Soaked Innocence

AN: Alright, hmm… I know some of you were really confused with the last chapter. In particular with the 'punch' part. Well, let me explain. Somehow I got lost in the middle of writing that chapter… I dunno why. At the middle of it I suddenly remembered that Seph was supposed to punish Cloud. I got too much into their 'sex' part that I completely forgot where I was going. As for the ending, well… the warm fuzzy feeling inside of me kicked in for some reason. (And it still pisses me off up to this day.) I do hope you forgive me. u.u -bows-

And to make it all up to you, here's the Chapter two!… I know, I know. It took me long enough. -shrugs- But at least now there's a budding plot. ;;

note: I've made a few small edits in the first chapter, but you need not to go back and read it. I just corrected some typos I over looked, that's all.

Disclaimer: If my fics (or any other slash fic) were to have wound their way into the game script of FFVII, then maybe the game would be more interesting ne? Um.. or the rpg game would not have a plot at all. Just sex… Just imagine. A gay porn rpg? O.o But I doubt if that would sell in the market. Although, compared to Brokeback Mt… hmmm… -grins wickedly- Well, in any case, FFVII does not belong to me. It belongs to Square Enix. I only own original copies of FFVII:AC and Last Order. Capeesh? Oh! And I also managed to get my hands on Dirge of Cerberus!XD But I tell you. They are not created by me. I just buy them. Geez… this disclaimer is long. oy…

Chapter II

Sirens rang through the halls of the compound. It bleared through the speakers in every corridor of the SOLDIER barracks, waking the recruits for the morning. The repetitive whine echoed and bounced off the walls as if knocking at every dormitory door. The sound was pounding in his head and it felt as if someone was chiseling his skull open. He winced in pain and turned over to burry his head into the pillows to try to drown out the sound. His whole body ached at that small movement causing him to cry out in pain. It hurt like hell. Where did all that hurt come from? His muscles were aching so much it were as if a thousand knives had pierced every inch of his body… yet, for some unknown reason, he felt very satisfied.

Watery blue beady eyes cracked open in frustration. He felt like he only had a moment of sleep last night. Now all he wanted to do was to just stay in bed and miss a day of exhaustion. That would be heaven! But no – reality bites like a bitch. If he slept in, his superiors would no doubt cook up another punishment made especially just for him. As if he wasn't humiliated in front of everybody enough yesterday. His instructor made him do a hundred laps and five hundred push-ups, and not only that, the bastard proceeded to whip lash him several times until he was satisfied. All just because he failed to answer them during drill. Geez… The Shinra ups are so unreasonable. He was lucky enough to be alive through that whole ordeal, thanks to the Mako shots they had yesterday.

Maybe he should just go to the infirmary and rest for the day? But then again… if he comes back, the others would patronize him as a weakling. In the end, there was no way out.

Reluctantly, he tried to sit up, his muscles screaming for out attention. He let the standard grey, military sheets uncover his bear chest as he ruffled is golden hair. He yawned a bit, causing him to stretch out. The blonde suddenly recoiled back because of the pain. He screwed his eyes shut, wincing. He tried to open them again after a few moments when the pain had subsided.

It took a few more blinks before everything came into focus, letting his surroundings become clearer. He unconsciously rubbed his legs against the bed covers and realized something peculiar. – Wait… why was he naked? He could only feel the roughness and the fuzziness of the sheets underneath his skin and nothing but. Odd. He doesn't usually sleep naked. He would usually wear his favorite chocobo printed pajamas before going to bed, no matter how hot it was at night. Albeit feeling childish… but what could he do? It was a reminder of home… His mother made it for him and… He shook his head, trying to dispel the memories of home that came flooding back. -- Now, come to think of it, he couldn't remember if he even made it to bed last night. All he could remember was that he was finally finished with his sift on his guard duty and then… well, he was too exhausted to recall.

He grunted.

No matter. That was the least of his worries. He had to get up and get dressed or else he would be late for the morning briefing and exercises again. Well, whoopteedoo -- who would want to miss that? The trooper rolled his eyes. The pain in his body would just have to wait. He'll just have to borrow healing materia once he could pass by the nurse's office. The blonde shudders. He hated going there. The nurses would often try to flirt with him, let alone molest him every time he would go there.

The young trooper yawned while rubbing his eyes, hoping that it would help remove the sleepiness that he felt. But all his efforts were all for naught, for he knew that that wouldn't help any. His eyes refused to open up all the way, it were as if heavy bags were preventing them from opening… He needed a nice cup of coffee… badly. Whoo, boy. Those Mako shots could really drain the hell out of you, he thought.

It took a huge exertion of his limbs to finally sit up properly. When his feet were finally touching the floor, he wrapped the sheets around his waist and then gingerly he stood up, making his way towards his small dresser. He runs his hands through the sticky tangled mess of his hair, trying to untangle some of it but failed as he looked into the small chipped mirror on his wall. – There he noticed something peculiar. Small red spots bombarded the pale skin of his neck and a particular big one in the middle of his two collarbones. Where the hell did those come from?, he asked himself, running his fingers on the rosy marks. The blonde sighs, thinking that it must be the mosquitoes again… but are mosquito bites that big and red? And aren't they supposed to be itchy? How come these aren't?

He shook his head, thinking that he was being paranoid. He sighed once again before bending to open two of his drawers where he keeps most of his underwear and clothes. He smirked inwardly as he scans his eyes over his neatly tucked clothing. He is a bit of a neat freak, he confessed. He picked up a pair of clean, rolled up, white socks along the line of the alphabetically arranged socks; a clean pair of briefs, a clean undershirt, a clean uniform jacket – the blue ones that troopers use – and standard Shinra military pants. He placed them on his bed as he grabbed his two shoulder guards and his scarf that goes with his uniform on the top of his dresser, before sitting and putting everything on.

It was a tedious and difficult task to do. His limbs were too much of a hindrance when he pulled through his aching joints and tight angles. His head still throbbed painfully, but not as painful as it had been when he waked up. The sirens still rang outside of his small compartment, making the throb on his temple still a bit unbearable. They were whining as if to say 'hurry up you ungrateful little maggots or you'll be late!'.

Geez alright already!

Just as he was done strapping the last strap on his boots, he heard the banging of doors flying open, and the tremble of boots outside of his room, indicating that his other 'companions' were already going down to the training field.

Crap!

He stood up from his crouched position, ignoring the scream of his painful muscles, and barged out of his door, turning into a sprint through the hall to join the other troopers.

----

Pant… pant… pant… He made it. Thank Gaea. A bead of sweat landed on the rough concrete floor, only to disappear and evaporate a mere second after that. The morning sun above was already ablaze as the would-be SOLDIERs assembled in front of their officers on the training grounds. His hands were pressed firmly on his knees in a mid bent position as he tried to get his composure back.

Why does this have to happen every morning?, he thought. He was again late in taking the elevators earlier, and because of that, all of them were already full beyond capacity. Others, who often liked to taunt him, even pushed him out, making him land on his butt as he tried to squeeze himself in. Only then did he feel an excruciating pain beyond belief that made his eyes water. He wanted to scream, but he only bit his lip and winced as he stood up, the ache of his bottom still reminiscent. The elevator doors closed in front of him as if to mock him further. And so because of that, he had to run down 13 flights of stairs just to get to the training grounds.

He heaved his last pant, before straightening up and wiping the sweat off his forehead with the back of his palm, just in time as the drill sergeants started on roll call. His blue eyes returned to their usual passiveness, half of his face hidden by his scarf, as he scanned his surroundings.

He saw that other troops were already starting on their exercises, with their bodies bent to one side, doing stretches. Others were marching around the field grounds in tight straight lines, shouting 'I don't know but I've been told!'.

"I can't here you, you useless maggots!! LOUDER!" the Drill shouted at them. The troopers abide by straining their developing voices more.

And others still, were doing high jumping jacks as their drill sergeants shouted and spited at their faces. He pitiedly watched a young recruit dropping down to give his Drill a fifty… thousand. The drill sergeant loomed down on the poor guy, barking profanities at the fallen trooper.

Ah yes, 'twas a normal morning in Shinra's Junon Headquarters…

"Did you hear the noises last night?" the blonde's ears suddenly picked up the hushed conversation of his fellow companions in his unit on his line. He didn't know why he was interested in hearing this farfetched story out, but listened he did.

"Yeah I did." A scrawny looking trooper whispered back. "It was really creepy." the boy mock shudders.

"Do'ya think it was a ghost?" another commented in an equally hushed voice. "I heard a story of a dead trooper once, who died before graduation.1 And it is said that his ghost still haunts the trooper barracks to this day, doing his regular duties as a trooper and still anticipating the day of his graduation."

"Nonsense." Another one butted in. "He only haunts the first three floors of the barracks." He said as-a-matter-of-factly "It's probably the nurse who got raped during the war.2 Some even claimed they even saw her roaming around in her white bloodied uniform with her long black hair covering her face."

"Yeah, I've heard of that." the one beside him agreed. "I heard they could even hear her haunting screams at night in the hour when she was raped. She would usually moan 'help me help me… no… stop it… ahhh…'" the trooper imitated in a high pitched voice.

"yeah! The noises were pretty much like that last night."

"Where was she raped anyway?"

"I heard she was raped in the shower stalls."

"No wonder I feel something really creepy every time I go there. Remind me to never take a shower there again."

"Hey you know, come to think of it. I'd say I heard the noises coming from in there last night too…"

The others nodded in agreement.

Superstitious idiots…

The blonde trooper scoffed to himself. It was stupid how they believed this farfetched bullshit. As far has he knew, he didn't hear anything of the sort last night. They were just imagining it.

Yet the conversation did remind him of something from home…

How many accounts have he heard about the village people gossiping that they heard screams of agony every time they would go near that place? How many times had his friends dared him to go inside that place just to see what happens? How many nights have he dreamt of nightmares because of that place? Now, he was not by nature superstitious, and even less so having a skeptical mind, but the ancient legends about that somber place and the melancholic moaning of the wind back then made his skin crawl and the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end… The infamous abandoned mansion on top of the mountains in his hometown…

"Strife!" A voice boomed along his unit's line. The young blonde was disrupted from his eavesdropping and reminiscing when his name was called.

He blinked and steeled himself up before answering, "h-Here!". He stated it shakily than he would normally would, which would definitely piss off his drill sergeant.

Here goes nothing, he gulped. His instructor would definitely spit on his face again and bark at him that he's 'an incompetent imbecile' or a 'weakling' or 'bow-legged vermin' or an 'unrespecting maggot' or 'whore' or his favorite, 'a useless piece of shit. Why are you even here?'. But the one that hurt the most was 'You'll never become a SOLDIER at this rate. You can never live up to the great Sephiroth because you're lower than dirt, you're a maggot!'. After those insults would be several whiplashes. Their drill sergeant had a hobby of threatening his students with his skills with a whip.

He closed his eyes shut, bracing himself from his mentor's wrath, ready to make the most passive face he could create to counter the other's insults; ready to take in the slew of abuse and profanities that was thrown at him. He then felt someone's body heat in front of his face and the scraping off boots until… it fell past him? – But… it never came. He peeked one eye open to see if it was safe to open both of his eyes. He saw nothing. No nostrils steaming, no ugly face screaming at him, spiting at him. Now, he opened both of his eyes. He just heard the other succeeding names be called and nothing more.

'Guess he just got lucky. He shrugged.

He trailed his eyes to the left of his line to see why he was not scolded. To his surprise, not the usual grayish brown uniform and hat was there, but a tuffle of huge black spikes for hair and the famous SOLDIER uniform was all that he saw. A tall SOLDIER walked along the rows of young troopers carrying a clipboard of names in his hand, his back facing the blond. Where was their drill sergeant? Not that he was complaining, though. He was not really worried that that bastard was gone for once. Finally.

"Alright," the voice boomed again as the last name was finally called. The hushed conversation of ghost-hunting ceased. He saw the tall SOLDIER turn to face them as he put the clipboard down to his side, which the troopers now gave him their full attention. He saw that the SOLDIER had a slight smile of satisfaction on his young handsome face at all of them, as if he was proud of them or something. He regarded them all with a swift sweep of his dark purple mako eyes before plastering a grin on his face.

"Attenhuuut!" he boomed again, the troopers straightened up and stiffened. The SOLDIER took a few paces before speaking. "You might be wondering where your dear drill sergeant, Sergeant Damaso, went off to." He said, his voice was loud enough for everyone to here, yet calm enough not to startle the lot of them. He walked among them, placing both his hands at his back while slowly pacing to and fro along the line of troopers and staring at each of their faces. "He has gone on an assignment for a while, and will not be back until that mission is done."

Inside, he wanted to jump for joy at that news. He was finally free of that 'bow-legged vermin' for god knows how long! Hah!

"That is why I'm here." The SOLDIER continued. There was an aloof air at the way he spoke as he regarded the young recruits. "I am Lieutenant Colonel Zack, SOLDIER 1st Class."

Woah… a First Class SOLDIER. He thought timidly. If he could remember correctly, there were not a lot of those around. They were the best of the best. Hand picked by Sephiroth himself. His feeling of being comfortable at this guy's presence turned into a feeling of intimidation and… admiration.

"I will be substituting your drill sergeant for the length of his absence or until necessary." He continued, not minding the few whispers from the young troopers. "I sure do hope I will receive your full cooperation, gentlemen." he said and slowly paced again. "You will regard to me as 'Sir', 'Lieutenant Colonel', 'Sergeant'," he boomed, his voice turning into a business like tone. Great, another power hungry official, he thought.

Feeling with dread, the blond trooper didn't want to here the slew of honorable names that they would be calling the higher-up anymore so he bowed his head, but then… "…or just plain Zack, if you will." The SOLDIER finished with a grin. "Screw the formality crap, right?" the SOLDIER paused, to let the information sink in to all the young troopers. "Is that understood?"

The other troopers were startled, yet eager at this permission of using the Officer's first name. Who'd've thought a guy like this belonged to the Shinra higher-ups? Inwardly they agreed, not actually knowing what to say to that.

"I can't here you!" the Lieutenant Colonel shouted, cupping his ear with his hand in mock deaf.

"Sir! Yes Sir!" the troopers said in chorus, clicking their heels with a salute.

"Good. I'm glad we have an agreement, gentlemen." He said, all in good humor, clicking his heels too. "I am giving you permission of using my name, but remember;" his tone came back to its usual steady mantra of business. "that does not mean that I am as same level as you." He warned them. "Sure, let us all be in good terms, but I am still your higher officer and as your senior I demand respect. Is that clear?" he paused to see if they were all still listening.

"Sir! Yes Sir!"

"Now then," he said, clapping both his hands. There was a glint in his eyes as he smirked at the weary recruits. "The lot of you, give me fifty laps in the field!" he suddenly barked. "Let's move move move move move!!!" he repeated, his voice low, gesturing them to move faster with is arm.

The calm air suddenly broke out into sudden alertness as the young recruits scamper to do the lapse out in the training field, with their new instructor barking orders at their tail as he marched along with them. "We don't have all day ladies!"

So much for expecting to be different… The blonde trooper sighed, closing his eyes.

"You! Cloud Strife! What the hell are you sighing about? This ain't a pity party little missy! Let's MOVE!!" The Lieutenant Colonel barked directly at him. The blonde winced as he started to gain pace with his running again.

Gee, the Lieutenant already knew who he was… unlike the other instructors who regarded him as an insignificant weed. They would usually call him 'trooper' or 'maggot' or other insulting names, and not by his last name or his first name. --He shook his head. Or maybe he was just imagining it?…

--

Just as the Lieutenant Colonel's troop came to a curve on the track, a pair of eyes observed them idly in the shadows. Back leaning against a barrack wall, arms crossed across an exposed chest, silver hair spilling on broad shoulders and a smirk pulling on ungodly lips. Mako green eyes filled with longing followed a certain blonde trooper across the training field.

"You're in good hands now… Cloud." Soft and velvet were the words that left those lips, disappearing into the silent wind for no one to hear…

----

At exactly Oh-seven hundred hours, their morning briefing and exercises finally ended. The heaven-sent order of 'Dismissed!' finally rang throughout the grounds among the hungry and wasted recruits. Most of them were already making their way towards the 4th floor to the mess hall, but a few remained and lied on the concrete floor, taking a bit of rest before proceeding to breakfast. One of those few was Cloud, who was panting and heaving on his back on the ground.

Sweat dribbled to the side of his forehead as the sun now came high above the sky, pouring its heat on the exhausted blonde trooper. He was the last to finally get up, but he didn't mind, he didn't want to involve himself with the chaotic rush of meal time. Pushing and shoving himself amongst hungry men who acted like starving wolves was not a very attractive thing to do at the moment. Plus, it gave him time to rest for a bit… But if he stayed like that any further, he would be left with leftovers from last month again. And feeling the sudden hunger for food and fuel, he tried desperately to pull himself up.

He wanted to get up, he really did, but his body refused to move because of exhaustion, added with his still aching muscles. His limbs were outstretched on the hot pavement as he panted and heaved, arms stretched at either side. His blue eyes were closed shut to shield them from the brightness of the sun. For a while he just stayed there, lying on the floor as if dead. Nobody even had the initiative to help him or to ask him if he needed any help.

Well, as if he could do something about that, he internally scoffed. Even if he cried out for help, no one would come for him. – That was the basic unspoken law here: It was every man for himself… 'The survival of the fittest', as they say. That's what the competition was for; it's choosing the best of the best; the natural selection of elite SOLDIERs. –– if you asked him, it was all bullshit. Young men of all ages and hopefuls come here with hopes and dreams, with enthusiasm and eagerness evident in their innocent faces… only to be crushed in the end. And then what happens? Their lives are wasted and hopeless. Was he also going to suffer that same fate?

No.

He made sure of that. He came here to realize his dreams of becoming a full-fledged SOLDIER… for his mother – for Tifa… and most especially for himself. He wanted to become an elite member of Shinra in order to help the people of this planet who are in need. And maybe, just maybe, if he finally gets to the top, he would change the way things are being corruptibly done. And most of all, he wanted to become just like his idol… the great and honorable Sephiroth.

Ever since he was old enough to read a newspaper and actually know what SOLDIER was – though he doubted then if he really ever knew what it was; not after the bitter truth had hauled back and sucker punched him in the face did he know what the ShinRa organization really was – he started a sort of… fetish for entering Shinra and become a SOLDIER just like Sephiroth. He would often share this obsession with Tifa who only laughed quietly and encouraged Cloud to chase his unreachable dreams. She even made him promise that he would be her bodyguard someday if ever he would become an 'elite SOLDIER', like a 'knight-in-shining-armor' of some sort… Well, someday anyway… Now that he was currently 'chasing his dreams', it was now slowly turning into more of a nightmare.

No matter how high his dreams have become, life seemed to pull him smack back down to the ground. He was treated like he was the lowest of the low. Like he was an insignificant spec, stomped down to the ground, like he was dirt. He was treated like a nobody. Ever since he came to this godforsaken place, nobody treated him as an equal. Nobody even talked to him. Why? Was it because they think him weird? Was it because he was smaller than most of them? Was it because he was from some unknown hick town? Was it because he was weak?… His instructor was right. He'll never become a SOLDIER at this rate. He can never live up to the great Sephiroth because he was lower than dirt.

The sun was now being unforgivable up above as it sheared his skin as if to punish him further for dreaming of such impossible things. The concrete underneath him was being no help either to his condition. He felt like he was being fried alive on a hot skillet. He just wished he could just get out of this predicament sooner.

And like an answered prayer, everything seemed to cool down for a bit. He was very grateful that a cloud had passed by to cover the damned sun to give some much needed relief… or so he thought, until he opened his eyes. There he saw familiar black spikes and the famous SOLDIER uniform standing over him, casting a strong shadow and shielding the blonde from the heat. Purple eyes regarded him with… was that concern he saw in them? Cloud blinked up at the man who was standing and looking down upon him, not really knowing what to do.

"Need any help?" the Lieutenant Colonel asked him in a strong soft voice.

Cloud blinked again, still not answering the officer. But he needed not to answer for a hand shot down and was offered to the fallen would-be SOLDIER. Blue eyes glanced at the said hand and then he reluctantly took it without a said word. The blonde was pulled up on his own two feet by strong muscled arms as he brushed off some excess dirt on his pants, not wanting to look at the other. He could see a friendly grin plastered on the SOLDIER's face at the corner of his eye when the other let go of his hand, and vaguely wonders why he was helped… by an officer of all people.

"Don't I get a thank you?" The SOLDIER said casually. At this, Cloud raised an eyebrow. He was very grateful for the help, but it was a bit awkward at the moment. Normally, other officers would even kick you to the dirt at that show of weakness… but this guy didn't. It just wasn't what he expected.

"Thank you… s-sir." Cloud said timidly with a bow, abiding the other's question before he got into trouble.

"Call me Zack, I insist." The other said, softly patting the young trooper on the shoulder, unknowingly awakening a slight pang of pain from the blonde's joint. "And think nothing of it. It was the least I could do."

Cloud nodded at that, not really knowing what to say back. He was much too preoccupied in hiding the winces of pain on his face in his scarf to answer. Truth be told, he didn't know why this SOLDIER was acting and trying to be nice to him. He was pretty much pissed off with this guy for making them train so hard. But now, he just couldn't bring himself to hate him altogether. It slowly occurred to him that they were now the only ones left in the whole training grounds. Everything was silent and deserted.

"Are you alright? You don't look so good." 'Zack' asked him in concern. Ah, so, he wasn't successful in hiding his pain.

Cloud shook his head. "I'm fine, sir." A lie.

"Are you sure? Maybe I should take you to the infirmary." Zack regarded him with a disapproving look. Maybe because of the use to the 'sir' in the end of his sentence or his offer being rejected; he wouldn't know. But the expression was suddenly wiped from his face with smile. "C'mon I'll take you there."

Cloud backed away slightly, his hands in a slight surrender. "No, I'm quite alright sir. – I mean… er… Zack, sir. I feel fine. Really." He said quietly.

Zack gave him… was that a pout? "Well, alright if you insist." He sighs, but his face suddenly lights up again. "But, maybe I could try to fix that." Zack smiled, reaching something from his pocket. "I've got just the thing." He says and pulls out a small glowing orb – a materia.

Cloud's eyes widened. That's just what he needed, a healing materia. 'Saves him the trouble of going to that (accursed) infirmary, he thought. His slight smile was hidden underneath his scarf as he nodded in acknowledgement. Zack then, pulled gently on the blonde's hand, placing the orb on his palm much to the young one's surprise.

"Use this, ok?" the SOLDIER said, closing Cloud's fingers around the ball with the cupping of both his hands. "But I still want you to go to the infirmary, just to be sure." he pointed seriously. "That's an order." He added, with a wink.

Cloud nodded, his eyes emotionless, yet they reflected a slight amusement in their depths.

"Here," a handkerchief was offered too. The trooper blinked in curiosity at the other. "Wipe your face."

Oh.

He meekly took the cloth and gave a meek bow, and before he could even look up, Zack was already walking away. Blue eyes stared after the walking SOLDIER with an emotionless gaze…

He blinked. That was weird. What the hell was that all about?

There he was left alone with the soft wind whispering to him as he stared at his hand. In them he saw the glowing materia and the blue handkerchief staring innocently back at him. He shrugged and wiped his face with the handkerchief, taking an unexpected whiff of the scent of spicy manly cologne. Blue eyes slightly widened. The scent was strong yet mellow and reminded him of cinnamon and apples with aftershave.

It smelled good.

------------------

The scuff of a pair of leather boots neared him. Aqua mako eyes looked up to stare at the owner of the said boots and look into a pair of purple mako ones. A finely chiseled silver eye brow rose, expecting an answer.

"Hey."

"Well…?"

Fingers casually laced behind spiky black hair, nonchalantly leaning back on the wall that his so-called friend was leaning on.

"He refused to be taken to the infirmary." He said as if bored, "But I gave him the materia just as you said… Sir." He added the 'sir' just in time. He had so gotten accustomed in not calling the other by formal names.

There was a moment of strong silence between the two elites and it lasted an eternity of a second.

"I see…" finally said the other and nodded. "Good." Gloved hands pushed off the wall. A graceful movement. Long silver hair waved behind him like water as he turned to leave the dark alleyway of the barracks. Foot steps started to drop heavily away.

"Would that be all sir?" an empty question.

"Yes, that would be all." stern and emotionless.

"Then, am I dismissed, sir?"

The footsteps came to a cease.

"I put you in this position because I trust you more than anyone, Zack. I expect you to take care of him… for me," He said, without turning over to look, his broad back still turned from the other. "and that's an order."

But why? Why him?

"Understood."

He then turns to leave again, continuing the heavy footsteps until they fade away and disappear in the corner. Only the slip of leather coat was the last thing that was seen until it to, was gone.

Purple eyes frowned in dismay and longing. A heavy sigh escaped his lips. He turns his eyes towards the heaven as if to curse it.

Why him…?

Why won't you look at me Seph?

Why won't you notice me?

Why won't you love me back…?

There. All done!XD For the second chapter anyway… I hope the last part wasn't too vague for you. It pretty amazes me that there isn't even so much as a hint of something sexual in this chapter. Just some stubble hints of admiration and unrequited love. It's all plot plot plot and nothing but plot. Yey, I was visited by so many plot bunnies!... But did I mention that I'm allergic to them? Hmm… I submitted this raw, meaning that I didn't let someone beta it for me. I dunno. I was just lazy to show it to other people. -shrug-

note: I do know for a fact that the SOLDIER military base, Junon, does not reside in Midguar or in the main ShinRa headquarters. But for this fic, I placed it inside the facility itself, so not to confuse everybody. Plus, it's more convenient that way.

1 I got this idea from an urban legend that I've read somewhere. Actually, originally this was a ghost of a young seminarian from a convent. He was the top 1 of his class and was supposed to graduate as valedictorian… until an accident happened and he died.

2 This idea I got from history class, watching old war movies during the 2nd world war and another urban legend. Now, this really happed in our country's history. During the Japanese occupation in WWII, the Japanese soldiers took over a hospital and they proceeded to torture and kill everyone in it, including the sick. They killed the doctors and patients, all but leaving nurses to be their 'comfort women'. They repeatedly raped them and killed them afterwards.

Anyway… you know what to do. -whistles casually- points to the review button