them."

Dena frowned and stared at the ground when she walked, she felt kind of guilty and upset. She felt a bit of guilt for Connor and his brother since they never had any parents. The upset ness...was aimed at her self. She had not thought of her mother, since...in a long time and she hated herself for it. Her mom was her best friend, it must have broken her mother's heart when she disappeared. Connor blinked suddenly, looking toward Dena. "Are you alright...?" he asked.

Dena looked up and was surprised to feel tears running down her cheeks, she reached up and felt the salty liquid with her fingers. How long has it been since she felt tears, it was impossible to shed tears in the test tube. "I'm...just remembering." She said as her voice quivered. She reached up and tried to brush away the tears with her hand, "I just can't seem to stop crying...I'm sorry...I feel so stupid...I just...never got to say goodbye." She whispered the last part, Kaori stared at her friend.

Kaori stood there for a second as she watched Dena, she tentatively laid a hand on her friend's shoulder; it un-nerved her to see Dena like this, she had never really seen her cry before. "Dena...It'll be okay. Maybe it's like one of our fanfics..." Dena half laughed through her tears, always in their fanfics a clone ran around as them until they were able to find some unthinkable way to get back home. "Heh...yea." Dena said as she wiped away her remaining tears, Kaori smiled. "That's Dena I know..." Kaori said.

Dena nodded, feeling a little bit better she turned to Connor who stood there silently with his eyes clothes. "Let's get something to eat...I'm sure Yukiro is about to pass out from hunger pains by now." Dena said smiling.

Connor blinked, a little surprised to see anyone so upset over their parents. The last parent he saw, he was practically in tears, too...only to get away from them. He then smiled faintly and shook his head. "We don't have to really worry about getting food for Yukiro... He works hard from morning until night, several jobs a day. He has his meals already..." he replied. "Though we still need to get food for ourselves." He paused for a moment in front of the general store. "General store...right?" he asked, wondering how accurate he was. Kaori smiled, "Bingo!" She said.

Connor nodded, turning in and followed by the others. "What should we get...?" he wondered. It wasn't as if they had that great of a makeshift kitchen...hell, they were lucky enough to have just an old-fashioned stove-they used to have to use a campfire back when they were little. And a refrigerator..? ...It was lucky that they lived up in the mountains were it was cool all the time. They didn't have a fridge-it was another thing they were saving up for. And bathrooms and such for washing and restroom breaks were thankfully lent to them by some friendly shopkeepers down the street.

"Some fruit of course...they can last for a couple of days no problem. If we get anything refrigerated than we better plan on eating it within a two hour time." Kaori said as they walked inside. "Hm...The refrigerated items can actually last up to a day or two... If you hadn't noticed, it never really gets very warm up here in the mountains. Not to mention that we're so far north, we're close to the north continent where the snow never melts," Connor explained.

Kaori sweatdropped, "Need I remind you...we've never even been outside of town...how are we supposed to know the geography..." She said, Dena shook her head and walked a bit away from her group over to the fruit section. There were so many different kinds of fruit, some were sort of familiar; some resembled apples and pears but beyond that...it was all new territory for both girls. Dena blinked a saw an interesting fruit, she reached to pick it up only to come in contact with another person's hand who was reaching for the same piece of fruit. Dena and the strange girl blinked, Dena recovered quickly. "Oh...I'm sorry. Go ahead and take it...I was only looking." Dena said as she picked up the fruit and put it in the girl's gloved hands.

The girl blinked again, the tossed the fruit back to Dena and shook her head. "Nah. This fruit seems a lot more appetizing..." she said as she picked up a different piece of fruit. She turned to a blonde old man and waved the fruit around a little bit. "Hey, Cid! How much gil do I have to steal from you guys?" she called over.

Dena nodded and caught the fruit, "By the way...My name is Yuffie-the white rose of Wutai." Yuffie giggled Dena sweatdropped but smiled non-the less. "Yuffie...it's a pleasure to meet you...My name is Dena." She said as she extended her hand, Yuffie smiled as they shook hands. "Nice to meet you too." Yuffie said. Dena suddenly blinked, "Hey Yuffie...can you tell me which fruits are good? My friend and I are new to this area and we don't know anything about this place..." Dena said as she rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.

Yuffie observed the shelves, beginning to point things out. It was an odd little grand tour, leading the blonde man off to the side-Cid-to roll his eyes. "Dammit, Yuffie! We don't have time for this!" he barked out.

Yuffie paused for a moment to stick her tongue out at him. "We have plenty of time. If you want to go check out weapons and stuff, then just go already, gramps." The man called Cid sighed and paid for his things, he then left through the front door, and Yuffie grinned. "Don't mind him...he's always like that." She said as she waved her hand from side to side. She watched him leave. "Be sure to tell the others that I'll catch up in a second!" she said.

Kaori and Connor suddenly came over, Dena smiled and greeted them. "Yuffie these are my friends. Kaori and Conner...Kaori is the one that I mentioned earlier..."

Yuffie grinned and waved with one hand behind her back. "Hiya," she said. Kaori blinked. "Um...yo," she said. "I'm the great ninja Yuffie!" Yuffie said, smiling. "Nice to meet you!" "...You don't really look like a ninja..." Kaori pointed out.

Yuffie stuck out her tongue, "Nya...looks can be deceiving." She said, Conner nodded. "Indeed." He said. Dena took a piece of fruit that Yuffie had shown her and placed it in Conner's hand, "Have you ever had this type of fruit, Conner?" She asked, Conner frowned in slight concentration and felt of the fruit. He suddenly smiled, "Oh yes...This is fruit goes by the name of Tempai. It's one of my favorites." He said, Yuffie blinked obviously confused. "Hey Kaori...want to split it?" Dena asked.

Kaori looked over, blinking, and then nodded. "Oh, yeah. Okie," she replied, going though the sodas and stuff. "Let's not forget drinks, though..." She opened the door to the fridge. "Awesome. They have Sobe even here... Or something along those lines... Either way, a lot of the same flavors," she commented as she grabbed a glass bottle of green tea. "Dena, what are you getting?"

Dena shrugged, "Doesn't matter...after not eating for as long as we did...everything tastes good." She replied, she ran a hand through her hair...her very long hair. After spending a year in the tube with no scissors in sight, it had grown down to her waist compared to her shoulder length hair from before. "Maybe I should get it cut before I go in for work tomorrow..." Dena said to her self, Yuffie turned and blinked. "I think you look great with long hair..." She replied.

"Eh, it'll be better long. It'll keep you warmer while we're living up here," Kaori said, grabbing a tangerine (XD) Sobe from the fridge. Dena sweatdropped, "Great analysis." She mumbled as Connor handed the fruit back to her. "I'll get a couple more things and then we can go back home." Kaori said, Dena nodded. Yuffie scratched her head, "What did you mean...after not eating for as long as you guys did? Did something happen?" She asked, Dena smiled. "Don't worry about it...It was nice meeting you, Yuffie." Dena said as she started walking over to where Connor and Kaori were checking out. Yuffie nodded, "Nice meeting ya'll too."

They only ended up buying a bag of groceries, but with the way that Dena and Kaori were eating...it would last them a few days. Dena carried the bag despite Connor's protests. "So, I'm guessing that you both got the night shift?" Connor asked, finally relenting in the argument. Dena sighed, "Yep...I hate working nights because it makes me feel like a bat...sleeping all day. Hopefully I can get my schedule changed for something earlier." Dena said, Kaori agreed.

But the agreement didn't last long. Kaori thought for a moment. "But on the other hand, I don't mind too much..." she said. "I'm fine being a bat. I'm not kidding when I say that sunlight drains me. I only like night time and cloudy/overcast, possibly rainy or stormy days." Dena smiled, "That's just because you're weird." She said as she stuck her tongue out at Kaori, the red head returned the raspberry.

Kaori then smirked. "Probably part vampire and proud of it!" she said. Connor sweatdropped, "You two...be nice." "I am nice..." Kaori said, trying to look innocent. "About as nice as a pissed off snake." Dena smirked as she spun around and started walking backwards. "Show off." Kaori said.

"Fine, then! I'm a green mamba! And you know what green mambas can do..?" Kaori said. Before Dena could really reply, Kaori continued, "Strike at about a twelve-foot distance! So rawr!" she said, making a move as if to tackle the brunette. "You're not even five feet tall...how can you strike twelve feet away." Dena said, she knew that Kaori would become pissed off.

"I'M 5'2, DAMMIT! ALMOST 5'3! HOW DARE YOU CALL ME A PIPSQUEAK MIDGET THAT COULD BE BEATEN BY AN ANT!" Kaori shouted, flailing a bit. Dena playfully stuck out her tongue, "Sorry my mistake..." She said, Kaori growled. "Take this." Kaori shouted as she rushed at her friend, Dena took a leap back to avoid her friend's swipes.

The bad thing about jumping backwards...you can't see where you're going. Dena yelped a bit when she bumped in to somebody, Kaori slid to a stop; Dena felt hands grab her shoulders to prevent her from falling. She blinked and turned around; there stood a blonde boy with blue eyes and a sword on his back. "Oh...I'm so sorry." Dena said as she bowed.

Kaori looked up, blinking, her cheeks turning a light pink. "Erm...yeah, don't mind us..." she said, grabbing Amanda by the arm and pulling her back over toward Connor. "C'mon, let's go..." she hissed. Dena blinked then smirked, "Aw...you know...he is quite the cutie." Dena whispered, only loud enough for Kaori to hear. She almost laughed when she saw Kaori's face flush.

"Shut up..!" Kaori said, flailing a little and not glancing back at the blonde as they made their way over to Connor. They found him paused in the middle of the street, eyes turned toward the sky in the distance, back to the mountains but more towards the sea. Dena's smile fell a bit, "Is everything alright Connor?" She asked.

Connor blinked, seeming a little startled as he glanced back at her. "Hm? Oh! Erm...fine," he replied. He shook his head. "Just thought I heard somebody calling me..." Kaori looked around, then back at Connor and blinked. "Are you sure you didn't just imagine it..?" Connor paused for a moment, and then shrugged. "I...Probably did." He shook his head, waving a hand dismissively. "Forget about it..." Dena smiled, "Come on...Let's get home and put this stuff away. I'm actually starting to get hungry."

Ooooh….what will happen now that we've met the FF gang… guess you'll just have to wait and see…I will ask again…please no flames. If you didn't like the story than just press the 'Back' button on your internet window and you'll never have to read this story again…but…the story will get better. The beginning is always slow…